I decided to try birding up in the hills near my home. It’s a productive birding area in the summer and I’ve found flocks of horned larks on another winter. This was a decidedly different trip. On the way out of town I spotted starlings, robins, crows, house sparrows, and eurasian collared doves. So my hopes were high.
I drove up and over the hill towards Arbon Valley, there were no obvious birds, This would mean I’d need to pull over and wait and watch. I only had a couple hours of daylight. I burned almost an hour driving and looking and enjoying the snowy scenery. I pulled over to check the shrubs near one of the popular snowshoe/hiking trail heads. There were seven or more black capped chickadees hopping around the bushes. I tried to take a picture of the flittery far-away cuteness but as you can see, or rather barely see in the photo below, no real luck. And of course as soon as one landed nearer the battery on my camera died. Yes that black and white spot near the center of the image is a chickadee.
I keep a spare battery in my purse, so I swapped it out. Of course this took too long and the birds were gone. I checked my phone to see when sunset would occur only to find it almost drained of power. I got pulled up the recharge cord I keep in the car only to find out that it had been damaged and no, I wasn’t going to be able to charge my phone. Oh well. I continued my slow drive back, stopping in parking areas and pull outs. No luck. Except for a pair of mule deer crossing the road.
I then headed towards Inkom, thinking that maybe I’d find some birds in the bushes and scrub near human habitation. And YES! there was a lovely line up of starlings. Not the most unusual of birds, but they were posing. I got one picture, and it didn’t turn out well and then that battery died.
At that point I figure it’s a sign and I went home.
— Jenny
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