I was going out through our backyard to get to the alley when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned and it was one of our neighborhood jackrabbits. We see their tracks in our yard all the time, but seldom see them in person. I wasn't really ready to start taking photos, but luckily it stayed frozen in place long enough for me to get a few shots before it dashed out the back gate and down the alley at high speed. It was a bit unusual to see one in the middle of the day, usually it's morning or evening when I see them.
I continued on down to the river. Just as I got there I slipped on some ice and sat down in the snow. I've been running in these icy conditions for the last two months and haven't fallen yet. Of course, then I'm paying attention to my footing, whereas here I was paying more attention to looking for birds. It was a soft landing and I was fine, but my camera also landed in the snow! It's theoretically weather-proof but I would prefer not to test that. I wiped off the snow and cleaned the lens as best I could with a handkerchief that wasn't the cleanest. Not the most auspicious start to a photography session!
I heard my first subject before I saw it. A crow was caw'ing loudly in a tree above my head.
There were some of the winter Goldeneyes still on the river but they were too far away even for my telephoto lens. But it didn't take long to find some closer Mallards and Canada Geese. The problem was that I was headed south, almost straight into the sun. So I couldn't see the birds very well with them silhouetted, whereas they could easily see me coming. I needed to turn the tables so I headed back to the path, walked up river a ways and then worked my way north with the sun at my back.
I found one pair of Mallards sleeping next to shore. I gradually worked my way closer to them, stopping every few feet to take more shots and let them get accustomed to me. A couple of times they got a little nervous, but they must have decided I wasn't a threat. They did open their eyes to look at me each time I moved. But then they'd slowly close again. Curiously, it looked like they had a white eyelid.
Sometimes I felt it was a stare down. But they can't have very good vision straight ahead since it's looking out the edge of each eye. On the other hand, it's the only way they'd get stereo vision which might help judge how close I was.
They seemed like a close couple, never getting very far apart.
Although the males have the flashy iridescent green heads, the females are almost prettier. (I'm sure the males agree.) If you saw them separately there wouldn't be many clues (to me, at least) that they were the same species.
Of course, there were also Canada Geese around. I hate to admit it, but I've taken so many photographs of them that it's hard to get excited about taking more. They are a bit challenging with the mix of white and black on their heads. It's hard to get a good exposure of both.
The smooth water and partial clouds made good background reflections.
It was also good to see the buds developing on some of the trees. The sap must be starting to flow since you could see tiny drops oozing around the buds.
I could hear the chickadees but they were hard to spot, even with the bare tree. And even when you did spot them, they seldom sat still long enough to photograph, and they were often obscured in the bushes. I caught this one just as it was flying away, with his beak open, probably making its distinctive "chick a dee dee dee" call.
I was back on the paved trail and putting my camera away when I saw movement in the tree beside me. It was a robin, the first I'd seen this spring. And it even cooperatively stayed in one spot while I got my camera back out and took its photo.
See all 31 photos in this album
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