Blog From The Bog

Frogs Identified

Some people have asked me to show them where the three frogs are in the photograph I posted in the Where Are The Frogs blog.  I have circled the three frogs in the photo.  See them?

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

October Arrives

October greeted us with a big, beautiful harvest moon.   I felt really lucky to have gotten this shot because I've tried to photograph the moon before and gotten nothing but a big bright spot without any definition.  Our lovely moon is quite beautiful, don't you think?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a lot of beautiful things to see in the park today.  The vine maples were blazing, adding gorgeous splotches of vivid orange among the usual myriad of greens and browns.  All of my favorite colors in one place.  Nothing wrong with that!

 

 

 

 

 

The false-lily-of-the-valley berries have started to turn red.  They start out green and, by mid-winter will be a vibrant red, but this stage is my favorite.  Every year I think about how happy I'd be if I owned jewelry that looked just like this, ecru splotched with chinese red.  Delightful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember when I told you that the beautiful lavender blooms that twined within the pacific trailing blackberry and salmonberry canes would form berries that were deadly poisonous?  Here they are.  This is deadly nightshade, otherwise known as European bittersweet.  Bittersweet, indeed.  This will kill you very quickly.  Beautiful leaves, beautiful blossoms, and beautiful berries;but oh, so deadly.  Don't let looks deceive you.  This can kill.  Please look, but do not touch.

 

 

 

 

 

Dragonflies are still busy laying eggs at both lakes.  See how this one is dipping it's abdomen into the water?  Here, there, and everywhere, dragonflies are laying eggs that will, in time, become new dragonflies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No wonder this cardinal meadowhawk is taking a break.  Creating future generations is exhausting.  Actually, for a dragonfly, creating future generations is a terminal disease.  Once they finish laying their eggs, they die, just like salmon.  Dragonfly nymphs and salmon fry have to figure everything out by themselves, no parents involved.  Puts your mom and dad in a whole different light, doesn't it?  Thanks, Mom!  I love you!

 

 

 

It was overcast, chilly, and a little foggy when I left the house, but gartersnakes were busy trying to warm themselves anyway.  Luckily, the fog burned off and it actually warmed up a bit by afternoon.  There are still some warm days ahead when hungry snakes can warm up, and fatten up, before it gets cold enough to hibernate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nuts are starting to fall off of the trees.  Take a good look at these nuts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, these.  Remember what they look like.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now this scat found in the middle of the boardwalk.  That's my foot in the picture, women's size 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anything look familiar?  I also see what looks like bits of apple.  We've seen this in previous years.  Fish and Wildlife tells us that this is typical coyote behavior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Douglas squirrels are busy collecting douglas fir cones.  Some they'll eat now, others will be stored to last them through the winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In some areas of the park, you will be lucky to get across sections of the boardwalk without being clobbered over the head by falling fir cones.  Don't say I didn't warn you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, this is the very beginning of fungi season.  Last year was a banner year.  The number of different fungi that I found in the park was amazing.  I can't wait to see what I find this year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where Are The Frogs?

You'd be amazed at how many times I'm asked that question and how difficult it is to answer.  Frogs can be found all over the park, but in different places, depending upon the species and time of year.  Whenever I meet visitors in the park who are complaining about not being able to find the frogs, I always take the time to show them a few so they can go home happy about their visit and not feeling cheated.  Finding frogs is easy for me.  I've been finding frogs in the park for more than a dozen years.  Trying to explain to someone else how to find the frogs is a whole different ball of wax.  Today, I'm going to try to give you a little primer on where to look for our tiny native frogs.

Frogs mate and lay their eggs in the spring.  Around here, that can be as early as February.  The primary amphibian nursery in the park is Marlake.  Marlake is a man-made lake that is primarily fed by rain water and run-off.  Bull frogs (who are not native), pacific tree frogs, striped chorus frogs, and red-legged frogs all lay their eggs in Marlake, but usually not in the same place.  Most of the frogs seem to lay their eggs on the east side of the lake, but the red-legged frogs lay theirs on the south and west sides of the lake.  When the eggs hatch, the tadpoles mature, and the little froglets hop out of the lake, that's where you need to look for them.

 

 

The red-legged frogs will be in the mud on their sides of the lake.  Notice how well camouflaged they are.  They're very tiny and hard to see in the mud.  Careless feet can mash a dozen frogs with each step.  Please don't enter the mud looking for them.  Stay on the path, stay still and quiet, focus your attention on the mud, and look for them.

