Tokay Colony Bird

Tokay Colony Bird, originally uploaded by mhall209.

I need a bird blind. A portable job that I can hold in front of me as I walk along with my camera. I have heard that birds recognize the human shape and are scared. But If you can hide behind something they are not afraid.

So I had an odd confluence of events today that had me not carpooling with my wife, and had no after school committments. So I had some daylight hours on my hands. I took a route home that I rarely get to take. I crossed a little creek I later learned is Bear Creek and I saw a number of these birds in the water. I turned around, found a safe spot along the road and parked. The sign said it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle, but didn't say anything about walking along the creek, so I stepped over the fence. Literally. It is a short fence.

I walked along this really nice, level, wide trail that parallels the creek. This is a very nice place to get out and stretch the legs on the way home. Count it as a score! But each time I got near enough to the birds to maybe get a shot they all flew further down the creek. So I walked further down the creek. It was a really nice walk on a really nice sunny day. But I was not getting a shot. I finally realized the shot was not going to happen, and turned around to make my way to the car.

That nice safe spot I left my car in wasn't such a great spot to get out of. Cars were going by really fast. When I finally got back on the road I was going the wrong way! At the first cross street I took a left turn to get turned around. As I was just about to pull back onto the highway I saw something out of the corner of my eye. This guy was about 15 feet from my passenger window, and not scared! Down went the window, up came the camera, and I got a bunch of good shots!

Turns out the car is a pretty good bird blind! .