Lots to See this Saturday

When I arrived at the park this Saturday morning the first thing I saw was dried up Goldenrod plants. They reminded me that it was indeed much later in the season than it feels. Temps are still mild and there was plenty of sun today, making it feel more like early October versus mid November. Heading toward the duck pond I again ran into a couple of friends of mine who told me about a monstrous Buck they had just seen in the area. So after chatting for a few minutes I scouted around in search of some Deer. While heading along the wood chip trail north of the duck pond, a pretty Doe walked right out in front of me and just stood there. It made for a nice portrait with the big Cottonwood trees in the background. I was seeing a few birds here and there, including a few Cardinals and Woodpeckers. I paused for a bit to watch this Downy Woodpecker do his thing and he inched closer and closer to me until he was less than about 6 feet away. I still enjoy taking photos of common birds if they are close and/or doing something interesting. I love being able to see the feather detail in the photos later on as it's something you don't see for very long in the field. While standing there admiring the Downy, I noticed another Deer in the field of cattails just past the trail. It was a buck with a healthy, yet smaller rack of 4 tines on each side. This one was a bit more shy than the first and stayed mainly in the cattails, not giving me any good clear looks. After a while I turned my attention back to the trailside in search of birds but then yet another buck stepped out onto the trail in front of me! It's been some time since I've seen this much deer activity in the park and I was glad that not all of them had been taken by the archery hunt. This particular buck had what first looked to be just a single spike on each side, though be it very tall ones. After he too posed nicely for a few photos, he turned to the side, sniffing along the trail and I could see that each spike was paired with a second, much smaller spike pointing off to the back. I also noticed he looked kind of "beefy" around the head and neck which is probably a sign of their mating season or "rut." The next thing that caught my eye was a bright red male Cardinal who seemed to be playing hide and seek with me through the brush. I thought to myself "it's hard to hide when you're this bright!" I sure love seeing Cardinals but unless they're busy at a feeder, they can be tough to approach without bumping. You also need some pretty good light for photos as they're SO red that your camera often wont pick up the feather details. So I definitely have more less than favorable photos of Northern Cardinals. After having finally moved on from the duck pond, I came across one very interesting waterfowl species that pretty much made my day. A single Gadwall was swimming in the little pond on the east side of the park, just south of the parking lot. It was actually right up near the trail and I was too close when I spotted it, sending it heading away from me rather quickly. But at least it didn't fly off to the next pond and I was able to observe it for a while. Gadwalls will usually show a "black butt" when they're in mating plumage. This one had mostly black, but also some light feathers there too so it may have been a first-year bird, or maybe they just lose some of their color this time of year like other waterfowl. Either way I was thrilled to see a Gadwall at the park again!

A Quick Hike With Good Sights

Today is July 3rd and my workplace closed early for the 4th of July Holiday weekend. So of course I went straight to the park after going home to change. I wanted to make a quick hike out of my visit since there was much to do this weekend. But there was so much to see and photograph it took me longer than I had planned at around 2 hours and 15 minutes. After stopping to admire the mixture of Blue Vervain and Swamp Milkweed near the culdesac at 73rd Avenue, I headed south to the wood chip trails. There I came across a lone Doe who stopped in front of me in very nice light. I took a few shots of her before she headed back into the brush. I would see just one other Deer during my walk later on. On the west side near the baseball fields I spotted an Eastern Bluebird perched along the chain link fencing. This side of the park seems to be preferred by the Bluebirds as the fields offer a lot of open space which is what they really like. And of course I couldn't get past the north side quickly when again I spotted an Indigo Bunting. This has really become one of my favorite and most-photographed subject this year. I've been fortunate to see one here on the north side nearly every time I visit and have spent countless hours following them from tree to tree. Other birds seen on my walk today included: American Redstart, Wood Duck with chicks, American Robin, Yellow Warbler, and Least flycatcher.

