A December To Remember

Earlier this month I realized I was inching ever closer to my record number of visits in one month. That was 13 visits back in May. Since then I set a goal of hitting 15 and today I even exceeded that with 16 visits in one month! -a new record that I doubt I will ever top. And it was a good visit on top of it as I was to see my first Barred Owl of the season. He was perched among the thick trees on the north side after the bridge. This is the area of the park where I'd first spotted a Barred Owl and I've come to look for them here ever since. I was just as amazed today as I was the first time, at how well they are camouflaged in this area. Even though I knew right where he was, I found myself having trouble finding him again every time I took my camera off him. He stayed there a long, long time, long enough for me to have a whole conversation with another bird watcher about Owls and Hawks and winter bird watching. Later down the trail, I spotted just two Deer heading out from the middle of the park. It was one Doe followed by one Fawn through the snowbanks right out onto the trail. The Doe paused for just a second on the trail, allowing this one picture before trotting off with the Fawn trailing behind her. I'd seen and photographed so much this month, including big Bucks, Eagles, Owls, Coyotes and Blizzards and it will definitely be a December to remember!

December Rain

After two days of higher temps, today the weather decide to change yet again -this time to rain. It had been drizzling lightly all morning, accelerating the snow melt to a noticeable degree. I decided to take the wood chip trail again in hopes of seeing the Owl in the same place as yesterday. To my surprise I did find him again a little further in this time. And this time I did walk up behind him, making him fly off within just a few seconds. I only got off three photos and this was sadly the best of them. I think it was the very same Owl from yesterday but looks different only because of the low light. As I continued, the steady drizzle collected in droplets on the trees. In the thick Buckthorn bushes it looked like tiny Christmas Tree lights. I found myself a bit unprepared later on as the drizzle turned into full on rain, then hard rain! After three to four rounds of this I found myself becoming absolutely soaked. I guess I should have chosen my raincoat over my winter jacket today.

Another Warm Day

It was warm again this Wednesday with temps reaching just over 40º in the afternoon. With some of the snow starting to melt it was one of the first times I ventured off onto the south side wood chip trail. About half way in, I looked up to notice a big Owl in the trees not too far from me. Upon not seeing his face, I thought it was the first time I'd ever walked up behind an Owl without him seeing me. As I started taking pictures, his head swiveled around and I realized he was in fact perched with his breast toward me. When he realized how close I was he got visibly anxious and flew off pretty quickly afterward. At the north side I decided to walk down the other trail again where I'd seen the Deer yesterday. Again there were a whole bunch of them near the creek and it was tough to count them all as some were close and other further back. As I stood there getting my camera out, a Doe and two Fawns decided to venture out much closer to me. You can see how deep the snow still is even after two days of melting.

Rare Sun and Warmth

Today was seriously the nicest day I think we've had so far this December. The sun was out in full blast and the temps (in the sun) shot up to slightly over 40 degrees! Considering how crummy this December has been, it was a breath of fresh air. I ended up taking just a couple of pics by the time I was well past the bridge on the north side. I thought I'd heard an Owl down another paved entrance to the park so I went to check it out. Instead I found this male Cardinal that was holding so still I actually thought he was fake for a second. As I wandered further down the new trail I spotted 3 or 4 Deer through the woods near some houses on the edge of the park. It looked like there were at least a couple of Fawns and Does who found something of interest near the edge of the woods. Later I spotted a couple more down in the valley of the creek/drainage ditch that I could only view with my binoculars. As I was watching them, a much larger Deer with a 6 or 8 point rack walked through my long distance view! They were much too far away for a photo but I thought it was cool to see a Buck again regardless. By the time I got back to the parking lot it was nearing 4:30pm and the sun was starting to cast an unfamiliar orange glow on the tree tops. I stopped for one last photo of icicles hanging from a Pine tree -another reminder of how warm it was today.