A Day Of Memorable Moments

This post is in response to the Photography 101 prompt “moment.” I had intended to post it Friday and include only this first photo, which I took a few days ago, of a fun moment of motion captured in my backyard. I sat down at the computer, edited the photo a bit and uploaded it.

That’s as far as I got before I became distracted with the activity outside my kitchen door.

My neighbor’s chickens wandered over to peck under the bird feeders. Then a squirrel joined the party and began going through his gymnastic maneuvers to steal lunch from the feeder.

Neither of these things is an unusual sight in my backyard. What made it unusual was that even though it was the first day of spring, there was a steady picturesque snow falling.

How many more opportunities this year would I have to look out my door and see this scene highlighted by large fluffy flakes drifting down? Probably none, so of course I grabbed my camera.

I took some photos, did some work, and then began to process a few of the photos, but new and beautiful moments kept presenting themselves in my peripheral vision.

Time after time I found myself wandering to the door to take pictures. Throughout the afternoon I was constantly distracted by the activity outside. It just kept getting better.

When the deer wandered up to the feeder I was ecstatic. This is something I only get to see every now and then since they usually raid the feeder in the dark of night.

The  falling snow made it all the better.

I quickly corralled the dogs in the other room so they wouldn’t scare the deer by jumping at the glass door, and gave my son, who was about to walk outside, strict orders to stay put until I was done capturing the visitors with my camera. I was extremely pleased to get a few nice shots before an unknown something caused the pair to bolt.

Not long after, the red winged blackbirds showed up along with the grackles.

Grackles are scary, wary birds.

Now you see them…

…now you almost don’t! It’s amazing how the sparrow and cardinal are completely unperturbed by the sudden explosion of grackle wings that turned those three birds into vague black blurs.

Varieties of birds sighted throughout the day included the cardinal, purple finch, goldfinch, downy woodpecker, blue jay, chickadee, sparrow, tufted titmouse, grackle, red winged black bird, morning dove, junco, cow bird, starling, and of course, chicken! Missing was the nuthatch, red bellied woodpecker and northern flicker which I sometimes see.

I’m very fortunate to have this show of splendor outside my kitchen door, and for that, I’m most grateful!

Click an image below to start a slide show of all the photos I’ve included from that snowy first day of spring.

Squirrel acrobatics with a cardinal in flight.

A cow bird sits on the feeder with three female cardinals and a red winged blackbird perched nearby.

A starling and a female cardinal.

cardinals, sparrows, juncos, purple finch and chickadee.

Red winged blackbirds and morning doves.

Red winged blackbirds and a grackle

Grackles, a cardinal and a sparrow.

The cardinal and sparrow look on as the grackles disappear in flight.

A tufted titmouse waits for his turn at the feeder while it’s occupied by sparrows and a cardinal.

Cardinals, chickadees, a sparrow and a goldfinch.