March 13th, 2026

Let's hear a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOY!!!   Woohoo!  Best Happy wishes to the Birthday girl whose birthday, this year, landed on Friday the 13th which is why I am not the least bit superstitious about such things as triskaidekaphobia. (fear of friday the 13th - yes it has an official name).

Having a sister, this particular sister, has been one of the best gifts I ever received so naturally I wanted to make her birthday special for her.  When I asked what she wanted to do to celebrate, to nobody's surprise at all, she wanted to hike.  Wish Granted!

Happily the Birthday gods were smiling on us because even through most of the hike was rather gloomy and cloudy, there were birdies galore!  Another Wish granted! Joy especially likes to photograph wildlife.  Therefore this Photo Safari Report shall be entitled, The Birdie Birthday Hike.

First of all, I don't think we have ever seen as many cardinals before.  It seemed as if they were at every turn. Which does not mean we were able to capture each one, but we saw them, marveled at them, admired them and as always learned about them more and more.  For instance, the Mr. always makes sure the Mrs. is safe and usually hidden away, before he zips to another spot to either secure food for them both or to distract the potential enemy from the Mrs.   Chivalry is not dead, it's alive and well in the lives of Cardinal Birds.  Here are a few of the cardinal photos I got:

Then there were the eagles. Yes plural.  We have seen eagles in that particular preserve before so it wasn't a surprise, but it's always a pleasure!  Since it's nesting season for eagles right now, there is a barrier to prevent anyone from getting too close to the nest. But we could still see it from the trail (just gotta know where to look and what to look for)  It's a very long distance shot but still an eagle in the nest.  Then we began to look for the mate.  If there's only one in the nest (probably with the young) then the other one has to be  nearby.  Took us awhile but eventually, there he was in all his magnificent glory.

The Best of the Best though were the owls.  For whatever reason, I can never see owls.  I know they are around, probably in every preserve I've ever hiked. I just don't have the "eye" necessary to find them. And in fact, I've only ever seen one other owl on a hike. The only reason I actually saw it was that Joy was with me and pointed it out. I still couldn't see it but she persisted until at least, there he was!

This time however, we knew about the owls (and in fact specifically looked for them) because we happened across another hiker while we were out.  The other hiker had a pair of binoculars around her neck and she saw our cameras and after an exchange of howdy's asked if we were looking for birds. Joy was a little ahead of me on an important phone call, so I answered that well, we were looking for whatever struck our fancy while taking photos, but yes, sure birds were great.  She then told me that at the other end of the trail we were on, there were a pair of owls. Wow! She tried to describe the tree (in a forest of trees which makes it tricky) so in exchange I told her where to find the non-nesting eagle. Fair Trade.  I caught up to Joy and told her about the owls and off we went on the hunt.  

Naturally it was Joy who found them and once again, persisted in verbal directions until finally I too saw them.  Two Great Horned Owls!!!  They are huge by the way.

There were other birds, of course.  Loads of woodpeckers of every sort including the big old Woody Woodpecker looking piliated woodpecker who is unmistakable.  Anyway, here's a sampling of the others:

There was one more bird that we saw a lot of and that is the Scrub Jay.  Similar in colour to a BlueJay but totally different personality. These guys Love to be seen, love to have their photos taken. They pose and preen and show their personalities. Naturally, therefore, I took lot of Scrub Jay photos.  Here's a few:

Also got a few botanicals because it just wouldn't be me if there weren't:

And I guess that's about  it.  The highlights from the  Birdie Birthday Hike.   It was a great hike. Joy and I both had to ice our feet when we got home (she oddly, has a similar foot injury to mine!) but it was Totally Worth It!  

Thanks for coming along. I'll leave you with wishes for a terrific weekend and one last photo.  Bunny says, Bye, see you next week!