Still no deer

I the last two weeks I've not seen a single deer. This is pretty unusual as up until then I was seeing plenty of them. Earlier this spring I estimate that I'd seen 8-10 on every visit. In fact I'm going to remove my Deer Sightings Map as I've just not been able to keep up. In exchange for deer I've been seeing plenty of birds, and lately a lot of Wood Ducks. This female had 6 or more babies with her but they wouldn't stay still for a photo. Later on I spotted this white breasted bird with a shiny blue head and feathers. I think it is a Tree Swallow as Barn Swallows have an orange belly.

Slugs and Bugs and Such

After going through a couple weeks without any significant rainfall, we are starting to get some here and there, mostly overnights. Seems like the wet weather brings the slugs out onto the trail and it's getting harder to avoid stepping on them. There are also tons of these small brown butterflies with orange stripes. Butterflies in my opinion are as equally hard to photograph as birds as they also never sit still. These are common butterflies I see all the time but have yet to learn their name. I'm also still seeing a fair amount of Garter Snakes and it's surprising how big they are already. This one was over three feet long but less colorful than the one I'd photographed earlier with orange speckles. On the south side I spotted this Frog right up by the railroad ties that make up the overlook onto the lake. He didn't seem to move much even when I almost stepped on him. I've also yet to learn much about frogs versus toads so I'm just guessing it was a frog as it was rather large. I will have to pick up another Field guide from Stan Tekiela!

Spring Songsters

Just off the woodchip trail on the south side this evening I caught a glimpse of a gray colored bird making crazy sounds. None of the calls themselves were crazy really but what caught my attention was that they were extremely different from one another and were being made in quick succession by this one bird. It sounded like 20+ birds combined into one. It wouldn't stay in one place for very long and was tough to get a photo of as it bounced around inside thick trees. My field guide confirms that it is a Gray Catbird who are masters at mimicing other birds. Since I've spotted this one singing, I can now recognize their sound. I've likely heard them all the time but would have never guessed that it was just one bird. In later encounters I've listened more closely and can pick out obvious impressions of a Robin, Chickadee and Red-Winged Blackbird. Very shortly after I heard -then spotted a Baltimore Oriole. Although it's not a great shot, this is definitely better than my last attempt. Again like the Catbird, Orioles seem to stay hidden within high tree tops, rarely coming out to the edge unless they're about to fly over to a different tree. They also have a very unique call that I've come to recognize after seeing them make that sound. Most of my future encounters have involved only hearing them and never actually seeing them. After hearing them a few times I invented my own alphanumeric representation to help me describe to someone else what they sound like. Here goes: C-O2, Oh-Oh, C-Oh-C-O2. (with C as in "see")

Young Bucks

There wasn't much to see this Monday evening until just before Shingle Creek on the north side. There right off the trail was a group of four deer who were way more interested in eating than the people passing by. I immediately noticed most of them were bucks -in fact I think all were. They were amazingly close to the trail and I could easily see their short velvety antler nubs. I stopped dead in my tracks as it's a true rarity to see so many bucks together. I think they were possibly too young to know any better yet and they just stood there munching on the low hanging leaves of the trees. With the combination of their constant movement and the dimming light, I was getting one crummy photo after another. I was just dying being this close and unable to fully capture it. Out of the 30+ photos I took, these were the least blurry of them. At least now I know the park should have a larger share of bucks this year.

Walk after kayak excursion

After a couple hours of kayaking it was still early in the day so I decided to walk around the park. Upon coming to the pine tree where I'd found the bird's egg last Wednesday I decided to peek my head in. There sitting on the nest was a female Cardinal whom I scared out quickly. I couldn't see any babies but now I know what kind of bird the egg belongs to. Later on the paved path I noticed this snail poking his head high up out of his shell. I always thought they had just one set of tentacles but it was easier to see from this guy that there are two. I finally did run across a few deer on the southwest side. This is an unusual place to see them but I have been seeing more of them here over the past couple of weeks. There were two who walked right out in front of me on the wood chip trail. When I went for my camera they got spooked and darted into the thick woods. A short while later one more jumped out and ran across the field where they plow the snow into in the winter. I don't get many "action" shots with my low-end camera but this one sort of worked. Right before the mouth of the creek, I noticed a couple of big mushrooms down in a low spot off the left side of the trail. I'm pretty sure they are Morel Mushrooms and there were just three of them -two growing together and one on it's own. The looked so top-heavy that they were about to tip over.