 

 

 

 

Striped chorus frogs and pacific tree frogs will hop out of the lake on their side and into the grass.  At that point, Dana will stop mowing the grass.  We request people to avoid going over on the east side of the lake at that time for fear that they'll step on the tiny frogs.   Can you see this little frog hidden in the grass?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're only this big!  That's my hand in the photograph and I have very small hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In a week or so, the tiny frogs will find their way over to the bushes and hop onto the leaves.  Only when the frogs have left the grass and hopped onto the leaves is it safe to walk around that side of Marlake without fear of mashing baby frogs.  The frogs will stay up in the bushes for a week or so and then hop into the wetland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's when things get interesting.  You might see a frog sitting on a leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might see a frog sitting on a lily pad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They might be hidden in the curl of a skunk cabbage leaf.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I often see a red-legged frog sitting deep within the cavity of this fallen tree.  I've seen some really huge frogs in there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spot frogs here a lot.  I'll show you where.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you look down around the lower edge of the root-wad, where it meets the ground, you'll find little cavities behind pools of water, like this.  I often spot frogs sitting in the mud in front of these cavities.  Sometimes I'll be staring at the mud in front of a cavity and a frog will suddenly hop out of the cavity and surprise me.  These frogs are usually the exact color of the mud, so you can be looking right at one and might not see it.

 

 

 

 

This is a great place to find frogs.  This is one side of the tree-well that I usually refer to as being the one by the owl tree.  I usually spot frogs right at the edge of the tree, where it enters the water, in the debris along the edge of the water, or in the mud and debris in the water.

If you startle the frogs, they might jump up onto one of the fallen trees, so be sure to check the trunks of the trees as well, in case someone came before you, startled the frogs onto the tree trunk, and they're still sitting there.

 

 

 

 

This is the other side of the same tree-well.  I often spot frogs lined up along the edge of the water or sitting on that log that you see on the left, under the skunk cabbage leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is another great place to spot frogs.  Yep, it's another tree-well created by a fallen tree.  This is the place where I spotted the snake that was out hunting frogs to eat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I spotted this frog there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This frog there...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, this frog there.  Now, this is why people have trouble spotting our frogs.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Without using the zoom lens, this is what you see.  All three of those frogs are in this photograph.  Can you find them?  Don't feel bad if you can't see them.  Most people can't.  I can see them because I've been looking for them for a very long time and my eyes have had more than a decade of practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Deep Sinks.  That's always a good place to look for frogs.  They can be on any one of those pieces of wood, sitting on the bank near the edge of the water, or even in the water itself.  Another good place to look is in the mud under the bridge on the Brooklake spur.  Also, since the bad storm we had last winter brought trees down over the muskrat pool to the right of the Brooklake viewing platform, I've spotted frogs on those trees and in the mud around them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, that brings us full circle, really.  I know you've heard me say this so many times that you're probably bored stiff, but I can't say it enough.  If you want to see this,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

or this,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or this, you have to go slow, be quiet, stop often, look up, down, onto, and into everything you see around you.  I stop frequently and scan, up, down, and all around as I slowly turn in a full circle, covering the entire area around me with my eyes.  I hope these hints are helpful.  Good luck frog hunting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. lenfest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Week Of Autumn

I can't believe that it's autumn already.  It'll be October in another week.  How can that be?  Where has the year gone?  Time is moving at such breathtaking speeds that I can only stand and stare at the calendar in utter disbelief.  Of course, I haven't exactly been sitting around letting moss grow between my toes.  I just got back in town the week before last and I'm leaving again next week.

 

Aside from West Hylebos Park, this is one of the things that's been keeping me occupied.  It's called steampunk.  If you haven't heard of it, you should google it and check it out.  Steampunk is full of movers and shakers, designers, artisits, musicians, authors, film-makers, and creators of all kinds.  It's loads of fun for the whole family.  Everyone from eight to eighty is in love with steampunk.  Steamcon IV will take over in Bellevue the weekend of October 26th.  Why don't you set aside that Saturday or Sunday to drop by and check us out?  You might end up joining the steampunk evolution.

 

 

September 24th was a perfect day to visit West Hylebos Park.  The weather was gorgeous and, although a lot of the plant-life in the park is busy shutting down for winter, there was actually quite a bit of activity going on.  Snakes, for instance, could be found sunning themselves along the edges of the trail. 

 

 

 

 

 

There have been far fewer brush rabbits this year than in the two previous years, but you can still find one here and there.  I spotted this one over near Marlake.  It looked like it was trying to find a way through the fence so that it could raid Becca's garden.  Naughty bunny!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a Steller's jay flitting from tree to tree near the beginning of the boardwalk trail.  They usually emit loud warning calls when they spot me, but this one either didn't notice me or was too busy to care.  He was so quiet that, if it weren't for his movement, I'd never have know he was there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This beautiful young sparrow was eating berries from one of the hawthorn trees.  It may have been a young white-crowned sparrow, but I wasn't able to get a good enough look at it, so I'm not sure.  As soon as the birds begin migrating, the hawthorn should be full of hungry birds, but I haven't witnessed huge flocks of birds moving through yet.  Nights are getting very cool though, so the signal to move should occur any time now.

