April 1st

Saturday, April 1, 2017

This day was beautiful. 65 degrees and full sun!

Paul and I sat out in our ground blind this morning, and everyone was out moving around. On our walk out we heard our Barred Owl pair hooting back and forth, saw a rooster pheasant run through the trees, and throughout our sit the Sandhill Cranes were screaming at each other, no doubt defending nesting ground.

While we didn’t see anything other than birds and squirrels while we sat, it was incredible how close the birds would come and sit by us. This female Downy Woodpecker was especially fun to watch.

After sitting for over an hour and a half we decided to walk to a different area of the woods. Paul cruised out ahead of me, and I took my time mainly because I was trying to spot one of the owls. At one point I looked up, and saw a White Tailed Deer bounding through the brush to my left. Paul hadn’t seen her as he was still walking out ahead. A split second later, a loud “crash-crash-crash” came from my right, and a second doe was coming right at me, scared up by Paul. She was in a panic, bounding right for me; I raised my camera but she was too close. At about fifteen feet out she finally saw me and made a last minute dive and changed course. It was INCREDIBLE. Like nothing I had ever experienced before. Something a camera can’t capture.