Madera Canyon - Day One

(Staycation backblip #1)

My first morning in Madera Canyon started out a little bit unusual. Most of the time, it's the loud pecking of Acorn woodpeckers waking me up. This time it was an enormous flock of yapping Mexican jays.  When I opened the door, there was a young coati on the porch. It scooted away as soon as he heard the door. The weirdness was not over. As I sat in the chill having breakfast and drinking my coffee, a male Rivoli's hummingbird hovered about four inches from my face...then pooped on me.  Ahhh...nature in all of it's glory!

It was very quiet bird-wise, though I did see more birds than I photographed.  Among them were a Bewick's wren, Canyon wren, Cassiar dark-eyed junco and the backside of an Elegant Trogon. There were also the usual, plentiful suspects: Mexican jays, lots of juncos (yellow-eyed and a variety of dark-eyed), lesser goldfinches and Acorn woodpeckers.

As I was gazing high in a tree at the Trogon, I noticed a mule deer sauntering down the road. I was on the bottom edge of a wooded area. From past experience I knew what path it wanted to take. So I did my best statue imitation. It started down the hill then stopped and stared  at me. It continued proceeding down the hill very slowly, stopping, staring and moving closer several times. I didn't twitch. Eventually, it got within five feet. Again stopping to stare, it finally moseyed into the woods behind me.

Experiences like that (and seeing and listening to the birds, poop and all) is proof that it's sometimes better to take it all in without racing for a shot.

Juncos~ Clockwise from top left:
Oregon, Yellow-eyed, Yellow-eyed, Red-backed

Day 2 blip
Day 3 blip