December 10th, 2021

After a two week break which felt like two months, Joy and I were back out there on Wednesday this week.  It felt so good to be hiking again, cameras in hand that I think I will call this Photo Safari the Glad to Be Back Hike.  Because I really was.

We went to Oscar Scherer State Park this time.  Honestly we chose it for one specific reason which is the eagles.  A month ago, when we last visited that park, we noticed eagles high in the sky, scoping out their old territory.  By now, we assumed that they would have either left for a new spot, or began nesting.  We were correct with the first guess. There was indeed an adult bird in the nest.  It was hard to see at first since their nests are very large and very deep, only the tippy top of the head was visible but that was enough.  Baby birds are on the horizon. Yay!

We saw other birds too of course.  My hands down favourite is the Scrub Jay.  They are so confident, so arrogant, so comfortable with themselves and their environment that our presence does not bother them in the slightest.  Consequently, their photos are almost always the best of the lot:

Scrub Jays seem to love having their pictures taken.  They pose and preen and patiently wait for us to snappity snap away.  They don't shy and jump and hop from branch to branch.  And they don't hide either.  They were right there, clear as day, easy to see and even easier to take photographs of.  I do love these critters.

The other birds are beautiful, make no mistake.  Just so much harder to get pictures of.  They move very quickly,  they are, probably wisely, extremely cautious around humans and seem to love hiding deep in the foliage.  I managed to get a couple of pictures anyway:

There were still a few pretty flowers to be seen, despite the cooler mornings, which by the way, warmed up nicely.  We started out wearing sweatshirts and ended up wearing them tied around our waists.   I'm not complaining, when I say cooler, I mean low 60's or upper 50's.  Anywhere else people would probably be wearing sleeveless shirts and saying what a gorgeous day it is.  For us, those temps are a little snappy.  

What was I saying?  Oh yeah, flowers.  Found some pretty ones even though it is now December.  Isn't that a lovely thing to be able to say, flowers growing outside in December? There's a few berries in this collection too.  They also make me smile.  If you look closely you might noticed a few tiny spiders and ants too:

There were loads of butterflies and dragonflies but I only captured one of each.  They were somehow in a crazy rush to get somewhere and my skills just aren't up to their speed!  Oh well.  I did get a wasp too. That must count for something:

You know how I always save the rando files for last right?  That's because I was raised to always save the best for last :)  Here you go:

The plan is to hike again next week. Not sure where yet, but we will figure it out.  And at some point toward the end of next week, there ought to be another Photo Safari Report for you.  Hope you enjoy!

​And have a wonderful weekend!