Birds, Deer, Insects and Flowers

I didn't make it to the park until just after 5:00pm this Sunday but there was still plenty of light left and lots of things to see. Upon arrival I noticed a Great Egret out wading in the flooded baseball fields on the east side. As of late I've been more interested in flowers and plants so I've also been trying to look down below me more often too. As I did I noticed this neat looking insect landing on a plant that hadn't even really flowered out yet. I don't think it is a Bee but rather some kind of Wasp, though I honestly don't know. It looked almost black and white. Later on the north side I climbed a little hillside to look around for Goldfinch but instead noticed a Flycatcher of some kind –likely a Least Flycatcher because of a very noticeable white eye-ring. As I watched the flycatcher, a Doe suddenly walked into view right by the bird. This isn't the best picture but I thought it was funny and maybe the only photo I've got with both a Deer and a Bird in the same picture! Near the west side of the park I stopped to watch a Common Grackle picking up slugs out of a puddle on the paved trail. Like many birds with iridescent feathers, I'm always trying to capture the different colors one can see in them. After poking around the water for a bit, he flew up to and perched atop one of the freshly cut Willows that had been trimmed by the city. Near the end of my trip I noticed a brilliant purple flower growing near the cattails. I've seen this before but not paid too much attention until now. Upon looking up the flower later I learned it is called "American Vetch" and is in the "pea" family. I hope it is one that I can remember from now on. Other birds spotted today included American Redstart, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird (juvenile), Yellow Warbler, and a Killdeer who pretended to be injured when I approached!

Happy New Year 2014

Sadly this Sunday January 12th is the first time I've been to the park since December. My new year has been off to a rough start unfortunately as I ended up needing my appendix removed on January 2nd. Recovery was a total drag and between that and my bad back I've just not been up for a walk until now. The first thing I noticed today was that a lot of leafless vegetation on the south side is coated with white, wispy seeds that makes everything look almost furry. I tried to get a closeup –which my zoom lens doesn't do that well at– but it kinda worked here. These are the seeds stuck to the tip of Red-Osier Dogwood (the reddish colored bushes that are common in the park). I'm not 100% sure but I'm guessing that maybe the seeds are that of Cattails. They are really exploding right now and going to seed so that is my best guess. Later on the southwest end of the park I came across these bright red berries. They were about the only thing showing any color today so they caught my eye. I'm pretty sure these are Nightshade berries and I was really kind of surprised that they might stay red this long into mid January. I barely saw any birds during my walk today save for a handful of a Chickadees and a small flock of American Tree Sparrows that were taking turns drinking from a small hole in the ice on Shingle Creek. While watching the Tree Sparrows I noticed a couple of deer on the opposite side of the creek –nearly in someone's back yard. These are the first deer I've spotted in such a long time. It was nice to see some again.

Finally a Nice Day!

After missing our short lived sunshine yesterday, I was more eager to get to the park earlier today and be assured I would have some sunshine. Not only was the sky clear but the temps warmed up dramatically as well. While the "official" high temperature measured for the day was only in the 30's, my digital thermometer at home -and in the shade mind you- was reading 43 degrees! It was almost like a Spring day and not having to wear my face mask/neck warmer for once was quite awesome in itself. I saw (or heard) a fair amount of birds today including quite a few different Woodpeckers. I've been seeing Downy Woodpeckers in groups of 2, 3 and 4 lately, chasing each other and flapping about wildly as they drop from a perch. I noticed this for the first time last year and I believe this must be their mating time. I've yet to get a good photo as they are usually quite high up when behaving this way. The best Woodpecker I saw today however was a male Pileated. I spotted him only 10 minutes into my walk on the east side of the park. Actually I heard him first, then saw a flash of red through some small willow trees near the small ponds. He was quite busy pounding away on a dead tree and I figured I might have a shot at getting closer as long as he was occupied. I crunched though the loud snow trying to get closer while not scaring him off. Gradually he moved up the dead tree into better view but the area was still so thick that I could not get a clear shot through the Willow shrubs. Eventually I found a half-fallen tree that was just the right height for me to step up onto and get me above the ground cover. From here I had an absolutely fantastic view of him while he continued to jackhammer the tree in a frenzy of flying wood chips. You wouldn't believe the amount of wood chips flying through the air! Some were quite large even. It was quite a sight and I wanted to try and capture this so I took quite a few shots. In this one you can see some of that wood in front of his dark colored body. If you notice how far away his head is from the tree at this split second while all the wood chips are still in the air, you get an idea of just how quickly he was moving. I know that he was in search of insects but I still don't exactly understand what type of insects they can find in such cold conditions in February. I suppose there are some that burrow into the layers of wood itself. I've always wanted to see one actually pull out an insect but I think the action would be so fast that you would miss it. In fact they don't use their beaks at all to grab the insects, but rather uses it's long, barbed tongue to grab them. In the second photo inset, you can see it's tongue coming out –or going back in. I'm not sure which, but this is likely the closest I've come so far to seeing a Pileated actually eat an insect! It is always a thrill to get to see a Pileated so closely as their red caps are just so brilliantly vivid especially on a winter day when pretty much everything else is either white or brown. At this close proximity I could also see his bright yellow eyes and a hint of yellow on his upper bill just in front of his eyes. I was pretty happy with such a sighting so early into my walk but it would prove to be the best of the day. Later on the north end I spotted a group of five Deer together. Most looked like younger ones who were curious of me. One in particular was lagging behind and was standing right in the middle of these big trees which made a nice photo I thought. I watched them for just a while longer before they all moved on. A hundred feet down on the opposite side of the trail was yet another group of 5 Deer, making their way down and across the drainage ditch. It was the first time I've spotted 10 Deer in one walk in quite some time!

