Last week, here in Southern New Jersey, our temperatures were in the single digits. Thankfully, this plummeting into frigidity occurred after the heavy rains, and although we had a coating of ice for a few days, we did not have the mountains of snow that northern areas experienced.
Today, the sunlight warmed the air, and I grabbed my coat and camera hoping to find an area in the woods near me to photograph once a week in 2023. I found this sweet spot, a trail created by a thoughtful, though unknown person, bordered with fallen limbs. Ground pine and holly trees give the scene some winter color. I think this is the perfect place to photograph weekly to watch the changes occur in what is growing and changing.
My next thought was to capture several photos of local birds, perhaps I’d come upon some blue jays, juncos, cardinals, finches, sparrows, titmice, woodpeckers, nuthatches, chickadees, all the lovely wintertime birds who visit my feeders. A few images of them in their more natural habitat would be perfect. I wasn’t having any luck until I turned a corner at the edge of the woods and spied a flock of what I thought were sparrows or juncos. A flash of blue feathers confused me for a moment. No, could it be? Yes! For the first time in my life, I gazed on a flock of bluebirds.
I didn’t have my ‘readers’ on, inexpensive glasses that help me see up close. I didn’t know if my viewfinder was locating the birds. I kept on trying, click after click after click. I had no idea until I was back home and downloaded them if even one image had a bluebird in it. Most of my photos were blurry or missed my subjects completely, but some captured the beautiful bluebirds. Oh, Happy Day! I had a few good photographs.
I’m so glad I followed the advice of, “Never Give Up!” My motto for One-Liner Wednesday.
“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison
MINDING MY P'S WITH Q 
Nothing better than blue birds. I have one or two …sometimes….but they and birds in general are few and far between. I think it is an over population of cats that is the cause. The cats are all outside cats and while I do get tired of buying feed they have kept the mouse population down.
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I have seen bluebirds alone, or in pairs, but never have I seen a flock. It was a most wonderful sight. They were very steady and unperturbed, they saw me, and still didn’t fly away.
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We had unseasonably cold weather here for the past 4 days, but today the sun warmed things up and the birds were singing away. Pretty photo of the blue bird, have a Happy New Year
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Happy New Year to you too!
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You had a very exciting walk. Thanks for sharing your photos.
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Thanks for ‘walking’ along with me.
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What photos you do have here are beautiful.
My phone is always with me so my photos are mostly blurred. I prefer my old Canon but its big and bulky.
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I have a small Canon, it is what captured the photographs. I find my phone doesn’t do well with close ups. I bought a contraption that fits over the camera on my phone, but I haven’t had success with it yet. I’m going to have to hope there are some YouTube videos of others figuring it out. Happy New Year.
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Bluebirds are the best.
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Yes!
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