This Downy Woodpecker was so intent on eating its breakfast, it let me get very close. If you download the photo and then zoom into the branch, it is just possible to see his beak impaled into the branch. Neat!
I raced in a Nordic ski marathon today (42k), and was very tired when I got home. I wanted to find a quick photo for this 365 project. Thankfully a flock of mallards obliged, and I practiced stopping their action / flying in mid air.
In Minnesota during the winter, if one finds the food source or open water, then one finds birds. Otherwise the landscape may seem dead in terms of our feathered friends. This little pond stays ice free in spots throughout the cold winter, which therefore becomes a mallard magnet.
One mallard has decided to go and join some friends on the other section of open water, thus “time to fly”
