I and the Great Blue Heron: Stinkers.

This is my first Blue Jay photo. I was wishing for a better one but a few irritating things got in the way. The mighty Blue Jay! A common bird, but never seen at my house.

The campus Dean and I hung six feeders on our small Wildlife Habitat yesterday. Water sources will come soon. Planting will be postponed until spring and that is if we have some measurable rainfall.

When you see a woman standing motionless, looking upward in a treed area with a camera around her neck, what would you think is going on?

I realize it’s the season of happiness and good will but I don’t want to be bothered while I’m watching birds. There were six or seven Blue Jays, a few Chickadees and Titmice, Eastern Bluebirds, Dark-eyed Juncos, and a male Red-Bellied Woodpecker in the trees this morning. None of them had found the feeders yet.

Mr. Cheery Face waddles on by - an older gentleman who gives his time, free of charge, to tutor students in language and math. Bless his heart.

“What are ya doing?” he inquires.

For a moment, my eyes met his and I whispered, “Watching lots of birds”. I raised the camera to my face.

He’s hard of hearing and yells, “WHERE?”

I'm thinking: In the freaking trees! Just chill, moron, and scram! Stop moving and jumping around, too.

He inquires, “Are they exotic?” (Oh, my God.)

I'm thinking: Read my lips and Shut UP, will ya?

I didn’t get any action, except for the Blue Jay.

Outwardly, I was nice but impatient and nasty inside. A genuine Stinker, I was.

This is exactly why we are moving the seating area to another location. She obviously didn’t realize cigarette smoking is not what birds need and she was screwing up my photo opportunities.

What else could cause more commotion! Before noon I went inside, cleaned up my office, watered the lobby plants, and hit the road to enjoy Day One of my Christmas break.

I had time to run errands and to make a few stops along the way. Belted Kingfishers are crazy. There is no effective way to sneak up on them. Believe me, I’ve tried. If you can't see the blue spot in the middle of this photo, click to enlarge. Enlarge the next one, too.

Darting straight away, across the pond, tree to tree. I am a very skilled stalker and this bird is really on to me… Getting a good shot of a bird in flight is my goal but it’s very difficult with a slow focusing camera. I’ll be using this camera for a while, so I’ll adjust and practice.

It’s been several months since I’ve seen a Great Blue Heron and a good look at the Stinker made my day. For those who don’t understand the nickname “Stinker”: A GBH made regular lunch hour visits at my house in Maryland and Delaware because of its insatiable appetite for goldfish and Koi. It loved them TO DEATH.

Noticing me now,

and getting annoyed and frightened…

My time to honor and gaze at this majestic bird only lasted about two minutes. Dang! What a thrill.

You can fly but you can’t hide from me, STINKER.