Good Day Sunshine & other Musings

The first two pictures are to show you the glorious sunshine I get in my back yard every morning between 7-7:30am. I use this time to look out the window with my camera as my son gets ready for school. The glorious light guarantees a sharp picture which is a welcome contrast to last month when most of my backyard stayed somewhat cloudy all day. I am savoring while I can because we will be setting the clock an hour ahead this weekend and when the sunshine hits my yard this perfectly each morning, I will be at work. Sigh, I guess I will have to wait another month or so for the days to continue to get longer to take advantage of it.

The picture below was at about 6:00pm this evening. I was in the Target parking lot when suddenly I could see a lot of bird activity up in the trees. I watched them for a while and decided they had to be starlings given the size of the flock. I got out of my car to enter the store when suddenly I could hear the sound of robins coming from the sky. I looked up and watched them join the flock. I went over to the trees as much as I could and found out they were all robins!!! This is only one tree that you see. There were two other trees as packed as this. My guess is there were approx. 200 robins in the Target parking lot! Perhaps they are some of the migrants moving north? I go to this Target store every Wednesday and have never seen them before. It was very interesting.

I saw a glimpse of one of the falcons today which was a huge relief. I had not seen them since last Thursday and I was getting very concerned given the last snow fall we had. Every time I went outside I would go to all of their favorite places and not see them. I would pass by the security guards, the parking lot attendants, etc and they would all nod their heads no and hunch their shoulders when I looked at them with inquisitive eyes. They too were concerned because I was concerned. :oP. I know one should never get too attached to wild life but I can't help it with this pair. They are so special to me that I think of them often and hope they are doing okay. What I think may be going on is they are in the middle of building their nest and are not around as much. I am hoping I can get some photos tomorrow as the maintenance man told me I could go on the floor where they perch for some up close photos.

Finally, I have an admission to make........I am addicted to my camera. I love the sound it makes when I turn it on the the slight buzzing noise I hear when I zoom and unzoom my lens. I have not had much of an opportunity for photo taking the past couple of days and it has made me cranky. Birding is my addiction, but the camera is my method of delivery. Kind of like a shot of scotch for the drinker and a cigarette for the smoker. I can be totally stressed out and all I have to do is find something to photograph and all of the stress melts away as I place all of my focus on the perfect picture. I get a slight spiritual buzz from it that is hard to explain. I will be quitting smoking on April 1st so am anticipating I will be substituting that addiction to my camera addiction even more. Woo Hoo for migrating birds and flowers that should start appearing around that time. More things for me to photograph! ;o)