Cosmic Event on Tuesday Evening

When I got to the park this Tuesday evening after work I parked on the south side and walked over the east to meet a friend for the rest of the way. Shortly after arriving I noticed an Osprey hovering over the water looking for fish. I watched him dive a few times but when he'd near the water's surface my view was obstructed by the cattails. On another try he seemed to be below the cattails for quite some time and when he eventually came up I snapped this pic. I didn't even realize at the time but he was holding a fish -probably a little Bullhead- in his talons. Another thing I didn't know until I viewed the photo closer his that he had a band around his leg. Upon meeting my friend at the east side he explained that the planet Venus was moving in front of the Sun and tonight was the only night you could see it. I actually had no idea it was happening. My friend had seen a piece on the news that showed you how to view it using any old pair of binoculars and a piece of paper. So we found a good place in the sun and tried it out. There it was -just a tiny tiny dot, but quite obviously in front of the sun. Apparently this is the last time the event will be visible in my lifetime which was kind of strange to think about. It won't happen again until the year 2117! If you want to see some better pictures than our little grey dot, visit this link: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com As we made our way around we spotted one or two Painted Turtles out in the open and near the paved trail. The second one was actually busy digging a hole with it's hind legs in order to lay some eggs. It was in a terrible place we both thought, right near the trail with all those people walking and biking. I'm thinking it's probably pretty tough for the turtles to find any sand or loose soil at all in the park so I can see why they come out near the trail. We watched for a while but never did see her lay any eggs so we moved on. On the north side I heard a nice sounding bird and quickly spotted this Rose-breasted Grosbeak. He was perched near the same trees I've seen them before, on the outside of the trail loop right where the long straight part of the trail meets the edge of the woods. As usual when I've seen a Grosbeak he was facing away from me and hiding his bright red patch. We kind of stalked around him a bit trying to see him at different angles and eventually he turned around to face us. I took a bunch of pictures but was having a hard time getting one I liked with the sun getting low in the sky and piercing through the trees in an unpredictable fashion. I finally got something I was satisfied with and was amazed that he stayed put for so long. Even afterward we stood there still looking and talking and he continued hanging out on the same branch. I'd never seen one stay in the same place for quite so long. It was great to be able to view him for such a long time as they are quickly becoming one of my favorite birds.

Spring on steroids

Spring-like weather seems to have taken forever to arrive this year, but today it felt like we skipped spring altogether and went right into summer! The temp was unusually high at 73º and on top of that it was extremely humid -quite strange for early April! It made for a great visit though as I spent nearly 2 hours making my way around and taking just under 100 photos. I had a hard time choosing what to post because I saw so much. First were a pair of Tree Swallows that were zooming around one of the wooden bird houses on the north side. It's an exciting sign of more colorful birds starting to come back to the park. Just a short time later I was stunned to see a 3 foot Garter Snake on the path. It seemed a bit early to see a snake but I was just now checking my older posts and saw that my first snake sighting last year was Sunday, April 11th -so exactly one year ago to the day. What are the odds of that? Surprisingly, snakes weren't the only reptile out today. I later saw a few painted turtles sunning themselves in the small body of water by the east side baseball fields. I shot a couple pics but as I walked further I ran into 2 more just sitting on the ground right off the trail. This side of the park was quite flooded by snow melt and there's still water everywhere hence the turtles. I've seen Great Blue Herons flying overhead since late March but I've not seen many stop in the park until recently. I swear they are 10 times more skittish than any Deer in the park so I often have to stalk them for a while to get a decent photo. They are an interesting bird as they can look quite different in every photo. I had an easier time locating this one against the backdrop of cattails by looking for his reflection in the water so I decided to include that in my photo. As I was making my way back to the parking lot I could see Bald Eagle seemingly sitting right on top of the water. As I got closer I could see that he was perched on a small portion of a branch barely jutting above the surface. It was funny because Canada Geese would swim right by him and he would tip his head as if he thought they were strange looking birds or something. He put his wings up once to balance himself as he turned to face the other way but I missed that picture moment.

72 photos in one visit!

I got to the park around my usual weekend time this Saturday morning. My last couple of visits have been somewhat boring, resulting in only 15-20 photos per visits. I was expecting more of the same today but could not have been more wrong. In the end I took 72 photos in one visit and saw some great things that won't even make this post; including a Bald Eagle, flowers and lots of other birds. To start off, I spotted a Doe up ahead of me on the south side wood chip trail. She was curious and stood still for lots of great closeups before a fawn came out to join in. The fawn was obviously a bit older with barely a hint of white spots on it's hind quarters. I looked for a second fawn but never saw one. Then on the north side I spotted another Doe busily munching away. She only looked up at me a couple of times but all the while was eating her fill of green leaves. A short while later I came up to the northeast side where I'm now pretty much expecting to see fawns laying in the thin brush just outside the trail. Sure enough all three where there again, two fawns and the mother just lounging in the sun. I was pretty sure before that there are in fact two sets of fawns in the park this year, and now I'm positive of it. These two were obviously smaller in size and with tons of white spots trailing down from behind their ears, across their back and sides. This one was very close to the path and sitting among all these tiny white flowers making for a good photo. Later on the south side I took a different trail to avoid the standing water that's been on the normal trail due to recent rains. I noticed a guy and girl with some pretty fancy camera equipment out near the edge of the ball fields. He was pointing his camera upwards and I was trying to find out what he was taking photos of. I scanned the sky without seeing anything but then noticed something out in the corner of the ball field. I was so far away I thought it was a woodchuck so I zoomed in as far as I could with my camera in order to see. Then I knew it had to be a HUGE Snapping Turtle! I went over and talked to the couple to ask if they were taking pictures of the turtle and he said "What Turtle?" We all headed in that direction and sat down, taking some incredibly close photos of the biggest Snapper I've ever come across. His shell alone was about 2' long. He let us get very close -as close as I'd dare anyway. After a while he poked his head out quite a ways making him look even bigger. I really wanted to see him get up and walk but he never moved anything but his head. I was a bit worried about how obvious of a place he picked to catch some rays. I sure hoped no one would bother him the rest of the day. There was a small pond about 50 feet away so maybe that's where he came from -and might go back to later. Near the end of my walk I spotted a late season Monarch and snapped just this one photo -and a decent one- before it flew off towards Mexico for the winter.