Deer and First GHO Sighting

I had this Monday off of work and after a day of running errands I decided to try and squeeze in a walk around the park before it got dark. I didn't get there until about 3:15pm and I knew it was gonna get dark in a hurry. The first things I spotted were a Red-tailed Hawk and then on the southwest side was still the one, lone Wood Duck with all the Mallards. I'm not sure why he's hanging out with all these noisy ducks but he was huddled up on a branch of his own that was poking out of the water. On the north side I spotted a young looking deer, then another and another and then two older ones. I never saw much for Fawns in the park this year so I wasn't really sure how many yearlings are around. A bit further down the trail I spotted yet another young one but this time a little closer to the trail. Another park-goer was walking by as I was taking pictures and we talked about how you usually see one deer, then another and realize they're part of a group of 4-5 or even more. I didn't hear an "official" count of the number of deer taken during this year's archery hunt, but other park goers told me it was only between 8 and 10 I think. That actually seems kind of low to me, but if you consider that the hunt only takes place on the Brooklyn Park side of the park -and the hunters can't cross the line into Brooklyn Center- then I guess it might be more difficult than you'd think. The Deer can easily run out into the center of the park which is just past the dividing line. As I was coming around the north side, it was starting to get dark already and I was looking at the smaller Oak Trees that still have a lot of leaves on yet. I was thinking to myself that if I were an Owl, this is where I would hang out -and then only minutes later I heard one "whoo!" I figured I would try and follow the sound for a bit just in case. I believe there were two of them and by the sound I guessed they were Great-Horned Owls. I'm pretty sure that December and January are their mating season and like other years it's fairly common to hear them during these months. Before coming to the drainage ditch that runs under the path, I caught a glimpse of one, lower than expected and near a group of houses. I took one photo before it flew out and actually flew towards me, across the trail! It landed in a taller tree directly over the drainage ditch where I had a better view. Only thing was that it was really dark out by now. I tried setting my camera to a night-time setting which is why this photo looks so blue in color. At the time I couldn't even see his face or tell which way he was facing. This is the first GHO I've seen this season.

