Silly Bird...

I found this beautiful Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) in the swampy area just behind the police station at McCormick Park in Duvall. I must have taken 50 pictures of it...40 of them so nearly alike - standing still, pearing into the soup for fish- that I could delete most of them and not miss anything interesting.

I got ready to shoot another picture every time the bird tensed. Still, I missed the dive! I did get a good one of shaking off the water, though. I love the "horns" in that one! What an undiginfied look for such a beautiful bird.

A Walk in the Park.

So my boss made me take a day off. It was sunny and warm on Monday, and I decided to walk down to McCormick Park here in Duvall and just wander. What a great naturalist's day!


The first thing I noticed was that there were LOTS of birds around (and in the interest of time and space, today I'll not bother with the Latin names). There were Mallards and Wood Ducks on the water, and a couple of duck varieties that I have to look up. Robins, Redwinged Blackbirds, Sparrows, Kinglets, Stellar's Jays, Thrushes, and many more were singing and/or going about the business of the day.

Plants are putting on new growth, and lots of them are in bloom. I saw that others are picking the young Stinging Nettle plants - I like mine in potato soup!

I saw a bunch of young Garter snakes sunning themselves in the leaves by a bridge abutment. They were only 5 inches long (a guess, as I didn't measure).

Iwas taking pictures of a Chipmunk that was busily eating cherry blossoms when one of the Residential Program students, Kate, caught up with me. We walked on south together and watched a pregnant coyote in a field of dandelions. On the way back, Kate found a Hummingbird nest with eggs! I'm really looking forward to my next day off!

Walking in the Rain

I was a bit late getting home yesterday, and found myself walking in the rain. The up-hill portion of my walk was pleasant enough. I'm building endurance and don't have to stop half way up the hill anymore to catch my breath. I noticed that the wind was picking up, but I was wearing my good Columbia jacket and I'd stuffed my gloves in the pockets. I could have turned at the top of the rise and gone straight home.

Instead, I turned to the south and enjoyed the level, smooth roadway that takes me to the downhill part of my long block. By the time I'd gotten to the bottom, it was really raining. I stuck my gloved hands into my pockets and walked on. Having lived 30 miles from Seattle for over a year, I've made my peace with the rain.

At the corner of my street it looked as if the rain was going to moderate a bit, so I kept walking. There's a new neighborhood going in on the hillside below my street, and I've often seen deer grazing at the edge. They had better sense than I did yesterday. By the time I'd gotten to the bottom of that block the wind really picked up and I was walking into a driving, cold rain.

Didn't stop me. I kept walking. My legs began to feel the cold as the rain soaked my pants legs. My face felt frozen, and my glasses fogged. It was great!

I've finally relaxed into the idea that the weather, like life, changes. Can't stop it. Might as well learn to enjoy the ride.