I can't believe that it's September already. September the 5th to be exact. Sure proof that time flies by when you're having fun. Here, in Federal Way, we're very close to setting a new record for the most days without measurable rainfall in a row. We may not make it, as a little light rain might move in this weekend, but it's going to be close. If we get anything that you could call summer (by most state's standards) around here, it doesn't arrive until after the middle of July and usually departs by mid to late August. Our overnight temperatures are cooling off into the mid-40 degs F., but the daytime temps are still averaging in the high 60's - low 70's, with even a few 80 degree days possible in the very near future. 65 - 75 degs F. is considered perfect around here, but you're liable to hear a little grumbling when the temperature rises into the 80's.
One of the first things I did upon arrival today was retrieve this dragonfly nymph exoskeleton. Unfortunately, I neglected to bring a box with me with which to keep it safe and preserve it for our collection. I rummaged through my pack, but could only find a little zip-lock bag. I should have left the exoskeleton in situ (which means, in place) until I remembered to bring a box with me, but I did not. I carried my zip-locked treasure throughout the park with me and managed to entertain three different families full of children with the story of the dragonfly nymph before the poor little exoskeleton accidentally got crushed. I actually spent some time examining it, thinking that maybe I could repair it with a toothpick and a little super-glue, but it truly was crushed beyond my ability, so I ended up putting it in the trash. Maybe, next year. One never knows. I'll have to keep my eyes open and see what I can find.
I was busy photographing these water-striders when one family ambled by. They stopped and asked me what I'd found, so I pointed out what I was looking at. They said that they'd come looking for frogs, but hadn't found any. That really surprised me, because I'd found quite a few frogs already and was only halfway through the park. I spent a few minutes pulling the frog photos up on my camera, so that I could show the family what I'd found.
I found frogs in most, but not all, of the usual places.
And in some places where I've never seen frogs before. Since the weather has been so dry, for so long, the frogs are having to search for new water-holes in order to survive. When one source of water dries up, they're forced to hop off in search of one that hasn't.
I saw a lovely garter snake in between the Sitka spruce and the Deep Sinks. As I was leaving the park, I ran into two gentlemen with heavy accents that told me they'd just spotted another garter snake sunning near the trail.
The plums are ripening. Most are still a little hard, but some of the ripest ones are starting to fall off of the trees.
Scat was deposited in the middle of the boardwalk trail in several places. You can see that it's full of fur and hard round objects that are probably plum pits. Sometimes I find scat full of nuts, but the nuts have not ripened and fallen from the trees yet and the only thing I can find in the park right now with pits similar to these are the plums. Leaving scat in the center of the boardwalk like this is coyote behavior. While searching for a likely source of pits, I stopped and ate some plums myself but, unlike the animal that left this scat, I refrained from eating the pits. Remember, we do not use any chemicals in the park, so any fruit that you pick may contain living sources of protein. Consume at your own risk.
The apples are also falling off of the trees and rotting in the grass, so the area around the apples trees is beginning to smell like apple cider or vinegar.
Once again, I found a green apple floating in the Deep Sinks. I found one floating there just like this last year and was quite puzzled by it. There are no apple trees anywhere near the Deep Sinks and the crab apples near the meadow and orchard are soft and yellow now. I wondered how on earth a lone green apple ended up floating in such an odd place? You can imagine my surprise when I approached the Deep Sinks this year and spotted yet another apple floating in the same place. How odd.
The slugs are going to have a real feast with all of this ripe fruit laying around for the taking. Isn't this banana slug a beauty?
The wetland is becoming thick with spider webs. Each species of arachnid builds a different kind of web. How many different web-structures can you find near the boardwalk? I watched this little spider work it's way down through the air, suspended by a single strand of silk, then crawl from leaf to leaf, attaching the leaves to one-another with shiny threads, then skitter back up the original strand in order to add another. Web-building in action! It's was fun to stand there and watch his trap taking shape.
One lonely grebe was diving in Brooklake in search of food. It won't be long before he's joined by a variety of migrating ducks and geese.
Some youngsters and I counted ten mallards on Brooklake, some dozing in the afternoon sun, while others looked for food among the pond grass.
Six more were hanging out at Marlake. This handsome gentleman is busy preening his feathers before taking a dip in the lake.
Marlake is shrinking, but I've seen it a lot worse. The cattails are still green and pretty. I spotted a red-tailed hawk drawing big circles in the sky above the lake. I also found a raccoon footprint in the mud on the other side of the lake. I could clearly see it's long, thin toes tipped with nice sharp nails.
Sitka mountain ash is dripping with clumps of bright reddish-orange berries.
The hawthorn trees are also full of berries. It won't be long before the hawthorn trees are full of migrating birds chowing down on these berries. In the past, I've seen a flock of twenty or thirty robins eating berries in a single tree, only to fly off and be replaced by twenty or thirty cedar waxwings eating berries in the same tree.
Himalayan blackberries are ripening. I must have eaten two dozen of these big juicy berries while I was walking around the park. It's pretty hard to walk past these beauties without picking them and popping them into your mouth. Please notice the shape of the leaves.
Now, look at the shape of these leaves. These are a different berry, called an evergreen blackberry. Even when they're black and look ripe, the evergreen berries are smaller, firmer, and tart, rather than sweet. The Himalayan and evergreen berries grow in the same place, sometimes side by side, at other times intermingled. If I were picking berries to eat, I'd stick to the Himalayan variety.
It's almost time for the nuts to fall. The nuts are buried deep within these casings, or pods. The shells are very hard, so once you dig them out of the pods, you need something to whack them open with so that you can get at the sweet meat inside.
Now that thistle season has passed, the northwestern thatching ants have had to move on to another plant. Although it's not unusual to spot an ant parade at any time of the day, they usually make two massive forays a day and I was lucky enough to arrive at the right time to watch one of them. There must have been several thousand of them parading down the edge of the walk. Where were they going?
This is one place. Just past the old cabins, in between the second and third benches, on the right-hand side of the trail, you'll find this wonderful plant with great big leaves. If you stop and look closely, you'll see that the northwestern thatching ant cowboys have herded their aphids to plants such as this. You never know what you're going to find in the park, so you need to keep your eyes moving. You'd be surprised at how busy it is.
Teri I. Lenfest