Summer of 1993 - Critters

 You have to know that the habitat Wetlands Research, Inc created, even though it was for an engineering purpose, was great for wildlife. This is just a sample. The Great Blue Herons loved the shallow water.

Birds were everywhere! Two of my favorites that I have no picture of were a Golden Eagle that liked to hunt over the ponds, and often in the evenings, Nighthawks would gather and fill the sky. They were catching insects. I actually thought that was more interesting than the eagle.

My other favorite was the Yellow-headed Blackbirds. This was the first time I'd ever seen them, and they were everywhere. My pictures aren't very good. The camera I had then had no zoom capability. I got a much better picture of a male in North Dakota on the big hike. But here's what I do have.

And his Mrs.

Now, let's go back to those nodding thistles. They may be alien, but the Goldfinches sure loved the seeds.

Birds ruled, but there were plenty of other representatives of the animal kingdom. I've already mentioned the beavers that I never saw! This garter snake got himself into one of the culverts. They can swim, but I'm not sure s/he would have liked the steep sides. I don't remember if I helped it out. Pretty sure it's just an Eastern Garter Snake.

Here's a Soldier Beetle. Probably a Goldenrod Soldier Beetle. But it's teasing you, by being on a teasel. They are pollinators, and supposedly prefer yellow flowers. I guess this one didn't get the memo.

Now for a test. Where is the wildlife in this picture?

Did you find them? Mama Killdeer chose the middle of the driveway for her nest. Fortunately, they hatch and start running in just a few days. Thankfully, we found these, and blocked off that area until they were hatched.

You know I have to end with my very favorite critter. This is one of my all-time favorite puppy pictures of Chips.

In other news: I edited/formatted, I worked on my own book (working on the campsite section), I went to bell practice. It was a nasty, cold rainy day outside.

See Prairie Plants

Exploring Hesperia's Parks

 
I'll probably show you a few more things from Stan Hywet another day, but I did something interesting this morning that I want to share.

There is a small town about 45 minutes from me that has quite a few parks, and I wanted to research them to use in my newspaper column. So I went there and collected information for a couple of hours before the rain started. I had to come back to get to work anyway.

They just added a "history trail" to the central park in town. I read about that in the Oceana County weekly paper, and that's what kicked off my interest. Hesperia has fewer than 1000 residents so I hadn't thought of it as a big recreation location, but they actually have quite a lot going on. The main park is Webster Park. It's nicely decorated.



They've just added 13 interpretive panels along the perimeter sidewalk. It was pretty interesting reading. This isn't one of those signs, just part of the entrance gate that I liked.



The primary natural feature of the town is the White River, and the dam which has supplied power for various industries since about 1867. Now it provides recreational fishing grounds.



There was a short trail beside the lake above the dam. I just liked these two stump terrariums.



Caught pictures of two interesting birds. There were a couple dozen killdeer on the mud flats along the lake. I don't think I've ever seen so many killdeer in one place. It seemed odd. Perhaps there was some invertebrate they found particularly tasty.



I did get a very bad picture of a kingfisher. It's not worth showing you. I did, however, catch the footloose robin. Quite a few of them actually. The town was decorated with plywood trees which had been painted by school classes. I liked this one.



I need to go back on a day with bluer sky to get nicer pictures.

	See more White River See Killdeer
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Killdeer II

 
"Caught" one of my favorite birds today, the killdeer. It didn't seem to be trying to lure me away from a nest, but was just walking across this lawn.



Still have work to do, so this has to be short tonight. Long day, but I got to spend some of it driving back roads, it was sunny but not too hot. Can't complain about that!

	See Killdeer for another one in 2012
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Killdeer

 
I'm on my way to bed in about ten minutes. The day is over and I survived.

But look who I saw this morning! A lovely killdeer.



They are so named because that's what their call sounds like, sometimes repeated like "kill-deer, eer, eer" or "kill-dee."

They nest on the ground, and the babies run around as soon as they are hatched. I hope some day I can get a picture of a line of babies with mom. They look like a group in formal wear on the way to a party.



I don't know if this one had a nest, but she was acting sort of like she might. They just make a shallow depression in the dirt and lay eggs that look pretty much like stones. They hatch in just a few days.

Can you find the eggs? Here's a nest I pictured in 1993. You can roll your mouse over the picture for some help.

I love this one! 'Scuse me while I shake my tail!



OK, I'm seriously going to bed. Only two more days of paper route.

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