If Critters Had Cameras

  The hidden critter game that I recently created for my grandkids has proven to be more difficult for me than for them.  Finding and photographing critters blending in with their surroundings is not as easy as getting a clear picture.  My photographic skills have taken a turn for the worse, it seems.  The kids can spot critters a mile away and I cannot seem to get one to hide from the camera.  They all WANT to have their picture taken.  Perhaps this generation of "selfie" photos has gone too far.  If critters had cameras, I can only imagine what would happen.

  This afternoon, I hiked back down to the creek just for the purpose of finding another camouflaged creature.  While there were critters galore, none wanted to play "Hide and Seek".  It was rather like "Hi there!  I am a warbler!  Take my picture."  This was the thought as they nearly flew in to sit on the camera lens.  Then, I spied a red-bellied woodpecker.  Aha! The laddering colors on its back should help it to blend in with the tree bark!  It did......but that bright red head was a dead giveaway.  There was no way that the kiddos would miss that!

  After an hour of tromping in knee deep ferns, arrowhead plants and spider lilies, I aborted the mission and headed back to the house. Tomorrow is another day, I told myself.  Tomorrow, I will find the coyote crouching beneath the magnolia limbs or the fox hiding behind the palmetto fronds. Tomorrow, I will stumble across the alligator sunning next to a rotted log or a bobcat dozing between the gnarled, old oak roots.  Yep, tomorrow is another day.