It’s a good thing it was beautiful and sunny yesterday, because it sure made up for this morning’s blustery and bone-chilling 18 degree-wind chill and very gray sky. But all was not lost in today’s dull and dreary day, because I managed to snag a few shots of the heron who was daydreaming and didn’t see me. I got a tip from fellow walker Mike that “the big bird” was down near the water so I should keep my eyes peeled for him. And I did and that adventure will be shared later.
This post is about yesterday’s trek – I wanted to crow about reaching my walking miles goal yesterday, so I held onto these pictures and my tale. As you know there’s always a tale to tell.
Yesterday was cold as well, but not so blustery. I got down to the Park and after doing the meet and greet with the squirrels, I set out on the trail.
I’ve been overfeeding the squirrels so they don’t have to go into their respective, long-term stashes and I’ve been giving them five or six peanuts apiece. I try to drop a little pile for each of them, though that doesn’t always work, because sometimes one of them thinks I’m not doling out nuts fast enough and they raid the other squirrel’s nut pile. I hate having to be the mediator, but sometimes it is necessary – kids!
Interestingly, it is not only the squirrels raiding each other’s peanuts. From high in a tree, the Park birds have a perfect perch to gaze down on what is happening on the perimeter path. You might recall in the Spring, there were a pair of cardinals that routinely swooped down and snagged peanuts from the pathway, with the squirrels sitting a mere foot or two away from those peanuts. This misappropriation of peanuts caused consternation on the part of the squirrels. I even went and bought safflower seeds to entice the cardinals to fly to the ground for those seeds, (a favorite of cardinals), to no avail. This went on for a few weeks and I never saw another cardinal all Summer or Fall.
Until yesterday.
Yesterday, while the squirrels were feasting on their peanuts, I was feasting my eyes on two beautiful birds – a male cardinal and a blue jay.
First, from his high perch, the blue jay was eyeing the peanuts I had scattered for the squirrels. He watched a squirrel enjoying that nut …
… but decided not to pursue snatching one for himself since there were too many people on the path at that time. But it didn’t stop that jay from glancing down.
I walked a little further down the path when Mike, one of the other walkers, stopped me, and, in a hushed tone, asked “have you got your camera, because look at that beauty in between the branches over there?”
The cardinal, just like the jay, was eyeing those peanuts on the path, but, as I inched closer to get a better picture, that cardinal nonchalantly turned his back on me.
Shortly after snapping his picture, the cardinal, obviously braver than the blue jay, threw caution to the wind and swooped down to ground level and walked over to help himself to a peanut.
The squirrel, who was suddenly minus one peanut, looked stunned! If you could read his mind it would be “hey, what just happened here?”
The blue jay remained, at the top of the tree and peering down at the commotion on the path, the commotion being squirrels, fellow walker Mike, me and a guy who came along with his two dogs. I had the camera out and was freezing my fingers off anyway, so I asked for a photo with the dogs. “Sure” he said, and HE complied, the dogs not so much.
I moved along and stopped near the cement landing to take a picture of the vapor rising up off the water.
The mallards were paddling away, seemingly oblivious to the mist, which concentrated itself in some portions of the Creek, but not everywhere. For example, across the way, the weathered trees cast an amazing reflection on the water …
… and that didn’t faze them either.
It’s been ages since I took any shadow pictures at Council Point Park. Do you remember how I’d rate the sunny days on a “shadow meter” sometimes? The notion of rating a shadow is pretty hard to do with the sun so scarce these days.
I saw some spooky-looking tree shadows on the perimeter path.
I decided to try and get another picture of Parker and me and our shadows. One of my all-time favorite pictures from the Park is this one of us from back on March 5th of this year:
After I took the picture, I looked in the display window at my shot. I had to laugh at my Long, Tall Sally shadow on the perimeter path. Parker was busy noshing on nuts and his shadow was nothing more than a flicked tail and snout to the ground, but I look like I’m wearing stilts don’t I?
I noticed the sun’s rays were getting stronger, so I hung out with Parker, doling out a few more peanuts, (much to his delight), as I awaited a chance to get another shadow shot, but anything I took were just pale imitations of the shot back in March, as mentioned above. Surely, there will be other sunny days down the road!
A little sunshine is good for the soul – I walked five miles and felt ready to take on the world.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Miss Linda……………………….I noticed that the temperature on March 5 was the same as yesterdays…………………..we’re in for a long haul of nippy weather…………………………………….nics pictures
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That is interesting isn’t it Ann Marie. I sure do wish it was March 5th and we were headed toward Spring and not headed toward Winter – I don’t have to ask if you agree with me! Glad you liked the pictures and wait until the next post. The heron was not in his usual place – he didn’t see me and I got some pictures (hopefully they came out well – I’ve not looked at them yet) but then I went to leave and saw a second heron. That is a first. It was very blustery and cold down there this morning. Like a January or February day – 18 degree wind chill!
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I loved your shadow picture.
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Thanks Anne – I know it was a silly type of picture but I felt like a kid taking it … I looked like I was 10 feet tall!
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Great story and pictures, Linda!😊 Love this squirrels who act as they is tame. The cardinal is sure a beautiful bird.
