The Thrill Of The Hunt

I heard the sound of the bird high above in the tall tree. After I identified its precise location, I slowly and stealthily moved into position to do what I had to do. I lifted my arms to bring my camera up to my face so I could look through the viewfinder to line up my shot. Then just as I was about to press the button the bird flew away!

I quickly moved the camera away from my face so I could scan the tree for any evidence of the little bird that I was hunting. After a quick search I found the little bird a few feet away from where it had been before. I would now go through the process all over again. This time as I readied myself to press the button, I hoped things would turn out better.

And in that instance that my finger pressed down on that shutter button a sense of great triumph washed over me because my little target stayed in position. I had gotten him!

I've said many times before that taking pictures of wildlife is very similar to hunting. They both have that thrill of the chase that gets your adrenaline pumping. It's a very good feeling. The only difference is that with taking pictures your prey is left safe and sound afterwards.

Taking these pictures actually helps me understand hunting. That thrill is a good thing. I could be a hunter, but I don't like the killing. Thankfully, we now have modern supermarkets where we can get our food. This way most of us normal people are sheltered from the gruesome act of having to kill for our food.

Hunting in this modern age can still be a good thing though... as long as you don't become obsessed with the joy of killing. When that happens, you know it's time to stop. Killing should only ever be thought of as a necessity. Feeding yourself is a necessity. If I had to hunt and kill an animal, I would thank it for its life and mourn its death.

It's all just something I think about.

...And there went the little bird! I caught him in flight with my very last shot as he flew away to freedom. That's what I call a happy ending. We both got what we wanted. I got the thrill of the hunt, and I got my pictures. And the little bird got to keep its life.

I also got to write another post within only a couple of days of my last one. You all know that I've had terrible difficulty writing for the past several months. But why is it flowing so well all of a sudden. I'll reveal the embarrassing truth about that in an upcoming post. Until then, I hope you enjoy my pictures of this wonderful little bird who's life I happily celebrate in this post.

First Cardinal Of The Year

It only took a couple of days for winter to go away and the temperatures to reach into the 70s here, just like I commanded. I gotta tell you, after my command worked so well, my ego is bigger than a house. Is it going too far to now command up $1,000,000 for myself?

Anyway, I took this warm opportunity to go out and do some bird hunting, with my camera of course. It didn't take long for me to hear some very familiar sounds. The call of a cardinal is one of the few that I always remember.

I began searching the trees in the direction from where the sounds were coming, and, sure enough, there was the cardinal sitting about 2/3 of the way up the tree just singing his bright red heart out. i heard similar sounds coming from somewhere else a little farther off, but I didn't try searching for that one. I was happy with this closer bird.

Cardinals are some of my favorite kinds of bird because the males stand out so well, and they stay in one place for long enough to get a few pictures. What more could you ask for?

Just a little update on the Google+ photo storage. I've uploaded about a year's worth of pictures, which is a ton for me, and it hasn't counted against my storage limit at all. I've decided to store all of the pictures from my hard drive on there.

I've also decided to try to share bigger pictures here, but not too big, so that they download about as fast as before. That should work out well. I think everyone, especially me, will be happy that way.

On another note, my new blog Windows 8 App News is taking off much faster than I ever hoped it would. Readership seems to double each day. I'm really excited about it. I've never had another of my sites move anywhere close to this fast.

Back to the birds. I've been taking the opportunity that the warm weather gives me to be outside constantly, and it is paying off. Birds are everywhere this time of year. I've seen everything from very timy to huge flying around here. I love that!

I had a lot of pictures of this cardinal and I had to get it down to my few favorites. I think I did pretty well, even though I had one more than usual. I have plenty of other good ones, but most looked similar to the ones you see here.

I'll be be back soon with either some other good ones I already have or some new pictures, whichever seem right at the time. I don't want to post too often after posting so little just recently. I don't want to burn myself out or go too unexpectedly fast for you. But I feel like my writing floodgates have opened for the time being. Talk to you soon.