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Bird Brained Blogger
March 27, 2006 - 6:07 p.m.

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Oh, did I have a blog. Sorry. Not to worry. There hasn't actually been all that much going on.

I taught the last session of my class on Sunday. It went much better than the previous week. Mr. Tantrum didn't show up, so we were actually able to talk about things. I have one more paper to write, nothing major, and then that project will be entirely finished. It's daunting to think that two credits are riding on that class, in the form of a binder I'll be handing in. It's odd because I really haven't spent nearly as much time on that as on other aspects of ministry. But I suppose they can't grade pastoral visits and serving at altar.

Today I took a walk in High Park. I say walk, but it was more of a stroll. Even that's an overstatement because I stopped every ten feet to take a picture. My subject today was birds and you can see the results on my Bird watching page. I had a very good time and managed to snap shots of some birds that had eluded me...the Black-capped Chickadee, the Dark-eyed Junco and a good old American Crow.

A lot of these birds, I swear, know when I've gotten them in focus and am about to snap the shot. My camera is slow and just when it's ready - flit - they're gone. The Chickadee was like that for most of the day, the little jerk. Then I followed a tap-tap-tap sound into the woods and found a Downy woodpecker. The birding guide says they're tame...no kidding. This little guy let me get maybe ten feet away and held perfectly still for his photo. It was as if he wanted to have his picture taken. "Did you get your shot? No? I'll wait. How about this side, did you get this side? Super!"

Later, as I again tried to catch a cheeky little Chickadee, I saw another bird land on the branch just above me. It was the Downy woodpecker. At first I thought that the little diva wanted me to take more pictures, but then I noticed...this wasn't the male, it was the female. After I left he must have found his mate and told her that some guy was taking bird pictures. Wanting to oblige, she sought me out and posed. The great part was that, inspired by the woodpecker's example, the Chickadees became a lot friendlier. I managed to get a great shot.

O.K., I am the world's most boring individual.

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