Here Goes September

September is definitely one of the best months to be outside in Minnesota. The weather is (typically) starting to cool off and the hours of daylight each day is hardly getting shorter -at least not noticeably yet. I started off the month with an early morning visit to the park arriving about 7am. Right off the bat I noticed a very interesting bird -that at the time I had no clue of what it could be, only that it was likely some Warbler I'm not yet familiar with. I caught a decent picture of it hoping around in a grapevine and decided I would try to ID it later on. Well, about this time I started getting too busy at work and even at home and started letting all my park photos pile up quickly on my desktop. I am actually writing this post much later and as it so happens I would see this species one more time -making me really wonder what the heck it was. After coming back to it periodically, I've determined that it is in fact a Magnolia Warbler! And more precisely, it is an immature in "Non-breeding Plumage" which was yet another aspect making it more difficult to identify. The great thing about the internet as it relates to birding, is that once you get an idea of what something "might be," you can just look up hundreds of other images for comparison to yours. And funny enough when I did, that the photo that resembled mine the most came from a fellow birder in my same area: Ecobirder. The next thing I saw I was really not expecting, and it only was there for a split second, making it seem all that more unique. As I was rounding the west side of the park near the outfields of the baseball diamonds. I caught a larger bird out of the corner of my eye land in a tall dead tree high up above me. I instinctively swung around to snap a photo and realized it was an American Kestral! I've not positively ID'd one at the park since April of 2011 so it was quite a nice sighting. Then as soon as he had landed, he took off and I was unable to follow where he went. I didn't even have a chance for a better photo but still very cool to have seen one again! Later on the north end of the park, a Doe had wandered out onto the trail and was lazily grazing along the edges. She was far up ahead of me and I just had a feeling that maybe some Fawns were with her. Sure enough they too popped out onto the trail and this is when I decided to try and get in closer. Both mom and the kids were just curious enough about me to let me approach fairly close and let me and even other people coming by just watch them for a while. I ended up taking a whole lot of photos of just one or the other Fawn as they munched on everything green, but this was my favorite photo of the day.

Last Day of June and First Hummingbird

This Saturday I arrived at the park just after 8:00am to a bright, sunny and cloudless day. I can't believe today is the last day of June already. April, May and June are probably my favorite months now after discovering birding and spring migration. After that it's a little downhill on the birding front for a while. I've not been seeing a lot of Deer lately and in fact I'd really expected to see some newborn Fawns by now. I did catch one this morning shortly after coming round the south side. I thought it made kind of a cool picture because you can the park and street signage in the background. At the railroad ties on the edge of the lake, a flock of unidentified birds were zooming around it a circle, dipping below the edge of the cattails and then coming back up. They were moving too fast for me to make out but they were something I knew I've never seen in the park before. I had a faint idea but it wasn't until I caught a mid-flight photo that I could confirm they were indeed Rock Pigeons! This was such a weird sight to see at Palmer Lake Park. I usually only see Pigeons in more populated areas under bridges and such -not in a more natural area like the park. Just one of them was of a very different color, being more brown and white versus gray. Later I saw a few Crows up ahead and I decided to take few photos only because they were close and in just the right light to see a lot of feather details. Crows, like European Starlings are incredibly tough to photograph because they are so dark. This is probably as much detail as I'd ever seen on a Crow I figured I would post it today. Going round the north side I spotted a tiny little bird on the tip of a dead branch and had to do a double-take. This is the first Hummingbird I've spotted all season though I've been on the lookout for them all this month. Though I've definitely seen them earlier in the park, this date falls right in line with the majority of my Hummingbird sightings. The most common timing to first notice them at the Park is either the last week of June or the first week in July.

Cold and Windy Monday

I had an extra day off from work this Monday but I didn't get to the park until later in the afternoon. It was terribly windy and on the cold side at just 47 degrees. I didn't think I would see much but the park usually proves me wrong anytime I assume this. The first think I spotted was an unknown bird hopping around mostly on the ground. Right away it didn't look familiar because it was rather large -close to a Robin size maybe, but was mostly drab colored except for it's bright rusty colored tail feathers. It flew off quickly into some low bushes but came back out onto the open ground right near the trail long enough to capture photos of it from different angles. I had to have some help identifying this bird later and was happy to learn that I'd captured a new bird for my blog -a Hermit Thrush! Now I will just have to remember how to recognize one if I ever see one again. I never heard it make any noise but they apparently have a very beautiful song. On the northeast side I spotted a group of 5 to 6 Deer moving below the Buckthorn trees just off the trail. For whatever reason they tend to congregate here in large groups each spring. There must be something good to eat here. I watched them for a while trying to get a shot with all of them in it but of course they don't always stay in tight groups. There were no Bucks in the group but there were a couple of curious young ones that cautiously walked closer to me as I took photos crouched down on one knee. Just like last year, their fur looked to be a mess as if they were shedding maybe. On the north side near a drainage ditch I just barely caught a glimpse of a tiny little bird bouncing around in a tree at about eye level above a drainage ditch full of water. It flew off quickly to the other side of the ditch when I realized it was likely a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It was very windy on this side of the park and I was surprised that they were out and active in such crummy weather. I stood and waited here for nearly 30 minutes or more, watching 2 of them periodically fly back to my side of the ditch and hop around in the tree like crazy as I remember them from last year. Seriously, these birds DO NOT stay put for more than 1 to 2 seconds before moving again. I was almost laughing to myself at how difficult it is to get a photo of one. By the time you can get one in your viewfinder, they tend to move and it's a constant game of catching up to them. I wasn't too happy with the quality of this photo but it does show their olive green backside plus the red crown raised slightly. I will make sure to check out this spot again during my next walk.

