Three days earlier, on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning we received our first snowfall of the season. It actually accumulated to about an inch of heavy, wet and sticky snow. It was kind of an odd thing because many of the trees have been late to turn color this year. So we had some brilliant looking Maple Trees looking almost out of place against the white covered ground. But as expected it all melted within about a day and a half. The snow was followed by much colder temps and this was like the final blow to the trees that had still been holding their leaves.
This photo here shows the same Maple Tree along 69th Avenue on November 3rd on the left, and today November 9th on the right. This same thing happened all over the place and there is no denying now that winter is lurking just around the corner. Only about half way into my walk I ran into a good friend of mine who was also out in search of birds. So we paired up and walked together for the remaining half of the loop. We went off the main trail many times hoping to see better sights and we finally did come upon a Northern Shrike! It was perched in a large shrub out into the cattails a ways. As we've both learned to do, we approached it only 4 to 5 steps at a time, took photos, then repeated the process. It's actually quite a good method for photographing birds or any other wildlife. You never know exactly at what point you're going to "bump" the bird (or other subject) so you take 1 or 2 photos at intervals while you continue to advance closer.
But with the Shrike I didn't quite make it as close as I'd hoped. I expect I will have many more opportunities though this winter season. Near the end of our walk we went off-road one more time and flushed up a group of Mourning Doves. I quickly pulled up my lens and snapped this shot before the bird flew off a second time. I was really happy to see how well it turned out. I always joke that I'll take photos of
any bird that is very close to me. But the thing is, even with very common birds like Mourning Doves, Robins or Chickadees, we don't often get to see them so closely.
A good close proximity photo can really make you appreciate just about any bird. I previously wouldn't have guessed that Mourning Doves have such a beautiful blue, almost turquoise eye-ring.
This photo here shows the same Maple Tree along 69th Avenue on November 3rd on the left, and today November 9th on the right. This same thing happened all over the place and there is no denying now that winter is lurking just around the corner. Only about half way into my walk I ran into a good friend of mine who was also out in search of birds. So we paired up and walked together for the remaining half of the loop. We went off the main trail many times hoping to see better sights and we finally did come upon a Northern Shrike! It was perched in a large shrub out into the cattails a ways. As we've both learned to do, we approached it only 4 to 5 steps at a time, took photos, then repeated the process. It's actually quite a good method for photographing birds or any other wildlife. You never know exactly at what point you're going to "bump" the bird (or other subject) so you take 1 or 2 photos at intervals while you continue to advance closer. 
But with the Shrike I didn't quite make it as close as I'd hoped. I expect I will have many more opportunities though this winter season. Near the end of our walk we went off-road one more time and flushed up a group of Mourning Doves. I quickly pulled up my lens and snapped this shot before the bird flew off a second time. I was really happy to see how well it turned out. I always joke that I'll take photos of any bird that is very close to me. But the thing is, even with very common birds like Mourning Doves, Robins or Chickadees, we don't often get to see them so closely. 
A good close proximity photo can really make you appreciate just about any bird. I previously wouldn't have guessed that Mourning Doves have such a beautiful blue, almost turquoise eye-ring.
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