Rainy-Day Activities

So, what do you do when it rains for 20 days straight and there are no sun breaks long enough to take a walk? If you’re like me, you spend an awful lot of time browsing the internet, playing Scrabble and reading books.

If you’re a birder, you might set your camera next to the sliding door on the deck and try to get shots of birds as they visit the feeder.

Sometimes you get lucky and catch a shot of a Red-Shafted Flicker during one of those few moments when the sun comes out

.

Red-Shafted Flicker

This year, though, you’re more apt to see a Varied Thrush in the shady area below the feeder.

male Varied Thrush

Which gives a chance to spend hours working with Aperture and Photoshop trying to get a shot that isn’t too grainy.

If you’re really bored and spend more time than usual looking out the window, you might see a female Varied Thrush hanging out, too.

female Varied Thrush

Of course, if you open the shade on a Sunday morning and see a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk staring you in the face you grab a camera as fast as you can and spend more hours with Aperture and Photoshop trying to make a picture emerge from the shadows.

juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

Later, when you see the juvenile Cooper’s Hawk sitting in the tree where the feeder hangs,

juvenile Cooper’s Hawk

you think it might be time to quit filling it with seed for a while so these neighbors don’t meet in your back yard.

2 thoughts on “Rainy-Day Activities”

  1. recognize the feeder dilemma, is it a feeder or a tray providing little treats for the coopers hawk. thanks for great backyard photos. kjm

  2. I thought of your earlier comment to this effect when my Cooper’s Hawk appeared, kjm.

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