Looking for the Other Half

I forgot to mention in my previous post that I did spend a while searching for the other half of the antler shed that I found on Sunday morning. With the ground being wet and wearing only my worn out tennis shoes, I gave up fairly easily after getting wet feet. This Wednesday evening though was nice out so I decided to go back to the same area -with hiking boots- and do some more thorough searching. I covered quite a lot of ground but didn't find the other half. I did however manage my first Bluebird photo of the year -though not a great one. He was perched on another of those dead trees and possibly also looking for a good place to nest. It was starting to get a bit dark and for the first time I chose to head back the way I came instead of going all the way around. On my way back I saw a group of 5 or 6 Deer and decided to futz around with the settings on my new camera for a better shot. It seemed to work and I was getting halfway decent images. In this light my old camera would have not picked up anything! I watched the group for a while which had at least one young one with them. Later I saw 2 or 3 more cross the trail in front of me. One stopped in it's tracks right on the trail to eye-up another park goer. When I was about back to my vehicle I could see a few more in a clearing just behind some trees. I thought maybe the light might be better here so I sneaked through the trees quietly. There with a Doe was a nice Buck with a full set of antlers. I thought March 28th would officially be the latest I've seen a Buck, but now I have a new record for the park on April 4th! It looks like there will still be more antler sheds for someone to find yet this year.

Spring has Sprung

It's hard to believe that today is actually the first day of Spring when we've had nearly 3 weeks of May-like weather already. Today was 63 degrees -slightly cooler than the last few days if you can believe it. The trees are quite far along already for this time of year with small leaves appearing everywhere and the woods starting to fill-in. This is going to be one long Spring season! Despite the nice warm weather there wasn't too much to be seen today. I may have seen a Blue-winged Teal out in the lake but it was so far away I couldn't tell. I did see a small group of 2 or 3 Deer along the woodchip trail on the west side. The young ones from last season are still recognizable -especially when with an older Doe. They didn't seem to mind me taking photos and as usual became more curious about me that I was about them. Later near the end of my walk I clearly spotted a Dark-eyed Junco which seemed way out of place on this warm day. I got a poor photo from underneath that wasn't blog-worthy but I thought I would note it as they will start becoming scarce, heading back north very soon.

Another Sunny Day

Upon arrival at the park today I noticed that someone had dumped a large bag of garbage just a few feet away from the parking lot. It had gotten torn open and was blowing around everywhere. It irks me so much to see people dump their crap wherever they want and make it somebody else's problem. Not too long into my walk today I spotted a familiar bird that I've not seen in a long time. There were about 5 or 6 Goldfinches hopping around in the thick shrubby trees along 69th Avenue. Though a permanent resident of the lower half of the state, I've not seen a Goldfinch since last Fall. I barely noticed a hint of yellow on 2 or 3 of them and the others were even more pale in color -probably the females. It made me feel like Spring is just around the corner, especially with this mild winter that just keeps continuing. Later on the south side near what I call the "duck pond," I spotted a few Deer trying to get a drink of water. The water here on the southwest side could also be called "lake #4" being the smallest of the 4 separate but interconnected bodies of water that make up the "Palmer Lake" watershed. This particular water is kept open almost all winter by Mallards who adopt it for shelter against the weather. It must have been tempting to the Deer but as they went down the bank, the ducks would scatter and quack, scaring the young Deer back up onto the bank and down the trail. The Deer tried a few more times with the same result which made me laugh.

