An Extra Friday

Today is Friday the 28th of November and the day after Thanksgiving. I had an additional day off of work today so of course I went to the park. It was a dreary, overcast day and every photo I was taking was turning out dark. I didn't even know until later when I got home that the first bird I spotted today was a White-throated Sparrow, a bird which I've not seen for quite a long time and I'd assumed they had left for the season. There were hundreds of Mallards congregating in the Duck Pond on the southwest corner but no unusual ducks among them. Finally I had a great photo opportunity at a Blue Jay that perched right in front of me. And I completely blew it and this is the least-blurry shot I got. For whatever reason Blue Jays are very difficult to photograph. One would think because they're such a common species that it would not be hard, but just try getting close to one in the wild! Shortly after I spotted a Great Horned Owl perched high up on the trees but he was too far away for a good photo. I took some non-the-less but nothing worth sharing here. Probably the busiest area for birds today included House Finches, Tree Sparrows, Chickadees, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I'm still trying for better photos of House Finch as they can be a very pretty bird. But with the light being what it is lately I'm lucky if any of the male's violet-red color shows up at all. I was happy though to get photos of both the male and female House Finch today.