Downy visitor

I woke up at 6:45 this morning, exactly the same time as yesterday and the day before. The sun was out; I could see the bright pale yellow shining on the piles of snow outside the condo. I grabbed my clothes, carefully set out last night so I wouldn't wake Dave up this morning. Jim & Julie had to go back to Seattle last night, and I'm so glad they invited us to stay another day.

First things first... start the coffee. I was heading to my favorite spot in the great room, a comfy sage green loveseat near the window, to log into the computer. On my way, I opened the blinds, and there he was: a male Downy woodpecker in complete control of the birdfeeder on the patio. There were two much bigger Stellar jays hopping around on the snow, anxious for their turn, but the Downy wasn't budging.

He stuck around for a half hour, happily digging out black sunflower seeds while I snapped his photo through the blind slats. His single-mindedness gave the perfect opportunity to play around with camera settings, to see what gave me the best shot.