I ventured into a Scarborough park this morning to search for a reported Red-headed woodpecker. I figured that because of the cooler weather at 7 a.m. the mosquito menace would not be as intense as it was the last time that I went. After sleeping an hour later than I had planned I didn't manage to make it for 7 o'clock and arrived a half hour later. By then the temperature had increased a couple of degrees above the 15 registered before I left home. Except for the clue that a Red-headed would most likely be where there were dead trees I had no idea where to look. While watching a flock of blackbirds excitedly feeding on a tree-supported vine (grapes would be completely green at this stage) I spotted a flicker perched high in a White pine just preening itself and catching a few morning rays but it was a little too far away for my lens. A Downy that joined the blackbirds flew over to me and hovered in front of my face. Hovering is not something a Downy can do with aplomb. It did this a few times. After I walked away that woodpecker followed me everywhere, always alighting on a nearby perch either to the left or the right of my path. After a while I started talking to it. It occurred to me that this scenario would be a perfect opportunity for me to pontificate without censure.
A women standing in a fork of the path was shielding her eyes from the sun and calling to me but my name is not Matthew. I looked at the Downy and of course it was looking at me. I looked behind me and the woodpecker may have done so as well, I don't know, but there was no one else around. She realized that I wasn't Matthew but told me about a deer further down the path. That's when I discovered a boardwalk coursing through the woods with lots of dead trees on the west side. Oh ya, bingo, that must be where the Red-headed was sighted. I never even knew about the boardwalk. No sign of the RHW but I did see the deer and two fawns. I was going to take a shot of the fawns but I sensed that the doe was nervous about me doing that, as evidenced by it coming straight toward me, something which deer generally do not do upon initial meeting. I backed-off. Besides at this close range my 420mm was useless. Also, I was stationed in the shade, without a breeze, and therefore as good as fresh meat for the mosquitoes.