 

 

 

 

Chickadees were, of course, being chickadees.  They're such clowns.  The minute they notice a person moving down the trail, they start flitting from branch to branch, chirping up a storm, as if they're deliberately trying to attract attention.  They're such hams!  Several much larger birds (judging by their sound) in the forest seemed to be extremely upset by something.  They were creating an enormous racket that could be heard throughout the park.  I spent a lot of time trying to spot what was making all of the noise, but they were too far back in the woods for me to see them from the trail.  Whatever was upsetting the bigger birds didn't seem to bother the chickadees at all.  They appeared to be oblivious to the din.

 

A spotted towhee was also making it's unusual call.  Nothing sounds quite like a towhee.  Speaking of distinctive sounds, when I was over by the giant sitka spruce, I could hear the hoot hoot, h-o-o-t, hoot hoot, h-o-o-t, of an owl coming from the opposite side of the wetland.  Of course, there was no direct route to where the hooting seemed to be coming from.  No matter which direction I chose to go, it was going to be a long loopy trek to the other side.  The hooting had long stopped by the time I got over there and I couldn't spot an owl anywhere in the area.  Oh, well.  I tried.  Win a few - lose a few.

 

 

The pacific water parsely is in seed now.  These prolific plants disappear in the winter, then grow so rapidly throughout the spring and summer that they completely clog the open water where they grow.  In the summer they put out large heads of lacy white blossoms that remind me a little bit of Queen Anne's lace; then, in the autumn, the white blossoms transform into these brilliant reddish-pink seed-heads.  They are absolutely gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

We haven't had any more than a trace of rain in a very long time, so Marlake is rapidly shrinking.  All of the grass you see growing in the lower portion of this photograph should be underwater.  As dry as it seems to us right now, it's still not as dry as it was last year at this time.  Last year, I was able to walk out to the very middle of the fallen logs on the north side of the lake and photograph the lake from there.  Yesterday, that area was still under water, impossible to walk on.  But, even that wasn't as bad as it can get.  

 

 

 

 

This is what Marlake looked like about ten years ago.  Now, that was a dry year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  There are still plenty of dragonflies around to watch.  These are my favorites.  Even though they're so curious and will fly right up and hover in front on you, wondering what you are, they're nearly impossible to photograph.  Every part of these dragonflies is in motion, so all I usually get is a great big blur.  This is actually the clearest photograph I've been able to take so far.  My camera just isn't fast enough to stop the motion.  Every time I see one of these, I think of dinosaurs.  I mentioned that to a young gent I was escorting through the park one day and he broke into an ear-to-ear grin.  "Dinosaurs!  Yeah!  We need dinosaurs!"  Kids have also told me that we should have crocodiles; or, at the very least, alligators.  If a trip to the park meant risking a chance of being eaten, I wonder if that would decrease or increase the number of visitors?

 

Frogs were croaking all over the park.  You'd almost think that it was spring with all of the croaking going on.  I must have seen at least a dozen frogs, although I have rarely been able to find the chorus frogs who are actually doing all of the singing.  Some of the frogs were sitting right out in the open, contrasting beautifully with the background.

 

 

 

 

 

Some were so well camouflaged that you would have to know what you were looking for and really concentrate in order to see them.  There are actually two frogs in this photograph.  Can you see them?  One is on the upper left.  The other is on the lower right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one was actually sitting inside of a hollow tree stump.  He was so far back in the dark that I didn't think my camera would be able to see him, but there he is.  Look at how long his toes are and how pointy his nose is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I was preparing to leave the park, I spotted Dana Buck up on a ladder, painting her house.  It's still going to be yellow, but a lighter, brighter, cleaner yellow.  She and I are both huggers; so, as soon as she saw me, she climbed down off of her ladder and ran over to give me a hug.  We both burst out laughing when my eyes got big and I backed away from her.  Ah, no, I don't think so.  I love you, Dana, but I'm not going to hug you!  LOL!  Next time, I promise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honey, I'm home!

Just got back from another trip to San Francisco.  My daughter got accepted to Berekely as a junior, so I flew down to visit her and tour the campus.  She's a geology major, while everyone knows that I love snakes and frogs, so we squeee over different things, but we both squeee over Berkeley.  Some of my squees were so loud and excited that you might have been able to hear them clear up here in Federal Way.  I had two travel days and four days of fun in the city, which included three concerts, consisting of seven bands.  This old lady is pooped!  Never-the-less, I felt compelled to visit the park the day after I returned home from my trip.  It was a beautiful day and nature rewarded me for my effort!

The park is beginning to close down for the cold winter that lies ahead.  This makes a lot of people very sad.  Everything seems to be dying, as so many vibrant greens slowly turn yellow, then brown, then disappear.  I think that every season is beautiful in it's own way.  Instead of focusing on the  dying aspect of the season, let's look for the beauty in the season.  Come with me.  Let's see what we can find.

