On my way to the park today, only blocks from my house I stopped to pull a car out of the snowbank. The brand new hybrid car was completely cemented into the deep and hard packed snowbank and I couldn't begin to comprehend how in the heck the driver managed this feat with the roads as clear as they are. Regardless, my tow strap did the trick and delayed my arrival to the park by only about 20 minutes. I'd brought my snowshoes today and was excited to go off my normal path. Shortly after crossing the creek tributary on the west side I headed out towards the middle of the park, planning to cut all the way across.
To my surprise my snowshoes became more and more useless the further out I got. They worked OK while in the cover of the woods, but out in the open I was sinking abruptly into 3 foot snowdrifts. The snow was just too light and fluffy to support any weight. As an added bonus to my struggling, the deep snow easily concealed all kinds of logs and branches underneath that I was tripping on left and right. More than once, I fell full-bodied, limbs flailing wildly into the deep snow. I didn't know whether to laugh or swear but I eventually opted for the latter. There was no way in hell I was gonna make it across the entire park this way so I headed back to the paved trail, frustrated and sweaty. As I'm sure I scared away every living thing in the park, I figured I'd better settle for a photo of this Nuthatch near the northwest side. Despite seeing a good variation of birds, including an Owl, Hawks, Cardinals and Blue Jays, I was always too far away and too late for any photos. My mood became increasingly more grumpy as my cell phone was chiming in with both emails and phone calls the whole way. Eventually I was summoned back home by a work related circumstance. Fortunately I'd stowed my laptop in my back seat this morning -something I only do when my backup person is not available. Just as I was setting up and logging in, I noticed a man standing right behind my truck, looking out over the middle of the park. I figured maybe he was looking at a Deer or something and turned my attention back to my laptop. From my rear view mirror I saw him shift closer and thought I'd better see what was going on. As I opened my door, the man said "you see that Fox out there?"
Out loud I screamed "Shit!" and scrambled back in my truck for my camera. I knew even before he got the words out of his mouth that a Coyote was out there somewhere and I caught a quick glance of him through my windshield about the same time I'd finally located my camera. I bolted out of my truck and in a fervor uttered just one word "Coyote!" back to the man behind me. I snapped a first photo much too quickly before the camera had even focused as I thought I'd never get the chance again. Luckily the Coyote was going the full distance across the frozen water, giving me multiple chances for a photo. He was a long ways out but I didn't care in the least as he was clearly visible and was going to be for at least another 30 seconds.
As far out as he was, he was keenly aware of myself and the other guy watching stupidly from the parking lot. He paused only a couple of times before coming all the way over to the southeast side and back into the woods on the southeast side. The same area I've spotted them in -only twice in 5 years. Later, I'd realized that if I hadn't hurried back to the truck and decided to flip open my stupid laptop, I would have missed him by just minutes! For me, it was an early Christmas present!
To my surprise my snowshoes became more and more useless the further out I got. They worked OK while in the cover of the woods, but out in the open I was sinking abruptly into 3 foot snowdrifts. The snow was just too light and fluffy to support any weight. As an added bonus to my struggling, the deep snow easily concealed all kinds of logs and branches underneath that I was tripping on left and right. More than once, I fell full-bodied, limbs flailing wildly into the deep snow. I didn't know whether to laugh or swear but I eventually opted for the latter. There was no way in hell I was gonna make it across the entire park this way so I headed back to the paved trail, frustrated and sweaty. As I'm sure I scared away every living thing in the park, I figured I'd better settle for a photo of this Nuthatch near the northwest side. Despite seeing a good variation of birds, including an Owl, Hawks, Cardinals and Blue Jays, I was always too far away and too late for any photos. My mood became increasingly more grumpy as my cell phone was chiming in with both emails and phone calls the whole way. Eventually I was summoned back home by a work related circumstance. Fortunately I'd stowed my laptop in my back seat this morning -something I only do when my backup person is not available. Just as I was setting up and logging in, I noticed a man standing right behind my truck, looking out over the middle of the park. I figured maybe he was looking at a Deer or something and turned my attention back to my laptop. From my rear view mirror I saw him shift closer and thought I'd better see what was going on. As I opened my door, the man said "you see that Fox out there?" 
Out loud I screamed "Shit!" and scrambled back in my truck for my camera. I knew even before he got the words out of his mouth that a Coyote was out there somewhere and I caught a quick glance of him through my windshield about the same time I'd finally located my camera. I bolted out of my truck and in a fervor uttered just one word "Coyote!" back to the man behind me. I snapped a first photo much too quickly before the camera had even focused as I thought I'd never get the chance again. Luckily the Coyote was going the full distance across the frozen water, giving me multiple chances for a photo. He was a long ways out but I didn't care in the least as he was clearly visible and was going to be for at least another 30 seconds. 
As far out as he was, he was keenly aware of myself and the other guy watching stupidly from the parking lot. He paused only a couple of times before coming all the way over to the southeast side and back into the woods on the southeast side. The same area I've spotted them in -only twice in 5 years. Later, I'd realized that if I hadn't hurried back to the truck and decided to flip open my stupid laptop, I would have missed him by just minutes! For me, it was an early Christmas present!
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