In The Thick Of It

Sometimes people are surrounded, enshrouded, wrapped or blanketed by nature. Sometimes we go to see them specifically in the thousands.  And sometimes the thousands cover us unexpectedly.....

.......and while humans are distracted, a Coati eyes up a photographer's car, smells the crackers in the front seat of the open car door and...........

........the photographer becomes overwhelmed with emotion as thousands of Yellow-headed blackbirds flock around him.  Everyone stops in their tracks, pulls out their cell phones.......and watch the spectacular show Mother Nature is providing.  All of it.....unexpected.  A birder watches non-birders enjoy the beauty of it all and it makes him smile.  Would this moment spark somebody into birding?

These moments don't always last long. Sometimes only a few minutes.

He knows that he must act quickly, but his fingers aren't quick enough.  He fumbles the toggles and gets the lens ready for manual focus.

And sometimes, it's an epic fail as the photographer gets caught up in simply.....observing.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, the Coati gets closer to the photographer's car.  He crosses onto human sidewalks, jumps up effortlessly from the rocks onto the cement and approaches the open car door.

Cranes land.  Blackbirds deafen humanity's ears.

And the Coati has gotten too close.  The photographer slowly moves to his vehicle and shuts the door.  His buddy also sees the Coati moving closer to her and she doesn't know whether to flee or keep snapping pictures:)  Eventually, he gets too close and she backs away:)  And then the Coati disappears into the forest again with his friends.

Meanwhile the photographer scares up ducks by accident and almost has a heart attack.

When these moments come to pass, he is always grateful to have experienced them.

January is coming to a close.  As we get closer to the end, I'll reveal more big adventures from our Big January. Stay tuned for more!