 

The fireweed has turned to spiky fluff, which somehow manages to look both soft and prickly at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thistles have also reached the fluff stage.  Nature's objective is for these seeds to be light enough to be carried away on the wind, hopefully to land on a lovely spot far away where they can put down roots and grow.  This plot to cover the earth with thistles seems to be somewhat successful, despite the fact that you can find thistle fluff lodged in some really peculiar places.

 

 

 

 

 

The northwestern thatching ants are really busy right now.  Unlike humans, the park's creatures can't run over to Winco, or Fred Meyer, when the plants they live on die away for the winter.  This is the time of the year when they're busy stocking their larders with as much food as possilbe, so they have enough food to sustain them until spring returns.

 

 

 

 

The squirrels are especially funny to watch at this time of the year.  Squirrels are not only busy trying to find, collect, and store enough food to last them through the winter, which is the preferred method, but some of them seem to be actively involved in locating and stealing the food that other squirrels have already found and stored.  Squirrel A may find an acorn, dig a hole, and bury it; but, as soon as Squirrel A leaves, squirrel B will run over, dig the acorn up, and bury it someplace else.  No wonder they look so lost when it's time to retrieve their nuts, nothing is ever where they leave it.  The acrobatics they go through to obtain their nuts rivals anything the woman's gymnastic team can do.  Acorns grow on the very ends of branches, where the limbs are thinnest.  The squirrels have to be very talented to get that far out and manage to capture an acorn without falling off.  I've seen some of them flip completely over, ending up upside-down, facing in the wrong direction.  I've seen some fall and somehow manage to snag a lower limb as they shoot past.  I've even seen some of them fall and bounce off the roofs of cars parked below.  I can't watch them without laughing my head off.  Their antics are amazing!  The Douglas squirrels in the park get very aggressive at them time of the year.  They just want people to go away and leave them alone so that they can go about their business.  This particular Douglas squirrel was being very vocal.  Even after I finished photographing my frog and was well down the boardwalk trail, I could still hear this squirrel loudly chewing me out.  They get so wound up that their whole bodies quiver when they yell at you.

Speaking of frogs, look at some of the beauties I found today.  I seemed to find frogs everywhere, although people visiting the park seemed to scoot right by and not see anything at all.  Most of the people I saw were moving quickly and talking up a storm.  They never saw a thing.  I love our little frogs!  They come in all different sizes, shapes, and colors, and can be found in so many different places.  For the most part, they don't even move.....they just sit there, sometimes for hours at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some are so well camouflaged that they're hard to see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, some are hiding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, others are sitting right out in the open.  This one was actually sitting on the boardwalk!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw seven snakes today.  Seven!  Some were right out in the open, like this little fellow essing his way across the gray gravel trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While others were a little more difficult to spot.  

Some were alone; but, in one spot along the back side of Marlake, I spotted four snakes all sunning themselves together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooler nighttime temperatures are causing the leaves to begin to turn.  These are red-huckleberry leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vine maple leaves are turning a vibrant, fiery, red-orange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at this beautiful bracken!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mother Nature is quite an artist.  She leaves beautiful still-lifes all over the park.  How many can you find?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spiders are busy everywhere!  This seems to be their most active time of the year.  If you're among the first to visit the park each day, you'll have the honor of walking through all the webs they string across the boardwalk trail, clearing the trail for those who follow.  I thank you for that.  Getting smacked in the face by spider webs is not among my favorite things.

 

 

 

 

  Some of the birds double-nested this year and the young from the second batch of eggs are nearly ready to fledge.  These youngsters should be gone any day now, although mom and dad were still feeding them at the time that I took this photograph.  These are barn swallows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A busy muskrat poked his head up at me at Marlake.  About a half a dozen mallards were also visiting the lake, the males having lost their beautiful mating plumage and looking a little shabby right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, this is the time of the year when all of the beautiful fungi appear.  West Hylebos Wetland has a treasure-trove of fungi in every size, shape, color, and design that you can think of.  The park is a fungi-lover's paradise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

 

 

September Arrives

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

McAnalloy Family and Friends Wildlife Tour

Today was the day that I promised to take the McAnalloy family and some of their friends on a wildlife tour of the park.  I suggested that they meet me at the park at 11 a.m., then we could take a tour of the park, they could have lunch in the meadow or orchard, and the boys could run around and blow off a little steam before being packed in the van for the trip home.  It was one of those late summer wierd weather days.  I left the house at 9:30 a.m. so that I could scope out the park a little before the tour group arrived.  It was only 59 degs F. outside, and I was cold, so I threw a hoodie on over my long-sleeved teeshirt.  By 11 a.m. the temperature had climbed to 69 degs F. and I ended up stripping off my hoodie and stuffing it inside of my pack.  The hoodie filled up every spare inch of my pack, making the job of finding anything inside of it highly problematic.

