Raising Kids

It didn’t take long today before I realized it’s been awhile since I’ve been at Belfair, nearly a month it turns out. First, the Redwing Blackbirds weren’t busily defending their territory around the pond. Of course, it took seeing this

juvenile Red-Winged Blackbird to make me realize they weren’t defending their territory, because the chicks have left the nest.

I didn’t manage to get a decent picture of a Goldfinch perched on a Canadian Thistle, but I did get this picture of one feeding two chicks that seem considerably larger than her

which probably explains why she won’t stop long enough to get her picture taken.

Of course, it’s not only the birds that are busy raising the kids, as shown by this doe and her fawn trying to decide which way to go

when she got caught on the trail between two walkers. I was surprised when the two of them didn’t bolt off the trail. As it turned out, I ended up backtracking nearly a quarter mile before the doe decided that she would deign to let the two of us pass. Even then, I had to shush the fawn off the trail so it would follow its mother rather than trying to pass me on the very narrow path.