I went down to the breakwater today and went to the corner across from the hatchery. A couple of mergansers that had been there swam off over near the far shore on the other side of the hatchery when they saw me. I sat and waited for some time, hoping they might come back to where I could more easily watch them. After deciding it was probably getting close to time to go back home and then to office hours, I went back through the playground and started down Lincoln street in order to take a short cut through the woods. Before cutting up into the woods, I decided to take a look down at the beach and saw that the mergansers were headed back toward the breakwater. Perhaps they were just waiting for me to leave.
At the edge of the trees I heard birds nearby, so I paused to listen and look. I noticed right at my eye level a small bird flitting about in the brush and lower branches of trees. It was a female ruby-crowned kinglet. I also saw above me a male golden-crowned kinglet. Its coloring seemed especially vibrant in the afternoon sunlight. Thinking that I might be able to get a picture of the ruby-crowned kinglet, I slowly took out my camera. It stayed nearby until I had my camera completely out and ready to take a picture. At that point it flew off into the brush a good distance away. That seems to have happened a few times recently. The birds are willing to accept my presences until I decide to take a picture. Maybe I’ll just try not to think about getting pictures of birds until I learn to be a little more subtle (or get a telephoto lens).