Just Four Feet Away

 Once upon a time, tucked away in a corner of southeastern Tennessee, lived a teenager. One brisk, cold January morning he awoke to snow....lots of snow! Like, 8 inches of snow! In all the accumulation, even the driveway wasn't visible.

 For several days this teen and his family stayed put as much as they could, venturing out only when absolutely necessary. But on the Third Day of Snow, this teenager ventured out into his backyard--with his camera.

 Just like in the front yard, millions and trillions of tiny white snowflakes covered the backyard, and woods too. If he looked closely, he could see animal tracks in the snow...sure evidence of midnight visitors. (see below)

 Who was there?

 But the snow and midnight visitors weren't the only attraction outside. There were the birds!

 Sparrows, tufted titmice, goldfinches, chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals, and more frequently visited his family's bird feeding station.

 They were beautiful, stunningly gorgeous.

 Midnight visitors in the snow were forgotten now. Now all he tried was to capture the fleeting, winged beauty his eyes were constantly seeing. The teen's camera shutter started going click-a-de-clicking in the bird's direction.

 Immediately all the birds flew away, staring, watching this intruder from the safety of the trees. Whatever was that black box he was carrying, and why was it pointed in their direction?

 The titmice were the first to come back. But just for brief periods to get a seed or two. Then they'd fly away.

 When the teen would move his camera, all the birds would fly. But occasionally, he would catch a fairly good shot of his winged friends. Unlike the titmice, the chickadees were more wary of this intruder on their feast in the snow. When they came back, they kept more than a half eye open in his direction.

 But slowly, the birds realized that this stranger wasn't going to do any harm, and they came back and fed. Click-a-de-click-click went the teen's shutter.

 The titmice were to be found in all sorts of positions. Sometimes on a tree, but when at the feeding station they often weren't sitting up straight.

 The teen had grumbled before, but now he was happy his mother had made him stock up the suet feeder for the birds. The photos--and experience--were worth it.

 Who cared about the cold? The teen was dimly aware that it was cold; but the urge to be still, quiet, and capture good pictures strangely diminished his thoughts of how cold it was.

 Finally, the teen realized how cold he really was and that he had other things to do inside. But forever after, this teen would remember with fondness the day when he was just four feet away from the birds, capturing beautiful pictures.

"Just Four Feet Away"
A Story by Tennessee Photobug

P.S.--Guess what? I was actually the teen in this story, and these are my photographs I took this afternoon. I thought the birds were just soooooo lovely! We really do have this much snow right now. We got a ton this past Monday (about 8 inches), and much snow accumulation still remains. Hope you enjoyed the photos and story too. :)