FLYING

(April 5, 2010) This morning, though the trees are showing more foliage, there seemed to be more birds about in the lower branches. I saw my first goldfinch this year as two of them played around in the trees, and there were the hyperactive chickadees and bluebirds.

The cormorants gathered in a group of 6 on the log in the middle of the river, and the ducks and geese were carrying out their spring mating rituals, though they seemed less stressed since some were nesting and others were hanging out with their own sex. I got a great shot of a female mallard as she stood cautiously watching Sadie - her usual male counterpart was nowhere to be seen.

I told Elizabeth last week that I had heard, somewhere along the way, that the male birds were more colorful so they could distract a potential predator away from the nest of the female and eggs. I'm not sure if that is true, but as I stood on the hillside near the restroom at the public works department, I saw a pair of cardinals eating something off of the ground. As I approached, the female flew a little distance and the male stayed put. As I got nearer, the male flew toward me and then off in location where he could still be seen. As I walked toward the female, the male made his appearance again in a threatening way (as threatening as a cardinal can be) and stood between the female and Sadie and me. And then he walked off as if to suggest that I follow. We walked around the birds and left them there as we ventured further down the trail.

Each morning I start taking pictures of anything that moves thinking that I might not see anything that is more interesting as I walk the trail. Each day I am wrong; there has yet to be a day where I didn't see something that was more unique or more beautiful than the day before. Today I noticed the birds flying - the Canada geese and the mallards. The pictures of the geese, in their formation against the morning sky, and the picture of the two mallards, in their colorful dress, provided me those moments again.

The pictures not posted here include some very interesting chickadees and goldfinches and, of course, the beautiful female mallard. If I have a morning when I don't see something unusual or beautiful, I'll go back to my files and go right to April 5, 2010 - another beautiful day on the Riverwalk.