My Patience Pays Off

Today I spent a couple of hours in the photoblind out at the Burris Ranch in the Little Lake Valley in Northern California near where I live. Being in a photoblind is a unique experience. Your senses especially hearing get very acute and you hear every little sound around you. Your sight becomes very focused on one small area because that's all you can see through the blinds viewing port.Today my sight was focused on a branch in front of me waiting for a Nuthatch to make its appearance hanging upside down so I could photograph it. My hearing was tuned to listening for the feeding call that Nuthatches almost always make when they come into feed. I could hear the raspy calls of the ravens in the pasture below me and the smacking stip, stip, stip of the Juncos on the platform feeder before me.There were Acorn Woodpeckers in the Oaks behind me with their incessant whecka, whecka, whecka every five minutes or so. I could even hear a lizard rustling through the leaves and grass beside the photoblind. After a long wait I heard the nasal call eern, eern, eern of a Nuthatch getting closer and closer. A Nuthatch landed on the branch and proceeded to explore it looking for food. When it stopped momentarily on one of its downward trips to the underside of the branch I clicked the shutter release. A quick chimping check of the screen showed me I had the image I was looking for. My patience really paid off. God's love and blessings to all, chris