A day in the woods...

I may not have had the luck to have a deer walk by me yesterday, but that doesn't mean it was an uneventful day in the tree stand.

As to be expected there were chipmunks and squirrels to watch but there were also lots and lots of birds.

The mixed winter flocks of Black-capped Chickadees, Tufted Titmice, White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers were going about the business of searching every nook and cranny for insects and spiders and their eggs. Several times during the day they swept through the trees around me and stopped to inspect me as well. One lonely Yellow-rumped Warbler accompanied one group and a solitary Dark-eyed Junco came by as well. The Juncos are usually a low brush or ground group, but this guy was up at eye level to see what I was up to.

The Blue Jays also came to investigate, but they kept their distance whereas the Chickadees lit upon the branches right next to me and at an arms length. Every time the Jays started calling they got my attention. Sometimes they will call at anything that moves in the woods. In the past this has meant a fox, raccoon, or deer is on the move. Yesterday, whatever got them excited had business elsewhere and I saw nothing.

Overhead there were American Robins, Morning Doves, Crows and Ravens. From a short distance away but still out of sight, came the hammering and call of a Pileated Woodpecker. near the end of the day, a Red-tailed Hawk swooped in to do its own hunting along the power line and seemed either pleased with its catch or upset with my presence as it screeched off after making a dive into the ferns.

During the day, I was able to listen to folks on the ridge to my west felling trees for lumber, and down the hill to the north they were cutting firewood. A little further to the north, there's a guy who has a motorcross trail cut through the woods and he was out riding his bike for several hours. I hoped that all that noise might drive a deer or two to the relative quiet of my hillside perch but it didn't happen yesterday.

As evening approached there was a crash of a dead tree about a hundred yards from my stand. There was no wind so I've no idea what made the tree fall. But I was there to hear it. And it raised my level of alertness. I thought to myself that perhaps a bear was searching for ants or honey.

So, while my purpose for being in the woods--to kill a deer--was thwarted, it was not a complete waste of a day. It seldom is when there's so much to observe going on around you.