Little Birds and Big Deer

When I arrived at the park this Saturday morning I parked on the south side just to be different. I started my usual clockwise route but noticed a very small little bird hoping around near the ground by the small pond just off the parking lot. The lighting wasn't that great and so all I could make out at first was the silhouette. Though I'm not yet that familiar with them I began to recognize it as a Wren. Wrens don't seem like a common species in this park -to me anyway- as I'd only captured my first photo of one earlier this summer. Surprisingly I was able to inch my way closer and bend on one knee to get a better view without scaring it off. It scurried around quickly from one small log to the next, picking at various things near the surface of the water. I thought I'd never get this close to one again and so I snapped a vast amount of photos, hoping I'd eventually get something worthwhile. It was awesome to watch one this close up and get to see some of the tiny intricate patterning that makes them almost invisible against tree bark and natural textures. I'm not very sure but I would assume the species is a common House Wren. On the north side I was focusing on some more birds when something much bigger caught my eye. Against the tall cattails stood an enormous Buck with an 8-point rack. I'd barely noticed him and I'm sure he noticed me first. Even when it was clear to him that I'd spotted him, he stood as still as a statue not moving an inch. I took a few photos of him with different settings and he still never moved. I didn't noticed any Does around and so it looked as though he was alone. Looks like there will be another set of antlers to be on the lookout for come next spring! Earlier in my walk I'd spotted a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets but was unable to get a decent photo. This species is probably THE toughest to get good photos of as they seriously are changing positions approximately every one second. Most times about all you can do is to point and click wildly over and over trying to keep up with them and then hope somehow you managed to get one in the frame! Kinglets are becoming quite familiar to me now and I know a few things to look for -aside from their characteristically energetic behavior. They can be strikingly olive-green in color, have very obvious wing bars and eye-rings, but most of all it's the time of year that helps me realize what I'm seeing is a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. They are active and easy to see in early spring but disappear for most of the summer and now again are quite common in the fall. I would say there are more of them at the park in the fall than in spring but that's just my observation. I was pleased to realize after looking at this photo closer that I'd captured a male -as evident by the tiny bright red patch on the very top of his head.