My family and I recently visited the West Bloomfield Woods Nature Preserve near our home. We’ve visited once before but this visit was much better. The second we walked up to the trail, we saw two young white-tailed deer – one male, one female. I was pretty pleased, as I’ve never seen tiny antlers sprouting on a deer before. The moment was pretty cool, as the male deer didn’t seem bothered by us at all. We watched them graze on the vegetation for a while, took a few photos, and eventually moved along.
After saying so long to the deer, we continued along the trail. I was trying to zone in on a bird high up in the canopy when my five year old daughter ran up to me excited about a great egret she spotted in the swamp. She was gifted with a pretty cool set of binoculars that take pictures for her birthday, so she had those with her. I turned around to follow her and realized she and my husband had found a wooden boardwalk overlooking a gorgeous moss-covered marsh. The sun was beating down so it was quite warm but apparently the birds love it. To my surprise, there were Eastern Phoebes everywhere! I’ve only seen one in the past – actually at the same preserve – but my photograph was less than adequate. This time I had my pick! I snapped and snapped, taking way more images than I needed, but I didn’t care. The feeling of capturing a new bird is addicting. I’m quite pleased with how my pictures came out. There’s something to be said about being in the right place at the right time – when we came back to the boardwalk on our way out, the phoebes were nowhere to be found.
Not to discount the great egret my daughter was so excited about – I actually find them quite boring. They are very common birds and are only exciting to photograph when they are ready to strike for food or taking off for flight. Otherwise, they’re like statues. Don’t get me wrong, they are stunningly beautiful birds. I have some amazing shots of the great egret. I just don’t find them exciting to photograph. However, I was super excited that my daughter was excited – and that she knew what bird it was. Knowing that she’s always watching what I do is humbling, to say the least. I am so proud of her and can only imagine what must be going through her head when she spots a new bird! How much fun it must be to be five.
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– Allison, BRB