January 15th, 2021

Well that's us,  Joy and I, out there at it again.  Photo Safari Time!  It  is a very rare week indeed when we don't manage a hiking with cameras day.

We left early as we usually do, but this time it was with the intent to beat a rain storm that was heading out way. It was chilly and gloomy and, before we finished,  a little sprinkley, but we were prepared.  I had some plastic grocery stores bags in one pocket for cameras and phones and a small zippy bag for hearing aids in the other.  Joy brought her backpack for anything that needed to be protected.  We were ready!

The theme of this hike ended up being woodpeckers.  We have never EVER seen so many of them on one hike! Oh My Gosh they were everywhere. They are fast too. They zip by like little rockets. And even once they find a place to land, they rarely hold still.  It's all ratatatat, or popping in and out of hidey holes, or hopping around to the back side of the tree only to reappear an instant later, upside-down on a branch.  Oh they are tricky little devils.

And still, I have photos. Of course I do.  A lot of them. So get ready to be inundated with pictures of Woodpeckers! (each of these is a different bird, I swear!)

Of course we saw other birds too.  And to be fair, we did go from one preserve (Deer Prairie South) to another (The Rookery) so we didn't find all of these birds in the same place.  But it counts because it was on the same adventure.  Well it counts in my book and since I'm the one writing this, well, you see where I'm going.

Anyway here are some of the other birds we saw:

As always, I got carried away taking pictures of trees.  Sorry, you can skip this part if you want.  I just adore trees.

But then, I'm a big fan of flowers too:

And, as usual, I saved my favourites for the last.  The photos that defy categorization:

If I've been remiss in telling all of you that I appreciate you willingness to indulge me in looking at all of my photo safari photos, then shame on me.  Thank you!  Thank you very much.  I genuinely appreciate each and every one of you!

Have a GREAT weekend. Meet you here again on Monday!