I have been trying to walk every morning and to keep my self motivated as of lately I bring my camera with me. Today was an interesting day at my local park, the animals were complete bonkers today, but let me start from the beginning. I started making my way around the paved .75 mile loop and had my Sigma 100-400 lens on. Nothing was moving about half way through my first lap and I was the only one there on the track, an older gentleman was fishing by the river though.
Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a squirrel, then another and another. As I started making my way around the track I noticed there was a good dozen of them running around, chasing each other. One of them walked right up to me with his hands out looking for food, someone must of been feeding them. A little bit later as I made my way around again I noticed a couple of squirrels fighting, they chased each other up a tree and over a blue jays nest. In that nest was a tiny baby blue jay, the squirrels had knocked him out of the nest. Now I am standing 5 feet away from a helpless baby blue jay who just fell about 20 feet and was trampled by two squirrels goofing around. The little fellow started bouncing around and seemed to be ok. I didn't want to touch him out of fear of the parents no wanting it anymore. He bounced his way over to the shade and I photographed him as he hopped along.
A couple of squirrels made their way down near it, the were sniffing around it when about 5 Blue Jays came down and started running off the squirrels. They stayed with this little blue jay the entire time, they were protecting it pretty fiercely. I moved on and was passing a bench when a red bellied woodpecker came and had a seat on that bench not 8 feet away from me. He didn't move, he just sat there. I took a few pictures of him and then he went up in a tree next to me. He seemed to be posing for the camera. I have never had a woodpecker let me get this close to him and to not mind my presence at all.
After spending about ten minutes photographing this woodpecker I started back on the track when a cardinal flew up next to me. He was on a branch fairly close and just kept turning his head and watched me as I photographed him, he had a piece of leaf stuck to his beak as well. I had been here for a while now and had been taking pictures of all of my little encounters for a while now and decided it was time to head back to the car and head home. Before I got into my car though a couple more squirrels ran up to me, they were looking for more food. I took a few more photos and called it a day.
I thought about these encounters all day long. Was it because I had my camera that I was so alert? I like to think so. So am I missing out on all of these little engagements with the animals while I am walking? I believe so, so for myself, walking with my camera may help me notice these little moments more and I may produce some really good work from them.
Thanks for reading! If you see any photographs you would like to get a print of, please head over to the contact page and fill out the form. I am really good about getting back fairly quickly. Thanks again for your support and I hope you enjoyed this blog.