  I got this wonderful bird hat at GearCon in Portland.  When I put the bird hat on with my EarthCorps teeshirt, it made me instantly recognizable as the tour guide and crazy old bird hat lady.  The kids loved the hat and kept adding to it during the day.  Every time one of them spotted a feather on the ground, they picked it up and gave it to me to add to my hat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started off by talking about the Denny and Barker cabins and encouraged them to come back to the park on a Saturday when the cabins are open so that they can see what's inside of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was the habitat restoration site where the hawthorne tree is.  I made them all promise me that they'd be careful not step on any of the new plants, then took them back to look at the northwestern thatching ant nest.  I think this nest has almost doubled in size since it was first spotted several months ago.  Of course, one of the kids was immediately bitten by an ant, causing all of us to beat a hasty retreat.

 

 

 

 

Since the trail begins as gray gravel, one of the fathers was beginning to buy into the crazy part of crazy old bird hat lady.  He'd been promised a boardwalk and there wasn't a board in sight.  I think he was greatly relieved when we finally reached it.  The kids were treated to a visit by a very large red-legged frog who was sitting on the edge of the boardwalk.  This poor patient frog was surrounded by a bevy of chattering children, two of whom squatted down to get a closer look.  The frog was probably having an amphibian version of a heart attack.

 

 

 

Here's a closer look.  What a beauty!  You can clearly see why he's called a red-legged frog.  Look at how long the middle toe is on his hind foot.  After the kids got a good look at him, I hurried them off so that Mr. Frog could make a quick getaway.  He's going to have some story to tell around the dinner table tonight......all about how he was suddenly surrounded by a tribe of brave warriors, but managed to fake them out by pretending to be dead.  Learned that trick from brother opposum, he did.  Learned it well, indeed.

 

 

 

I found this beautiful garter snake sunning itself next to the boardwalk when I scoped the park out prior to the tour.  Of course, he was all warmed up and long gone by the time I got the kids down there.  It didn't matter though.  The kids seemed to spot snakes everywhere and one of them said that he even attempted to pick a snake up.  People are so funny about snakes.  Their reactions to spotting one seem to run the gamut from terrified screaming and dancing feet, to "Come here my little slithering serpent.  I vant to take you home and make you my friend.  You can live in a shoebox under my bed and I'll feed you juicy wee mousies."  One never knows.

 

 

Another, much smaller, red-legged frog was spotted on a tree in the tree-well near where the baby owl was spotted.  That particular pool of water has gotten very small.  It's in dire need of a good rain to fill it up.  One of the kids said that they spotted a tadpole in what little water was left.  It's way past tadpole season now, but it's possible that he saw a juvenile salamander.  I've seen them there before with their wonderful gill ruffles.

 

 

 

 

 

Someone finally clipped back all of the vegetation that was blocking the view in front of the Brooklake viewing platform.  Whoever did it really whacked it down to the ground, so it's going to be a while before it becomes a problem again.  Well, you know me.....I always say that, despite the fact that I've been proven wrong time and time again.  Once it takes off, it'll go from ground level to six feet tall in a matter of weeks.  I was glad to see it gone for now because it allowed us to see this green heron fly in.  It was all of the way over on the other side of the lake, so I had to use my extreme zoom, and with all of those kids making the viewing platform bounce up and down, it was impossible to get this amazing bird into focus.  I don't see the green herons very often, so this was a real treat.  It looks like something is wrapped around it's beak.  Could that be a snake?

When we got to the bridge where the school kids set their salmon fingerlings free, another one of the kids spotted this lovely frog.  I didn't even see it until he pointed it out to me.  It didn't take these kids very long to become experts at spotting amphibians.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mallards at Marlake were taking a little siesta under the bench on the dock.  When I scoped out the park earlier, I startled one of the muskrats that was feeding in the grass close to shore.  The water is usually much deeper, so when you startle the muskrats, they just submerge and swim away.  The water has gotten very shallow where this muskrat was feeding, so when I startled him, he had to waddle away to where the water was deeper.  I wish you could have heard the sound he made as he took off waddling.  Gosh, that was funny!

 

 

 

One of the dragonflies left it's exoskeleton sitting on a leaf near the edge of the lake.  The kids were fascinated by this.  Dragonflies only grow their wings when it's time to mate.  Until then, they live in, or near, the water as nymphs.  Just like butterflies, when it's time to mate, they go through a metamorphosis, then crack out of their old useless shells and fly away.  Pretty cool, huh?

