Even Birds Enjoy Lunch

If you’re reading this, you must be taking a break. A lunch break perhaps? As the day unfolds, lunch seems to arrive so quickly. We enjoy stretching that break out as long as possible. Just one of our many retired life perks.

Lunchtime is a little slice of joy in the middle of the day.

Watching and Feeding the birds is our Sunday Stills photo theme. Our hummingbirds are seasonal in southern Idaho. So, it was a treat on a recent southern Oregon visit to catch my friends hummingbirds enjoying themselves. They have a full time hobby keeping these colorful guys fed.

I have a feeder ready for next spring so I can take care of a few hummingbirds!

Being surrounded by fields, we have a decent hawk population. The overhead squawking always makes me pause and glance skyward. Sometimes squinting is required to locate the source. They effortlessly fly so high up that my lens just can’t reach them. I wonder how they can see their prey from so high up.

The hawk with a perfect aim, strikes and captures its prey, as it demonstrates both power and precision in its flight.

Capturing them with their lunch is apparently easy. Well as long as they’re in lens range. This was captured with my iPhone 11 Pro. It’s not a great zoomed in image. I went back to the same location later with my zoom lens but they had moved on. There’s always next year.

Chasing birds with my camera is always fun but rarely rewarding. We’ve enjoyed visiting the North Platte River in Wyoming multiple times. Even in 100 degree weather it was pleasant to be outside in the shade of the truck where I couldn’t stop tracking numerous birds fishing for their lunch. Wikipedia identifies this as a Caspian Tern.

The birds are fed, not by man’s care, but by the bounty of nature.

John Burroughs

There were birds by the dozens zooming every which way. This particular bird finally sighted his catch. He came in slowly gliding lower and lower and with a quick turn dived into the river.

What are you catching for lunch? Whatever it is, make sure it is accompanied with a break. Even retired, I find a mental and physical break in the day is a worthy investment.

About the Photo Challenge

A weekly themed photo challenge hosted by Terri. Check out her Blog and come back to visit for more SundayStills and traveling posts!

More Sunday Still Posts

Thanks for visiting our Retired Life & Travel blog and I hope you enjoyed finding the #SundayStills Challenge. You can join the weekly challenge by visiting our hosts blog Second Wind Leisure. and checking out Terri’s post for this week, Watching and Feeding the Birds.