January 01st, 2021

Wednesday was Photo Safari Day!  And I must say that while it was a beautiful day and a nice walk in wonderful company, it was not an especially good photo day.  Nothing interesting or exciting happened.  There were no feral hogs to run from, no olympic leaps over unexpected bodies of water or home made bridges built over the same.  We saw no deer or raccoons or rare birds.  We did not stumble across brand new surprising trails or even rescue bicyclers with bike issues or lost hikers. We were not surprised by finding giant log frames or old shacks or a congregation of alligators. It wasn't freezing cold, we did not have to fight off hordes of killer mosquitos, there were no waterfalls or horses or cows.  We did not get lost or dehydrated, I did not break my glasses and nobody was attacked by a mean spirited vine and fall down. (All of those things have happened to us though!)

Instead it was a nice but a rather uneventful and even ordinary walk. Ho Hum.

I did get a lot of tree photos.  Sometimes I am just so wowed by how beautiful trees are that I snappyity snap them and miss other things.  (this time though there really weren't any other things to miss)  The thing about taking tree photos is that they always look so much better to my eye than to my camera eye.  I'll share the some of  the photos but I promise you that they looked ever so much better in person:

For the majority of this hike we saw no birds and heard very few. We were wondering if they all  were on vacation.  And then suddenly we came upon this one curve that was birdie central.  So Many Birds!  They were chattering and hopping and flying back and forth and hiding in the branches and in general making it very difficult to get their pictures.  I got a few though ;)

Ok that part was really cool.  We could have just stood there and taken shot after shot after shot of birds. But our necks were getting sore from shooting UP and I was getting a little dizzy from tracking them as they flitted from thither to yon and back again. So eventually, we moved on.

There were no more bird photos but I did get a few wild flowers.  Just a few.

We decided a couple of things.  First that we need to hike some other preserves and parks for a little while. We know the ones here in Venice too well and need a change of pace.  Also we think we need to start the hike a little bit later.  Apparently in the winter months, the birds sleep in.  And one of the things that helps to make a good photo an even better photo is light.  Winter light doesn't really warm up as early as we've been heading out.

So that's kind of it.  Still had a great time because we always do.  But next week we will have an even better time because we will be hiking a different preserve!  I'm exciting at the prospect of finding something NEW and possibly even exciting!

Don't worry. You know I will share.  Whether you want me to or not!  teehee

​Have a great weekend!