 

 

 

 

 

Look at this fungus we found near Marlake.  It's huge!  That's my foot in the photograph and I wear a size 6 women's shoe.  Wow!  It's almost big enough to use as an umbrella.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, it was back to orchard for a picnic lunch and a little running off steam time.  I had suggested that they bring lunch and do this, but I hadn't expected them to include me in their lunch plans.  This is the point where I usually say my goodbyes and leave people to their own devices, but these truly wonderful folks brought lunch for me as well.  I felt very honored to be invited to break bread with them.  Good food, good company, good weather, beautiful park......what more can you ask?  What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One-sheets

I apologize for not visiting the park lately and posting new blogs.  I've been busy working on creating park one-sheets.  A one-sheet is all of the information I can fit on the front and back of a single page, including photographs.  Since our park wildlife isn't caged, I can't guarantee that any of it will be seen from one time to the next.  Because of that, when I lead groups through the park, I usually carry a binder full of photographs with me so that I can show visitors photographs of what I'm talking to them about.  The biggest drawback to that is that the visitors have nothing to take home with them and have to try to remember what I'm telling them.  If you've ever taken a wildlife walk with me, you know how impossible that is.  I can cover a lot of territory in two hours.

At our last meeting, Margery Godfrey, President of the Friends of the Hylebos side of EarthCorps - Hylebos suggested that I create some one-sheets that could be handed out to our visitors.  That way people can take the information home with them and refer to it again and again.  Instead of spending time in the park, I've been sitting in front of my computer, pulling up photographs from my archive, consolidating information, writing, printing, and copying the one-sheets.  So far, I've created sheets on The Life Cycle of Frogs, The Life Cycle of Salmon, Habitat Restoration, Types of Habitat Within the Park, Snakes, Mammals, Birds, and Dragonflies.

I leave for Portland tomorrow.  I'm going to help my daughter man her vending table at GearCon.  Hopefully, when I return, I'll be able to add one-sheets on Park History, The Old Cabins, and Plants.  We'll see.  I'll return to my regular park blogging once I've completed this project.  We hope the park one-sheets will make the park tours even better than they already are.  Take care, stay cool, and I'll talk to you again when I get back home.  Get out and enjoy this weather!

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest

Bonding Over Bugs

The last time that Margery Godfrey (Friends of the Hylebos Wetland), Steve Dubiel (EarthCorps), and I had a meeting, Margery asked me how I'd feel about visiting local High School classes and talking about the park.  I told her that I really wouldn't be interested in doing that.  I live right across the street from Saghalie Middle School and often run into the kids going to and from school.  Whenever we have a chance encounter, my overall impression falls in the range of, Egads!  I'm so glad I don't have to deal with that!  My forte is Elementary-aged youngsters.  When I was young, I was interested in everything that crawled, walked, slithered, swam, or flew.  My idealistic dream was to give birth to a flock of children who would bond with me over bugs.  In reality, my flock became two and, although I took them to play in the tidal pools, camping, and hiking, I really can't remember a single moment when we actually bonded over bugs.  Children are individuals, after all, not carbon copies of their parents.  When I lead groups of elementary school youngsters, though, every now and then....the magic happens.  A young child will lay eyes on me and we're instantly on the same wave length.  In two shakes of a lamb's tail, without any effort at all, we've spent two hours together, side by side, discusssing bugs, birds, snakes, fish, plants, frogs, herons barfing salmon eggs, raccoons coming along and eating the barfed eggs, touching octopi, what a sea cucumber feels like, petting a Steller's jay, cannibalism, and digging through scat.  Those moments don't happen all of the time, but when they do, they make all of the work that I do in the park absolutely worth the effort.  Those magic moments are why I keep on doing what I'm doing.  Today was one of those magic days.

Once again, Margie Shea brought the Summer Camp kids from Snake Lake, in Tacoma, to West Hylebos Park.  Only one of the kids had ever been to West Hylebos Park before.  I met Margie, with another Snake Lake Summer Camp group last year and we had such a good time together that she asked me if I'd do it again this year.  Of course I would, said I.  I met them near the old cabins at 1 p.m.  When I arrived, they were already settled down east of the Denny Cabin and were having a picnic.  The kids had just come from the M.A.S.T. aquarium at Redondo Beach, where they'd gotten to touch an octopus, among other things, and they were eager to share their experience with me.  To be frank (Good Afternoon.  You can call me Frank.), I was a little jealous.  I've never touched an octopus and wish I'd accompanied them on their earlier trip.  The kids told me all about the crabs and the sea anemone's and fishing and the demonstrator's arms being grabbed by the octopus, and how she had to yell "No!" at it, and how it let go and zoomed away, leaving suction-cup marks on her arm.  They were so excited that I wondered whether the park would pale in comparison.  The young people had studied the environment around Snake Lake and had come to Federal Way to see how the environment at West Hylebos Wetland Park differed from that at Snake Lake.

We visited Marlake first, where they took a sample of the water and tested it's Ph using a paper test strip.  The kids learned that you always take a sample and dip the strip in the sample, rather than just dipping the strip in the lake, because the strip is treated with chemicals and we don't want to introduce chemicals into the lake.  It looked like the Ph of Marlake was about 7, so we discussed why that might be.  On the way to Marlake, we found a pile of scat and stopped to examine it, to determine what might have left it in the park.  The kids decided that it either had to be a fox or a coyote and, after I told them about the pack of coyotes that lived in the park, decided that it was coyote scat.  On the way to Brooklake, we stopped at the Deep Sinks and discussed peat:  what it was made of, how it was formed, what it was used for, and other interesting peat facts.  We could hear a nearby frog singing loudly and discussed what kind of frog that might be.  On our walk, we stopped to investigate spirea (hardhack), salmonberries, Nootka roses, Pacific water parsley, foam flower, Pacific trailing blackberries, and other plants that grew along the way.

