I had a little stroke on Saturday while I was in the middle of writing the April 2010 compilation and my brain is still not up to snuff; so, if anything looks odd in the April 2010 blog, or my future blogs, that's why. One problem in particular is my injured brain's propensity for replacing some words with words that mean the exact opposite. Please bear this in mind. When I type tall, I might really mean tiny. *sigh* Such is life!
The weather prognosticators promised me a fine day yesterday. Since I'd done all of the phone work I needed to do in order to schedule my upcoming lab tests, I had the afternoon free, so decided to make a run to the wetland to see what was new. This was actually my first trip to the park since my stroke and I discovered it was a little more difficult than usual. I appear to be a little unsteady on my feet. I just about tipped over a couple of times. It doesn't seem to take much to make me lose my balance. Darn!
I went over to Marlake first because Dana and Scott have reported seeing two muskrats, the river otters, the coyotes, and even deer tracks in the snow, over there in the past week. I was hoping that some of those things would still be hanging around when I got there, but it was not to be. The sun was shining, though, even though it seemed bitter cold to me. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the muskrat lodge with the sun shining on it. It looked so pretty!
A bufflehead was swimming around in the lake. Dana says that she's seen a pair of them there this week, but this is the only one I saw yesterday.
A pretty sparrow sat up in a tree, singing it's little heart out.
The bushes around the orchard were full of ruby-crowned kinglets. Ken Steffenson took this photograph of a kinglet in his yard. I couldn't get any in the park because they're so tiny and were moving too fast. Their coloration lends them perfect camouflage. Even though I could spot them with my naked eye, I couldn't find them through my camera lens.
I also saw a Townsend's warbler over by the Magic Mushroom, but I couldn't get a photo of it either. It was here, there, and everywhere, but wouldn't settle anywhere long enough for me to focus on it. Adele Freeland took this photo of a Townsend's that visited her yard this week. Aren't they pretty!
Bushes are budding. Signs of approaching spring abound.
I saw Douglas squirrels on both sides of the park. They were too busy eating to pay any attention to me.
I saw three pairs of mallards swimming around in Brooklake, plus an assortment of mallards that had not yet paired up. I witnessed two males having a fight over a female. The males were making strange noises that I've never heard a mallard make before and chasing one another around the lake. Every now and then, one of them would attack the other, coming up out of the water about tail high and beating at the other with his wings like a boxer.
By that time, I was very cold and had to use the sani-can, so decided to head back. I'm glad I did because I ran into this gorgeous downey woodpecker on my way back down the trail. I'm sure I would have missed him had I not decided to come back when I did. Isn't he a beauty!
Just on the off chance that something had showed up at Marlake while I was gone, I decided to swing by the lake on my way out of the park. I no sooner came around the corner than I spotted this cute little belted kingfisher sitting on a branch and shopping for lunch. I didn't see any mammals around though, with the exception of the usual rabbits, but....
I did spot coyote prints in the mud. One day I ran into a group of people who were wandering around the wetland searching for animal tracks that they could make plaster castes of. I hadn't seen any particularly good ones on that day. Some of the coyote tracks I found today would have been perfect for casting. The one I photographed above would have made a wonderful cast.
When I got back to the sani-can, I discovered that it was locked up tighter than a drum. Oh, my old,aching bladder! This was not a good thing! I guess I'm going to have to wear some Depends the next time I visit the park. When a girl's got to go - a girl's got to go!
Teri Lenfest
I love your blog very much, more more info, I will concern it again!
Posted by: Hermes Birkin | December 29, 2011 at 02:12 AM