Into The Quiet
The forecast for this morning was for light snow throughout the morning with temps rights around freezing and little to no wind with cloudy skies all day. I decided it was time to spend time walking the perimeter of farmland in Deerfield that I have permission to wander around on. I left the house at around 6:10 and the sky was still pitch black - no stars and no moon - just beautiful dry fluffy flakes falling down. I followed the Town sanding truck for most of my short 15 min drive to the farmland.
Now please come along with me as we go into the quiet…Not a sound anywhere other than the distant faint hum of early morning traffic on Rte 91 in the distance. Soft beautiful flakes silently coming down everywhere.
I knew I had to be careful because as beautiful as the snow was it was covering the ground including any icy spots - so I took smaller steps than usual today and really took my time. About 10 minutes into my walk I spotted a Red-tailed hawk up in the tree in the very early morning light.
I continued on and just as I turned the corner a few cows were coming out of the barn and one stopped and made sure it got a very good look at me! The snow was really coming down now.
A song sparrow -
I looked up just in time to see a flock of Starlings land in this gorgeous tree.
I walked quite aways in one direction and it was starting to get too icy underfoot so I turned back and decided to head over to a corner of one of the fields where I like to spend time. I took a little break and set up my tripod and thought I would just wait and see if anyone came my way… sure enough - this gorgeous Bluebird stopped over for a snack.
As soon as he ate this berry he flew to my right.
I picked up my tripod and camera and continued along until I saw this spectacular Junco land in these weeds.
A little further along another Song Sparrow -
Then this stunning male Cardinal was to my left -
Can you see the shy Junco hiding in the middle of this shot? Can you sense the quiet?
From a distance I thought those curled up leaves were birds… as I made my way closer I realized just another beautiful plant…
The following three shots I will re-live forever…. the snow was coming down at its hardest but I decided I wanted to continue to stay out. I was set up watching an area that has a lot of high grasses, clumps of grasses, weeds etc. I usually have luck in this spot seeing small birds. I was waiting and waiting when all of a sudden a bird came flying in low over my head from behind me! I was having a hard time tracking him as he was going so fast and so low and then I saw him land a decent distance in front of me in the tall grasses. I kept squinting and trying to make out any movement when he burst out of the tall grasses and flew out extremely low and fast and gone in a flash! While this was all happening I was saying to myself - this is a Short-eared Owl!!! I felt it was this type of owl because of the acrobatic moves it made just before and after landing in the tall grasses - just like the moves I had seen them make in 2021. And because for one millisecond it looked right at me and I saw its face. Unfortunately you will see that this owl was on a mission and that mission was to keep going away from my direction so I don’t have any front on shots. These are not good shots at all but the best that I could do. I want to share them with you as I have not seen a Short-eared Owl since Feb. of 2021 - so to say this was a thrill is an understatement!!
I put all three shots into the Merlin app when I got home and all three times it said it was a Short-Eared Owl - so I will use that as my confirmation of this species! I do know that Merlin is not always right but I feel confident about this ID… :)
As usual after an exciting moment like this I had to catch my breath and let my heart calm down so the last shot of the day helped me do that…
I hope that you have enjoyed some time in the quiet with me…