March 22, 2018

How can it be that a whole month has passed since my last post?  The flow of energy changes. Different things come to occupy your time. 

The late March sun is more than a match for the snow that fell yesterday. In the most sun exposed spots the ground is bare. Melt water tinkles in the gutters and downspouts, and flows down the street. 

In the park I noticed twinned tulip poplars. Here are a couple of them. 

February 22, 2018

After yesterday's sunny, record setting high of 80 degrees F, today is cloudy and much cooler.  It was 52 degrees when I went out, and feels damp. 

Not far from where I saw the pileated woodpecker yesterday, I saw an animal moving, which turned out to be a raccoon.  I was surprised to see it out in the middle of the day.  It was quite shy, and kept moving away from me and occasionally turning it's head to look at me - classic masked raccoon face.   I had seen one in the yard this morning when I went out to check the rain gauge.  It was too dark to see well, but from its size and the way it moved, I'm sure it was a raccoon.  Perhaps the warm weather had brought them out of their winter hideouts.

I picked up more bottles, and enjoyed watching a couple of downy woodpeckers working on a woody shrub by the creek.  These are much more common than the pileated woodpeckers, and we often have them on the trees by our house. 

Sunrise  6:50 am, sunset 5:52 pm

February 21, 2018

Yesterday, February 21, the temperature reached 80 degrees.  I went out for a walk with binoculars, and did some bird watching.  I spotted movement on the ground in a wooded spot behind the playground, and when I got the view through the binoculars, I was surprised to see it was a pileated woodpecker.  They're quite large, with triangular shaped heads.  I don't recall having seen one here before - at least not this good a view.  I watched it for a while until it flew off.

I wandered upstream along the path, and stopped for awhile to search the trees for a bird that was calling.  I never did spot it, and eventually went on.  I stood on the bridge near the soccer field for a while, enjoying the warmth and watching the water.  A belted kingfisher, with its distinctive oversized head, flew from upstream and landed on a branch that overhangs the stream.  I watched it for quite a while.  When it flew back out of sight, I went on up the creek. 

I saw deer and raccoon tracks frequently along the bank, and picked up a bag full of bottles. 

I had a stash of bottles and litter that I'd collected over the past couple of weeks, and I took advantage of the warm weather to sort it out.  In one bag I found a plastic deli container - see photo.   I don't recall when I picked it up, but it was quite dirty and had cracked open, allowing mud to get inside.  When I picked it up, it felt like there might be something loose inside, so I decided to check and dump it out.  When I opened the side, I was startled to see a small frog inside.  I immediately headed down to the park where I took the pictures.  I was just about to take another photo of the frog on the sand bar where I let it out, when it took a couple of quick leaps, landed in the water, and swam away. 


Sunrise 6:49 am, sunset 5:53 pm

February 20, 2018

Warm day today. May warm. 75 degrees F. It's February. The previous high temperature was 70, in 1971. It's supposed to be warmer tomorrow, then return more to normal. I picked up bottles and litter in the creek, and sat on my usual rock in the sun by the creek until I got too hot!

Sunrise 6:51 am, sunset 5:51 pm

February 10, 2018

Rain.  We haven't had much for quite a while, and we're officially in a severe drought.  So the rain today is welcome, and also seems odd. 

I walked to a climate meeting at a house on the other side of the creek.  A strong flow of water came out of the storm drain culvert into the tributary.  I'm usually at the creek when the water is low, so it was interesting to see how it flows when there's a lot of water.  I didn't see any bottles floating down - I think those would mostly wash down in the first part of the storm.

The temperature was in the 40s, but the rain was cold.  My shoes, socks, and pant legs were wet by the time I got to the meeting.

When I left a couple of hours later it was raining harder and the creek was running higher.  I had no choice but to go through a few puddles, and my feet were cold and wet by the time I got home. 

The forecast is for rain all night and into tomorrow.

Sunrise 7:04 am, sunset 5:40 pm

February 9, 2018

Cold in the morning, then warmed up into the 40s, overcast.  Off the paths in the park the surface has thawed and it's squishy walking.  A flock of a couple dozen crows flew over, gliding more than actively flying, and angled several degrees counterclockwise from the direction they were moving.  There must be a good wind flowing up above the trees.

There are some bamboo patches that I want to go cut down.  I'll try to work on that next week if there are some nice days.

Sunrise 7:05 am, sunset 5:38 pm

February 8, 2018

A sunny morning after a gray, rainy day. I went to check the creek, 29 degrees F. I found just a couple of bottles on the gravel bar - ones that had been flattened by cars, so I expect the water was high enough to float the others downstream. I did find a big sheet of oil absorbent pad, wadded up against some rocks. 

Raccoon tracks in the mud. 

Sunrise 7:06 am, sunset 5:32 pm