Guardian of the path

Is this photo showing as my main photo, or as my second? Hopefully not as my main shot, as it is a grainy, poor quality image!

I have been taking so few photos recently, so am now having to dig into my archives most of the time. The few times I have been out, I have either seen nothing or nothing that I can photograph. I am longing for a day out with tons of things to see and photograph : )

This was maybe one of half a dozen photos taken on a walk at Bebo Grove, Fish Creek Park, on 14 February 2017. Poor light in the forest resulted in a grainy image, but this little Red Squirrel was quite amusing. There he was, right in the middle of the narrow trail we wanted to turn on to. He scampered a few feet from the path, found something to eat and returned to the middle of this trail, as if to say this was his trail and we were not allowed. He kept repeating this behaviour, until finally we felt brave enough to face this fierce wild animal, ha, ha. Thought this was quite a cute shot, despite the poor quality.

I left my group of friends part way through the long walk and returned to my car. Just before reaching the parking lot, a group of about 8 deer came running along the hillside. It was obvious that something had startled them - maybe a coyote or someone's dog that should have been leashed?

From Fish Creek Park, I decided that, as I was already part way there, I would call in and see if the Northern Hawk Owl was still to be seen. It was, but during the 10 or 15 minutes I was there, it was on the top of one high power pole or another. Not good for photos. Many people seem to be saying the same thing, so I was very lucky on the first day I saw it, when it perched on fence posts, nicely out in the open.