Sunny and Cold Saturday

It was a particularly cold day this Saturday morning -possibly the coldest it has been so far at just 11 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand it was bright and sunny which always helps to make it feel warmer in my opinion. One of the first sights I saw on my walk today were lots of Robins near the small creek that runs on the southeast side. This particular one seemed to be missing an eye on his left side. I've heard recently that it's somewhat common for birds to damage or lose their eyes while flying through trees. Think about just walking through the woods without a hand to put up in front of your face. When I popped out of the woodchip trail I spotted the largest group of Deer I'd seen in quite a while -about 6 or 7 of them. At first they were all the way over by the playground equipment which was the last place I would have expected to see them. The Deer Hunt that started in October would be ending in just 4 days from now so at least these ones were lucky enough to have made it this far. There were definitely young ones in the group and I imagine they were more likely to be spared. Later on I spotted an unusual image that would probably escaped me only minutes earlier or later. The low sun was brightly illuminating these half-dried-up leaves, making them glow almost like a green light bulb. I'm always intrigued upon seeing any "green" during winter and especially with snow on the ground it can create quite a drastic contrast. The sun is so low at this time of year as evident by this photo taken only minutes before noon. Two other very interesting sights today without photographic evidence were; 1) a group of 3 Trumpeter Swans that flew over the park and 2) I heard and saw a Grey Catbird just off the trail on the east side. I told my fellow nature buff friends about this sighting and they agreed that it was simply amazing to see a Catbird around this late in the season. Eventually one of them also spotted it but neither of us came up with a photo to prove it.

Cedar Waxwings Playing

This Saturday Palmer Lake park was covered in just a fine dusting of snow, the kind that doesn't really even cover the ground, settling only between the blades of grass. It was overcast and gray and late enough in the year to get my hopes up of seeing an Owl soon. My first sighting however was of a single Doe on the north side about 10 minutes before the bridge over Shingle Creek. She wasn't too interested in me and kept moving along. On the northeast corner of the park is a thick stand of trees, shrubs and vines that always attract a good variety of birds. Today it was a small flock of Cedar Waxwings and I ventured in to woods finding myself right underneath them. They were everywhere I turned my camera, but shooting upwards into the sky was giving me very poor results. The Waxwings were active as heck, plucking and downing berries like crazy from the Buckthorn trees. At one point, I spotted two of them interacting closely above me. One picked a berry and passed it to the other, making my wonder at first if it was feeding a younger one. But to my surprise, the bird passed it back again. They continued passing it back and forth a few more times before the one gulped it down. I can only guess that they were playing, or maybe it was some sort of sign of affection. A pretty interesting sight!

Late November

I had the day off of work today and naturally I started off my day by visiting the park. It was nice and sunny out today and warmer than normal -just as it has been for most of the month. I'd taken the wood chip trail from the parking lot and as I neared where it turns north, I heard a familiar loud sound and spotted a Red-bellied Woodpecker almost at eye-level. This was an unusual occurrence as I hardly ever see them any closer to the ground than about 30 feet. The sun was shining right on him, making his red crown even more bright looking. I was lucky enough to catch just 2 pics of him before he flew off higher up into the trees. Something I learned from this photo, but was not easy to pick up from my field guide is that the also have very "red" eyes! For some reason I rarely see females of this species -who's red crown does not extend across the entire head. As I neared the bridge over the creek on the north side, I spotted a group of three Deer who where staying oddly close to each other. They were easily visible out in an open area and a number of people walking on the trail stopped to watch them. I then noticed what looked to be a person standing up along the banks of Shingle Creek. The figure wasn't moving so I had to look through my binoculars to confirm that it was indeed a person. I started to think "what the heck" when I then noticed another person up in a tree stand even closer to me. It then dawned on me that it was a Tuesday and the special Deer hunt was going on! This might have explained why the Deer were staying close together as I think they aware of all the people around. In a way I think it might be good for the Deer in the park to come to trust people a bit less than they currently do. I am always shocked at how tame they seem. As I kept walking I wondered if one of these 3 ended up claimed by the hunter.