Kayaking Palmer Lake

Yes believe it, today I kayaked in Palmer Lake and up Shingle Creek! I've been considering it for years now but had put it off for some good reasons. The basin itself is shallow as hell. Also, being a swamp that's smack dab in the middle of a large city, it's not necessarily the cleanest water. I don't even want to imagine what diseases I could catch if I capsized. But with almost a week's worth of rain, the water was noticeable higher and I figured I'd go for it. I put in right by the main parking lot around 8am. Thankfully I was the first vehicle in the lot and I could avoid any embarrassment if I didn't succeed in launching. Surprisingly I made it in without getting too wet and I was off and paddling across the middle basin. I tooled around slowly, getting a feel for the depth as I really didn't want to get stuck and have to get out! I headed for the mouth of the creek and thankfully found the water to be much deeper there -maybe 5-6 feet? As I headed up the creek I came upon a large group of deer right on the banks. Seeing them there in the middle of the park in the early quiet was amazing. In addition I was so frickin' close, I could see steam coming off their warm bodies. They stared at me like it was something they'd never seen before -and that's probably true :) As I headed closer to the foot bridge on the north side I saw birds aplenty including an Owl, hawks and lots of Wood Ducks. The most amazing part of my trip is just how far I made it upstream. I got past the old Lazaroff's farm and even past Xerxes Avenue by way of a cement tunnel under the road. Shortly after I finally ran aground and could see I was in about 6 inches of water. Luckily, there was somewhat of a current here and it was easy to back up and turn around. On the way back I paused to snap a picture of the same tall cottonwood I remember from January when I first walked on the frozen creek. Just for fun, I've put both pictures together here. Also on the way back I paused to watch a female Red-winged Blackbird that darn near came right up to me as she was collecting twigs for a nest. Being this close I could even see the slight yellowish tint to the head that I've only seen before in photos. Upon coming back off the creek I veered right to explore the left basin which was even more shallow than the first. Everywhere around me the water errupted into a swirl from carp. I swear I could even feel them under the bow of my kayak. Here I snapped this pic of a Great Blue Heron before heading back to explore the eastern basin. This is the largest body of water in the park and there were actually small waves on it. I'd recently talked to a passing walker said someone told him there was a depth of 18 feet somewhere on the lake. I'm highly skeptical of this but I figured if it existed, it would be here on the east side. Though it was for sure deeper than the other basins, I could touch the bottom with my paddle everywhere I ventured. I decided upon the south side overlook for my point of exit and I performed a trepidatious full body roll-out onto the railroad ties. With a handful of new sights and no diseases, I'd actually call it a great paddle!

Spring Soaker

Our rainy weather has been continuing but when I arrived at the park Wednesday evening it was only somewhat overcast. Stupidly I left my rain jacket in the truck, opting for only my hooded sweatshirt and baseball cap. On the first wood chip trail I noticed a small speckled egg that was more or less intact. After searching the closest pine tree for a bit I found a nest with another similar egg still in it. Not sure if it would it make it or not but I added the egg back into the nest anyway. On the north side a bright orange bird caught my attention as it landed in a tall, thick tree. This was only the second time I've seen a Baltimore Oriole in the park and I waited around forever trying to get a picture. As it hopped around in the tree I noticed a second one but neither of them ever came out into plain view. While I'd been standing there for a while I noticed the southern sky getting darker and darker. It had a definite look of rain and I realized at that point I was probably going to get wet later. I hurried along quickly and stopped only once when I noticed a couple of deer about twenty minutes later. I got one decent shot of this young buck before it disappeared into the cattails. And then came the rain. Harder than I've ever seen at the park for sure and I was getting soaked fast. There was nowhere to go but in the woods. I found the most dense trees above that I could and stood there for a good 15 minutes while it just poured. When I moved just one foot to either the left or right I'd get even more wet so I just waited it out in the same place. By the time I got home I could have wrung out my sweatshirt like a sponge.

Rainy Monday

Monday rained pretty much all day long. It was still raining as I head home from work but for some reason I was still itching to visit the park. I guess I like when there's fewer people there. The things you see are for sure seen only by you. Nearing the north side I spotted an unfamiliar looking bird as it flew by. It was slightly larger than other birds of it's shape. It landed a ways off from me but I could still see a bright red patch on his head. I zoomed in, got one shot and he flew off. I guessed it was a Flicker and my bird book confirmed that it was a male due to the black mustache. I was pretty glad I'd worn my rain jacket as soon after it started coming down harder. Up ahead some deer were crossing the path and they hesitated one by one as they spotted me. A short while later I saw a group of 4-5 of them that stayed on that side of the path and were eating foliage from trees hanging above. The longer I walked, the harder it rained and after a while my camera lens was even getting spotty. On the south side there are these little plants growing so fast they are carpeting the ground in large patches.

