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The last year that we owned our house, a pair of flickers chose a dead tree near the deck to build a nest and raise their young. We got a "bird's eye view" of it all. The couple began by coming to the tree for several days in a row to check it out. Next, they pecked an almost perfectly round hole into the tree. They flew in and out of the hole for several days, bringing nesting material with them. One day when I was home in the middle of the day, I saw a starling go in the hole while the flickers were away. The male flicker came home to find the intruder. As I watched, I heard a lot of squawking and saw black feathers flying out of the hole. The starling managed to escape, and he never tried that again!Soon, there were baby bird noises coming out of the hole in the tree. I borrowed a 35 mm camera with an extended lens and a tripod, and sat out on the deck for hours, waiting for a good shot. I was rewarded with several photos of the flickers feeding their babies. All too soon, the babies grew and fledged, and it was over. What an awesome summer that was!
It's Friday, and I have been in training all week. Part of the week, I was the student. Part of the week, I was the instructor. Either way, training is always exhausting to me. On top of that, I have also been doing tasks outside of the classroom---cleaning, organizing, straightening of the entrance station; last minute things to get the campground kiosk and the entrance station ready for opening day, which is Friday, May 15th.
One of my tasks today was to ride out to the entrance station with the campground host to unload a pickup truckload of wood for our wood stove out there. We use it as our heat source on cold mornings. The weather here has been unseasonally warm, and very warm compared to last year. This time last year, we still had snow on the ground. It was below freezing every morning. We had to wear our winter coats every day. 
This year, though, it is warm and sunny and gorgeous. Just the right weather for courting. Just look at that guy! There were a couple of girls out there too, but they ran for the woods as soon as they saw our truck. Not Old Tom, though. He was really strutting his stuff, right down the middle of the road like he owned the whole place. OK, so he DOES own it, we are the intruders here, but he was making it clear that it was his and we could just wait. 
Just look at him. He took his sweet time going across the road. He puffed up his chest feathers, and spread out his tail, and made a LOT of noise. At times, he would turn around to look straight at us, and hiss (or croak, some awful noise), just to let us know just who was boss. 
He finally got over to the side of the road, but just look at that self-assured, high stepping strut! I only wish I had a video camera, because he did look like he was doing a little dance, The Turkey Trot, maybe. He dipped, and fluffed his feathers, and turned around in circles. 
After he got to the other side of the road, he was not finished. He didn't run off immediately looking for the girls. Oh, no! He wanted to intimidate US and show off for THEM, showing them how brave he was. 
Finally, we slunk off down the road, and let him think he was The Bomb! What a treat for a tired old lady on a Friday afternoon!
Thursday when I was working the morning shift at the entrance station, there was a little puddle of water on the road from the rain the night before. Lots of birds were coming by to splash and drink there when the traffic was slow. This beautiful guy came by several times. I'm so glad I got a pic of him before the traffic picked up.