Final Attempt at an After-Work Walk

Today was the first day of November but with the temps so warm, I wanted to take advantage of being outside. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the park until nearly 7pm which gave me just roughly one hour of light. I was optimistic until I came across my first good photo opportunity and remembered how poorly my camera works in even just slightly low light. Right from the paved trail overlooking the pond on the far west side, I could see two Deer wading in the water along the edge. This isn't a real common place to see Deer and I'd definitely never seen them here in this water that is normally full of Ducks. To keep my pics from becoming completely blurry, I laid down to steady my camera on the concrete facade above the drainage pipe. This is why my only image for this post is crooked. The other Deer that was in the water had jumped out by this time and joined another up on the bank that I hadn't noticed before. I did make it all the way around but it was completely dark by the time I got back to the parking lot. I only took one other photo the whole way around -of some cattails- and that was mostly just to see if the photo would even show up on my camera screen. This will definitely be my last after-work-walk of the year.

A good walk soured by stupidity

Today was my last visit to the park this October and the weather is still warmer than normal. I hope it lasts even longer. I arrived just after 8am and the sky was a hazy mix of overcast and spots of orange sunshine trying to break through. My walk was rather quiet and uneventful until I go all the way to the north side just before the bridge where I spotted a Doe and two Fawns. I was glad to see that the trio has so far been spared by the archery hunt that had started at the beginning of the month. I later spotted a large Hawk in a tree across the park -too far for a good picture. As I was making my way around the southeast side I noticed some containers among the cattails about 10 feet off the trail. They looked to be full of dark liquid and I thought to myself "no way would someone toss out used oil in a park." I had to find out for sure so I walked into the cattails, stepping into wet muddy places where my shoes sank halfway. Sure enough, I found multiple gallon containers filled to the brim with used motor oil!!! I could not believe it. I was torn with feeling both anger and disappointment, trying my hardest to figure out why someone would do something so inconsiderate. With how much discussion of environmental concerns that our society has on a regular basis now, the person who did this must either be completely oblivious to all media; extremely uneducated, or have a personal vendetta against something that I don't understand. With a still overwhelming feeling of disbelief, I picked up as many jugs as I could find and brought them to the path. Luckily the caps were still on and holding most of the oil inside. Sadly there were more than pictured here, and I even fished another full gallon out of the water on the opposite side of the trail! As I was gathering up all of these jugs, an older gentleman on a bike came by and decided to help me bring them to the nearest trash can. He then volunteered to call the City to tell them what we had found & have them pick it up. I felt a bit better at this point, thinking -and hoping- that the majority of people would recognize this action as a mistake and try to correct it. I thought about how upset this made me and how minute of an event it was in comparison the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. The problem with some of the mistakes we make on such a large scale, is that they might never be corrected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

October Evening

With the beautiful weather over the weekend I was up for another visit on Monday after work. This is getting increasingly harder to do now that sunset is coming earlier by a few minutes every day. I arrived at the park just before 6pm and the sun was already casting a horizontal orange glow on the trees. I saw one single Doe right off the bat on the southern wood chip trail but she was quite far away. Later on the north side another Doe was much closer to the trail and as I watched I noticed another much larger Deer in the background. To my surprise it was a Buck with either 4 or 5 point antlers. It was already getting dark and I had a hard time getting a photo that wasn't completely blurry. I'd knelt down for stability in taking a picture and much like many other times, the Doe became curious and walked right up to me, stopping within about a 10 foot range. Though it was quite dark now, she was close enough for a much better photo than I would get of the Buck. I moved along after a few minutes as I knew I'd be racing the clock to get back before it was totally dark. I could see a nice sunset forming and I picked up my pace even more to get to the southeast side for a more open view. The sun set so fast you could pick up on the changing color in real time. I had one more surprise in store when I got back near the parking lot. I was just coming up the hillside from the paved trail when I noticed something moving quickly down the hill to my right. There were TWO Coyotes together trotting one behind another along the cattails. I had absolutely no chance of a photo because it was too dark now but it was a pretty cool thing to see none the less. It's rare for me to even see Coyotes outside of winter but two of them together was even more rare -in fact it was a first for me.