Turning colder in May

It's steadily gotten more cold and damp in May which is really strange considering the very warm April we've had. It was easy getting used to 70 degrees in April but extra hard adjusting to mid 40's again in May! Tonight was a little better and the sun had finally popped out showing how green everything has become. On the west side I sidetracked into the woods to retrieve some garbage when I noticed this rather large and colorful snake. I'm sure it was just an everyday Garter Snake but it was close to three feet long with bright specks of orange on it. I got in real close for a picture and it got kind of pissed at me and looked like it might lunge at me. Later I spotted a Bald Eagle perched way out across the park in some dead tree tops. I've been seeing him here for the past few visits but never seem to get close to him. I'm also seeing about 9-10 deer almost every visit lately which is really unusual. It's much harder to catch pictures though now with all the tall grass and foliage. I'm also noticing a lot of them with "nubs" lately which is pretty cool. I'm pretty sure that the majority of young ones in the park are actually bucks. On the south side near the very spot I saw the Coyote last week, I watched this family of geese for a bit. The young ones, still yellow and fuzzy kept walking up underneath the female and she would kick them away with one leg. I couldn't figure out what they wanted until she sat down. Then all of them came barreling into her from behind and tucked themselves under her feathers for warmth.

Dreary Thursday

It's been nice to be able to visit the park more frequently now that it's staying lighter all the time. There were no sunsets tonight though as it was very overcast and grey. I really hadn't seen much by the time I'd crossed the north side except for a lot of seeded out Dandelions. It's amazing how fast they cycle through from flower to seed. No wonder they spread so easily. I did see a few deer near the houses on the northeast side but I had a hard time capturing any decent photos. They'd only pop their heads up periodically to see what I was up to before looking for more food. When I got the south side I noticed the first Great Blue Heron of the season. In fact there was an Egret inching up on him slowly. It was an interesting site as I've rarely seen these two large birds close together like that.

Spectacular Spring Skies

When I arrived at the parking lot this Tuesday evening I was a little hesitant about getting on the path. On the drive over I could see the west turning dark and the wind picking up. It was kind of exciting so I said the heck with it, and threw on my hooded sweatshirt in case it rained. As I hit the trail the storm was literally on the edge of the park as there was still a bit of clear blue sky above. By the time I got the ball field on the west side the wind was whipping the trees around pretty bad. I then heard what I thought was a close crack of lightning but realized was a tree top snapping in the wind. I started to wonder if this was such a good idea. There were still some other people out on the trail and I hadn't heard any sirens yet so I kept going. The storm rolled through surprisingly quietly with the exception of very strong winds and moderate rain. I did manage to spot a couple of deer on the north side but didn't stop long to watch them. By the time I was coming back around to the south side, the sky was changing every minute or so. I was shocked to see the sun pop out again in the west and it helped to show how tumultuous the sky had become. I was amazed at how fast the sky continued to change as I snapped this next pic only four minutes after the previous one.

As the trail continued to turn I noticed a really bright rainbow in the south. If you look closely you can see a second, more faint one to the right.
When I got to the mouth of Shingle Creek the dark skies had moved to the east and the setting sun was making the greenery appear just a bit more dark and vivid green. Only a few minutes later the winds subsided and the sky again morphed into a "muted gold" tone that cast itself onto the now quiet and still waters. As I headed back to the parking lot the sky set on fire with a spectacular yellow orange and purple sunset.
Sorry about the power lines in this last shot, it's just part of the park. Also I think I broke my record here for the most pictures in any one post.

There were just so many variations in lighting in this one visit! Interestingly enough, I didn't color correct any of these pics before posting, they're all in raw form directly off my camera.

Coyote Sighting

This evening started out with a bit of drizzle and I was afraid it would be another very uneventful walk. However, on the first wood chip trail I heard a lot of noise coming from my right and I spotted three deer crossing the shallow water connecting the two eastern most bodies of water. I think it's so cool to see them walking right in the water -just not something you see all the time. Later after coming back to the south side I walked up the wood chip trail to the mouth of the lake and couldn't believe my eyes. Right there in plain, full view was a Coyote standing at the edge of the creek! He was much bigger and reddish in color than I expected. I immediately went for my camera but as I zoomed in and attempted to focus, it did a high-jump over some tall grass and disappeared in a flash. I stood there stupidly for a bit before I started cussing myself out for being greedy and trying to get a close-up. What a missed opportunity. I decided to park myself on the bank of the creek in hopes that he might come back. I waited until sunset but never saw him again.

May Day

The park is getting really green and lush now. Today was very breezy and barely any wildlife as a result. The north side is full of great smelling, white blossoms which must be some kind of crab apple tree or something. With the warm April, I've seen just about every bird and waterfowl return to the park, but have been waiting for both the Egrets and Herons. Today I finally saw one Great Egret far out in the eastern body of water. Shouldn't be long now before there's more.