At the Brooklake viewing platform, we talked about the life cycle of salmon, the salmon ladder, how last winter's storm changed the environment, encouraging frogs to live where they hadn't lived before, the great blue heron I'd seen eating a snake on my last visit, cedar waxings, barred owls, and, of course, the graffiti carved into every inch of exposed wood on the viewing platform and the tree shot full of bbs.

Coming back down the short end of the boardwalk loop, we discussed how the old boardwalk was built, how the new boardwalk was built, the damage done by last winter's storm, and how much easier it was to repair the storm damage to the new boardwalk than it had been to repair the old boardwalk, and stopped where a huge tree had fallen over, leaving it's rootwad sitting up in the air.  That's where they spotted two red-legged frogs sitting in the mud.  I was so glad that those frogs made an appearance, because I was beginning to fear that we wouldn't see any frogs at all.  We stopped and listened to the bird song and discussed the different kinds of birds that live in the park.

Everyone stopped at the tree-well near the owl tree to see if they could spot any frogs.  I talked about the frogs that live there and how I had spotted salamanders mating there in the spring, as well as juvenile salamanders with their big gill ruffs. There weren't any frogs or salamanders around to see today, but they did find a big slug.  On the way back to the old cabins, the youngsters got to compare the difference between evergreen blackberry, Himalayan blackberry, and the Pacific trailing blackberry that they'd seen before.  When we reached the old cabins, everyone had a chance to take a bathroom break and participate in a couple of games, then it was back aboard the bus and home to Tacoma.  You couldn't ask for a better day than we had today.  It wasn't too hot, or too cold, but about 68 degrees F. and overcast.  The sky was threatening, but it did not rain.  The youngsters had a good time, burned off a little steam, learned some interesting things, took some one-sheets home with them, and said they wanted to come back and visit the park again.  I consider this day well-seized!

 

Teri I. Lenfest

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Day Full Of Wonderful Surprises!

I hadn't intended to go the the park yesterday.  Instead, I'd planned to stay at home, in front of the computer, drafting some educational wildlife one-sheets for the park.  You know what they say about "best laid plans".  Whatever plans I had for the day went down the tubes early when I received a text message from Dana Buck saying that someone had vandalized all of the visitor sign-in sheets on the visitor information kiosk and she'd had to remove them.  She knew she had a pile of blank sheets around the house somewhere, but couldn't find them.  Did I have a blank sheet that I could print copies from?  Of course, thought I.  I was sure that I'd put one away somewhere for safekeeping.  That thought instantly aborted itself in one of my famous senior brain farts, culminating in an intensive search of all logical and/or remotely possible hiding places, to no avail.  I found blank work-party volunteer sign-in sheets, I found blank salmon counting logs, I found blank habitat restoration plant inventory forms, none of which are used any more, but I failed to find a single blank visitor sign-in sheet.  I contacted Dana and advised her of my inability to locate the necessary blank.  She said that she thought she had one in her computer.  Could she attach the file to an email and send it to me.  Yes, certainly, if she could find it.   I knew that Adele had blanks, but Adele was out of town, so I fired off an email to Steve and Margery.  Anyone have any blanks?  Steve said that he had some and would drop them by the park on Wednesday.  That was the point when I decided that I'd better make a trip to the park to pick up the vandalized sheets so that I would have them in case Lt Hatfield, from the Federal Way Police Department, wanted them.  I have a notebook full of photographs that I use when I lead tours through the park.  Just before I ran out of the front door, I decided to check that notebook and, viola!, found a blank sign-in sheet.  I immediately printed five copies of it and headed for the park.  By the time I arrived at Dana's house, she'd found her stack of blanks, so we ended up with blanks galore and the crisis was averted.  So, ...there I was in the park, despite my best-laid plans, and you know that it's patently impossible for me to simply turn around and catch the bus back home without making an end-to-end survey of the park before I leave.  I'm really glad I decided to stay, too.

Mr. Muskrat was busy swimming across Marlake.  I was way down at the opposite end of the lake when I took this photo, but I'm glad that I decided to take it when I did.  The muskrat was swimming in the direction of the old dock, so I headed down the path in that direction, hoping to get a better shot of the little rodent from that end of the lake.  To my great disappointment, when I arrived at the old dock there was no sign what-so-ever of a muskrat.  I don't know where he went to.  I must have stood on the dock looking for him for at least ten minutes and never saw him surface anywhere on the lake.  Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky.

