An hour's walk from my home takes me to a nature preserve near a reservoir. I can walk the trails and enjoy seeing nature in the wild. Seeing works fine, but hearing is a different story: the drone from the model airplane field and the sharp pops from the neighboring gun range are inescapable.
I brought my little camera along in hopes of photographing wildlife. As I walked and scouted out suitable subjects, the only creatures that I saw were birds. A gorgeous red-tailed hawk flew past me but was gone before I could unholster the camera. A soaring pelican was making lazy circles over the reservoir but was too far away to photograph. Two interesting birds were near at hand -- a tiny, blue-tinged wren and some kind of yellowish woodpecker -- but neither bird wanted to settle down and pose for me. Therefore, I gave up on the skittish birds and trained my camera on a more reliable subject: the nature trail. You can count on trees and grass to stay put.
