Snowy Black Squirrel

There is something really great about hiking in the snow that you just can't find otherwise. It's the really cool pictures you get. Without the snow, some of these pictures would be just ordinary. But with it, anything you get seems to have a special quality to it.

I found this black squirrel sitting in this tree eating an acorn. The snow was falling all around, and it seemed to highlight him around the edges. And just seeing the little animal out there in the snow seemed to give the whole scene a magical quality.

I think that without the snow I might not have ever shown you these pictures. The squirrel is little more than a silhouette. I'm really glad I went out there, because I think I'm enjoying my winter hikes this year. It wasn't nearly as fun last year, maybe because I didn't have the same variety of places to go yet.

Now I can go to a few places that aren't quite as big, just in case the weather is bad. Some of the places I went last year were a little more dangerous than I like to go very often. I visited one of those recently and almost injured myself again. This year I can play it safe when I want, and I can see cool little critters like this black squirrel!

Until tomorrow, The Winter Adventurer, signing off.

The Power Of Flight

I have something fun for you today. Well, I think they're fun every day, but this one was fun for me to get. I'm bringing you a flock of robins that were taking an opportunity to get themselves a wintertime meal in some small trees. The fun part is that some of them are in various stages of flight!

First, I think this is similar to a post I wrote a few days ago called, The Birds. They both include several shadowy photos of birds flocking in barren trees. The difference is that this time these birds were only a few feet away from me. One almost flew into me!
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There is a main trail that leads into the forest where these robins like to gather. It seems that there is plenty of food for them in and around the trees here. I've seen other birds here as well, but mostly robins. Robins on the ground, robins in the air, and robins in the trees.

When I was on my way back to the front of the park, I encountered this noisy flock of robins gathered in the trees here. They were flying around back and forth. Some were staying on the same branches for several minutes before moving on, and some would only stay for seconds at a time.

When I saw that the flock wasn't going to leave just yet, I decided to take my time and get the best examples of them in their back and forth flight as I could. The only regrets were that I wish the lighting was better, and I wish I would have remembered to get some video.

Sometimes pictures are the best way to show some things though. Showing a bird frozen in flight can only be done with a photograph. No video can capture that long enough for you to sit there and study the pattern of the wings and the shape of the bird like a photo can.

This whole thing was really tricky for me while I was out there, because I was trying to move in as close as I could while trying to keep them from flying away or dropping little birdy bombs on me. It was still a fun experience, even with that last risk.

When I decided to finally leave them there, I had to walk directly under the whole flock. I pulled the hood of my coat up over my head, and then hunched over to look at the ground as I quickly made my way through that awful gauntlet. I'm happy to report that none of them even tried to get me with their little homing missiles.

With that final thought, I'll leave you for today!