 

 

I did see baby fish though.  These aren't tadpoles, although they were hanging out atop the same plank where I took my best tadpole photos.  These are tiny fish.  And, there are a lot of them!  That's so exciting!  Last year the City stocked the lake with fish and now the big fish are restocking the lake with baby fish, creating a wonderful food source for so many of the park's animals.

 

 

 

 

The dry season has finally arrived.  Even though it seems to have made a late appearance this year, it's effect can already be seen in the park.  This is a spot where I photographed many frogs, as well as a parade of baby ducklings, this Spring.  Yesterday, it was dry as a bone.  There wasn't even a little damp muddy spot that I could see.  If you hadn't seen it until now, you'd never believe that this area was full of water and teeming with life just a few months earlier.

 

 

 

 

In weather this warm, any self-respecting frog will be found in the water, rather than sitting beside the water, or on a tree branch, or skunk cabbage leaf.  Just like humans, the wild animals that live in our wetland have a very narrow temperature range that they consider desirable.  If the temperature's too cold, frogs dig themselves into the mud to stay warm.  If the temperature's too hot, frogs dig themselves into the mud to stay cool.  Ahh, mud, that multipurpose habitat!

 

 

 

 

This picture was taken in that shallow area to the right of the Brooklake viewing platform, in between the viewing platform and the top of the fish ladder.  Frogs like slow-moving or still water.  Up until this year, I never spotted frogs in this area because the water was moving too fast for them to feel comfortable.  Last winter we had a major storm that brought down a lot of trees in the park.  A handful of trees fell over this area of water, which is normally very shallow to begin with, slowing down the water and creating more swampy quiet space.  This Spring, the frogs returned to this area in abundance.  I've spotted as many as a dozen frogs in this spot on one visit.  Once, I spotted five frogs all crammed together on a single tree limb.

 

The animals were driving me crazy yesterday.  Nothing was sitting around posing for me.  Everything seemed to be moving quickly and was almost always obscured by some kind of vegetation, so that I couldn't get any kind of shot at all.  This great blue heron was one of those animals that gave me a run for my money yesterday.  First he was on one side of Brooklake, obscured by tree branches, then he moved to the other side of Brooklake, obscured by the vegetation growing in front of the Brooklake viewing platform.  I even stood up on top of the benches in an attempt to get a better view, but that didn't work at all.  I finally managed to zoom in on the bird through a pinhole in the vegetation that was only about the size of a piece of toast.  If you look closely, you can see something in the heron's mouth.   Heron's are excellent hunters, patiently moving one tiny millimeter at a time as they slowly sneak up on their prey, then suddenly stabbing into the water with their long sharp beaks.  This one caught lunch.  Yum!  Shortly after devoring his lunch, this beautiful bird settled down into a soft gray lump of feathers and appeared to take a nap.

 

 

 

I was standing on the boardwalk, back arched, camera pointed up, trying to get a photograph of this fast-moving brown creeper in the trees.  Just as I got the creeper lined up in my view-finder and in focus, an entire herd of people, some pushing baby strollers, literally stomped down the boardwalk right in front of me, ruining my shot.  Obviously, they don't camera etiquette.  Darn!  Even with a tripod, my camera can't compensate for the movement of the boardwalk caused by nine people stomping their feet.  What was with the stomping, anyway?  For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what they were stomping for.  Since they didn't appear to speak English, I couldn't ask them either.  It will remain a mystery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I approached the Old Sitka Spruce, I got this creepy feeling that something was following me.  I turned around to see what it was and there was this cute little Douglas squirrel right on my heels.  As soon as I raised my camera to snap a shot of him, the little squirrel jumped off of the boardwalk railing, raced across the boardwalk, and disappeared under the boardwalk on the other side.  Rocky the Squirrel!

 

 

 

 

 

When I got back to Marlake, I walked around the back side of the lake and over the bridge.  Just as I approached the log jam at the north end of the lake, I could see these large, long, feathered pantaloons ending in large, sharp, talons heading across my vision to the right, followed by a huge splashing sound coming from the lake.   The bird was so big and so close and everything happened so quickly that it startled me and took my breath away.  What in the heck just happened? Immediately after the splash, I saw this huge osprey flying circles over the nearby trees clutching a big fish in it's talons.  Wow, an osprey fishing in Marlake!  I've never seen that before!  I was so excited that my heart was racing a million miles a second.

 

I was still elated by my run-in with the osprey when I came around the corner and met Chris and Rose Tolvtvar.  They'd just gotten married and had come to West Hylebos Wetland Park to have some outdoor wedding photographs taken.  I can still remember twelve years ago when the park was a dark, creepy, mysterious, well-hidden, barely-used place.  Now, it's bright. open, accessible, and being used as a backdrop for wedding photographs.  That also takes my breath away.  Good job, Federal Way!  Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Tolvtvar!  May many joyous years lie ahead of you!

 

 

 

 

Teri I. Lenfest