Late Spring Entries for April

Well, hello trail buddies stopping in. I must apologize to you all. I knew that spring would come, and along with spring came the longer days of light. And that is my excuse for being behind and away from my desk and away from my rocking chair by the fireplace. Keeping up with my daily journal has been a task in itself, recovering all my thoughts with all that I've been doing. Spring came and as you can see from my last entries, I was off into the mountains with the baby blue skies and warm temperatures. With April also came the return of all kinds of waterfowl and song birds. In my back roads driving, some roads still very soft and muddy, I managed to make it through and see and locate a lot of different types of waterfowl as well as some birds. The Barrows Goldeneye, a waterfowl I stumbled upon, is seen here in an open hole in the ice in a beaver pond. The Barrows Goldeneye is a diving duck, feeding and building up its strength to fly farther north. Even in spring I still wear my camouflage, blending in with my surroundings. In this situation, being still and patient, waiting on the side of a half frozen beaver pond; I found when this duck would dive for food, that's when I would reposition myself for a closer view. And was pleasently suprised that over time I got very close and got some nice pictures of this duck.

With several days spent around this beaver pond, camouflaged and leaning into the sides of the built up mounds that are the results of a industrious beaver, knees over a period of time getting wet and cold, I managed to blend in and even have a few unexpected visitors. This Lesser Yellow Legs landed on the ice right in front of me and started poking around. Well, over several days I had put some much needed time in with the expectation of seeing and photographing some waterfowl. I got more than what I bargained for. Again two favorite words of mine come to mind - Patience and Persistence!

Well I will back be with more ending thoughts and tales of April for you all and will continue on into May and June as well. See you down the trail somewhere.

Buford T. Porcupine