Close encounters

...on my Sunday hike on our land.

With the wind chills in the slightly below zero range, I thought I'd break out the fox and protect my eyes at the same time while walking across the open places. 

One of the very first encounters that surprised me was blue birds. Blue Birds!

They were in and out of a box elder tree that sheltered them somewhat from the winds. There were plenty of plant bits and seed in the snow near the tree and in the field.

Lucky me, I got a shot of one.

I decided then to walk into the valley and go find the area of the creek where the underground spring still kept a small area open for water. In years past I've find all sorts of birds feeding in that area in the winter. 

Last year on Christmas day I found Robins in this same area. Over the years I've found different species that I thought should have migrated!

When I got to the valley, I felt the colder air from being in the creek bottom. Granted it was not windy, but I was in the shadow of steep hills and surrounded by a frozen water and land.

Just ahead of me a yearling deer stood up awkwardly. It stared at me and didn't move. It stood for a long time. I recorded it with my cell phone, took photos with the phone and then slowly pulled out my camera.

It simply blinked at me from the other side of the deadfall.

I took several shots and moved a bit to try and get a shot without the weeds in its face.

Still it stood and watched me. Then I realized that it was cold. I mean like shaking humped up cold ... or it was injured.

I kicked myself for not bringing my pistol, if it was injured, best to put it down so it wouldn't suffer.

I decided to get closer. That is my gloved hand in the photo so you can see how close I got. I talked softly and babbled a bit. It shook, then slowly turned around and tripped through the rest of the downfall.

She stopped for a drink in the open water and slowly and on shaky legs started to climb up the sunny hillside.

I wondered if she/he hadn't bed down in that spot to avoid the winds from yesterday and just got too cold. I've found other deceased deer in the creek bottom over the winters with no apparent injuries. 

Nature takes its course.

I found the area I was curious about and was happy to see a small area of open water.

This is where most of the odd birds gather during the winter, Robins and Bluebirds were here last year on Christmas Day.

No such luck on Sunday. So I headed back up the hill to the sunshine in the meadow near my house. Halfway up the hill I stopped to catch my breath and look back on the opposite hillside.

The deer was eating. Then it lifted its head up and watched me.

Don't be fooled by how close it looks, it was easily 500 yards away on another hillside. I stood and watched for a while and eventually it dropped its head and continued to browse. As it walked, I could see the stiffness was gone so maybe it was just so cold when we ran into each other.

Birds and roots

 I wanted to go see if any Swans, ducks, or other birds had shown up near the KVR Ponds so Charlie and I took a little trip to walk the trails around the ponds.

We saw geese. A lot of geese! 

The water in the foreground is still frozen on this pond. 

On the large pond though, the geese were lined up on the shore where the winds weren't blowing. At first glance it looked like they were turtles all lined up.

I wished that the viewing blind that the Reserve put up wasn't facing the sun. However, it is fun to sit there with binoculars and watch these characters chatter and flap their wings. After all, I felt good getting out and enjoying the sunshine. 

The ponds were a bit of a dud but that didn't matter much. We wanted the fresh air and anytime getting off the farm feels like a bit of a vacation.

We wondered around Harrison Trail and down a little known footpath that encircles one of the smaller ponds. On a good year it is really quite wet and muddy. Only a few places required some leaping from log to log and grass clump to keep from getting my feet wet.

We found cool tree roots...of course...

Now that tree grew sideways and UP!

Charlie had the best time, he chased a family of red squirrels around and around on the base of this bluff before they took off and climbed a pine tree.

Ahhhh! We did find some birds!

I found 3 little ones hiding alongside a bluff out of the wind. I didn't know that Cardinals, Bluebirds, and Sparrows hung out together.