Mid-April

The park right now seems to have a perfectly equal measure of green and brown. New green grass creates such a contrast against the dead, greyish brown vegetation of last year. It makes whatever is green seem even more intense. I only saw one deer tonight versus twelve last week.Now that I look at the photo more closely, the bumps on this one's head seem pretty pronounced and I wonder if they might be antler nubs. On the east side I took this photo across a small slough. I thought it would be tough to tell if it were taken in the fall or the spring -the look was so similar. On the south side water overlook, I noticed a lot of activity in the water. Every so often something large would come up barely to the water's surface and plunge back down again, making the water swirl and spin. I'm thinking it had to be carp although I did see a few turtle heads poking out too. This photo is crummy but is obviously the snout of a Snapping Turtle.

Last day of March

Got in one more weekday walk this Wednesday with a friend of mine. The temps were near 75º I think which is WAY above our normal mid-forties for time. Shortly after turning onto the second woodchip trail we noticed a group of four deer only feet off the right side of the trail. I couldn't believe how close we were. Even as we talked, only two of them really paid attention to us and wandered further into the woods. The most curious one stayed put for a photo or two and I get the feeling it was the younger one. Later on we spotted two more for a total of six deer. Though it had been partly sunny earlier it had clouded over good by the time the sun was setting. At the water overlook on the south side we both heard and say something slowly crawling out of the cattails and slip quietly into the water. I thought it was a muskrat but it turned out to be a large Snapping Turtle who later poked his nose out of the water. It was cool to see one so early in the season. I've only ever seen them in the summer here.

Sunny Sunday in September

Just to the left of the main parking lot on the south side is a really small pond that's gets pretty covered in algae in the summer. Last year there was a muskrat who'd built a home there but I haven't seen him this year. Sadly, there's an old tire stuck in there that sometimes acts as a sunning spot for turtles. This one was soaking up all he could even with some ducks right next to him. Not much else seen today except these interesting new mushrooms which I've not seen before.

Tiny Turtle

Last week I stopped to talk to a couple whom I see walking around Palmer Lake almost every time I'm there. As they were telling me about how there used to be more deer, another guy they knew came by and started telling a story about how he's seeing baby snapping turtles in the next park system north. I thought wow, would that be cool to see. Well just a week later I almost stepped on one sitting right on the trail. This was by far the smallest turtle I've ever seen. I wonder if it had hatched that same day so I looked around for more but didn't see any. From head to tail this guy was about he size of a silver dollar. It's amazing to think they get so big. After a few photos I realized I should put my finger or hand in the photo for size reference.







In the end I decided on picking him up and moving him closer to the creek as I didn't want a jogger or biker running him over. On the other side of the park I spotted this small toad and then a Great Egret who was roosted in the same dead tree where I often spot them. He was shaking his feathers and was all puffed out which made him look like a totally different bird from their normally skinny, streamlined look.

Colorful Morning

Lots and lots of Butterflies and insects out this morning. Almost all of them in the same area on the south side where wildflowers seem to be taking over the field. Spotted this Tiger Swallowtail right away on some flowers of his own color. The "touch-me-not" plants are attracting just about every kind of insects with their small orange flowers. Bumble bees actually crawl right inside them but I couldn't get a photo as they are too quick.







Near the ball fields on the east side I spotted a face in the woods. This was the same place where I saw the Doe and Fawns pop out from.

Back on the south side the turtles were sunning themselves in the creek.
Later, I got a better opportunity for a Bumble Bee pic.

Wildlife on the water

Red-wing blackbirds are everywhere lately. Been tryin' to get a decent photo of one but they don't stay put for very long. Here's a recent attempt. Didn't think I was gonna see much this walk as I hadn't seen anything until I got half way around to the bridge over Shingle Creek. There I spotted about 20 Carp and a Wood Duck with babies. A little further I noticed a huge Snapping Turtle in a little swampy area. He went under right away so I couldn't get a photo. On the last corner, crossing Shingle Creek again, I spotted another Snapping Turtle right up by the bank. I stopped quickly to avoid spooking him and he just kinda floated there. Eventually he poked his head out and I got some photos of him. They are cool to see as they're so large and their long necks make them look even bigger. I'm guessing this guy's shell alone was about 18" long. Also spotted another female Wood Duck with babies in the same area.