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Glad you liked them John. Those squirrels are so funny and tame like your own pet dog. I was trying to take pictures of the cardinal and trying very hard not to make any sudden movements or noises to startle it as I knew it was just waiting to grab that peanut when the squirrel wasn’t looking. Then another squirrel came over to my shoes and put his paws up on the toes – he was looking for peanuts and I had to stop to give him some… I think those squirrels own me!
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You have a way of presenting that keeps me captivated.
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Thank you – you must be a nature lover.
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You are welcome and yes
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I thought so.
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Those pictures are priceless!
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Glad you liked them Zena. I think those roly-poly squirrels get more adorable every day and the looks on their face sometimes – well, I don’t have to tell you about looks on animal’s faces. 🙂
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Hehe, that first squirrel looks huge!! 🙂 And I am glad to see Parker happily munching away. 🙂 xxx
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A fellow blogger asked me if I read about the two foot squirrel in North Carolina. He is like that big steer that is in Australia (his name is Knickers). He stands several heads higher than the rest of the herd. This tall squirrel is two feet tall at least – he would eat you out of house and home. {{{ }}}}
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2 foot! That’s one big squirrel! 🙂 xxx
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I know Heather – isn’t it? I am going to look at your link this afternoon – I was actually walking and taking pictures all of yesterday unbelievably and got some cute duck pictures from yesterday when I went to elizabeth Park – you are going to love them! Have a good day ,,, we have cold weather today – extremely cold, in the teens. And snow end of the week unfortunately. {{{ }}}
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Great photos Linda! I especially love the shadow one!
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The incidents of the sun have been so scarce, I just had to try for another “Me and My Shadow” picture with my favorite Park buddy. Glad you like the photos Sabine.
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We’ve had a sunny but cold week here and tomorrow the rain is supposed to start so there will be no shadows here either.
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It will be an indoors day for you Sabine and a good book. I am going to take advantage of a few sunny days … very rare and especially on a weekend lately. I’ll get down to the River and was waiting til it got a little warmer, a mere 20 degrees now.
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Love the “shadow pictures” of the park, especially the one with you and Parker. Those birds have some nerve, stealing the squirrels’ peanuts!
I was happy to see the picture of Mike. You have written about him before. It’s nice to put a face with his name.
I think I told you I have a big walnut tree bordering our yard. The squirrels love those walnuts, and I see them carrying walnuts back and forth all autumn long. One time, years ago, I saw a blue jay swoop down and “thump” a squirrel on the head with his beak and steal his walnut right out from under him!
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I’m glad you liked those shadow pictures Laurie. I was so happy I got that first picture in March – I was taking pictures and saw how our shadows lined up so perfectly and thought I’d try it again … it was great to see the sun. Actually, that wasn’t Mike, but I will show you his picture in a link below, the guy with the dogs was someone in the Park, I wasn’t very clear in my post … he happened to walk along with the dogs and the cardinal made a quick trip down to grab the peanut before the guy and the dogs got there, but the blue jay was reluctant (which surprises me because I don’t have to tell you how agressive they are, you saw what they did to this squirrel and his walnut – I can imagine the squirrel and the look on its face when this happened). The dogs didn’t pose too well but it looked comical that he was smiling and the dogs were looking the other way. Here is a picture of Mike feeding the squirrels. Mike is a former high school football coach and he is retired now after he had a heart attack. He walks four miles a day in the Park – you know what he does the first entire time around the Park? Mike brings a grocery store bag with him and he has a stick and picks up all the trash in the Park as the City doesn’t do that, they just collect the trash from the trash barrels. Mike pick up trash and walks two miles, then goes around the entire Park a second time just for walking only and to feed the squirrels. He is nice and if we pass on the path, he’ll tell me what critters are out that I might want to take a picture of – he knows how elusive the heron is. He feeds the squirrels by hand, with or without gloves on, by holding the tip of the peanut to them. I know you can tame squirrels and hand feed them but I’m reluctant to do so – my luck they would be so exuberant, they’d bit off a finger!
https://lindaschaubblog.net/2018/04/30/hurrying-and-scurrying-along-the-perimeter-path/
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Oh, my mistake. I thought the picture was of Mike. What a nice man! I agree with you – don’t hand feed the squirrels. You are so popular with them, you would probably be mobbed and overrun! One winter I made it my mission to get chickadees to eat out of my hand. It was a very cold, snowy winter, so I was successful. I had to look away from my hand for them to approach me, though. If I was watching, they would not approach.
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That’s interesting about the chickadees and I think I mentioned my friend Carol feeds the birds and while filling the chickadees’ feeder, they can’t wait and come over and eat it out her hand. I’d be afraid with the squirrels – the day Parker put his front paws on my bare legs (I had the short socks on as it was Summertime) I was a little taken aback – he meant no harm, but I was surprised in case he got startled and his claws dragged down my legs.
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seeing a cardinal like that is so rare- you always amaze me with what you capture!
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Thank you – and back in the Spring, there were a pair of cardinals and they’d scope out the pathway for peanuts – they would swoop down and grab them while the squirrels were eating a peanut and feeling secure that the rest of their treats were theirs. They swoop down and go back up to the tree in 15 seconds tops!
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