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

February 7, 2018

I have plantar fascitis, I think, in my left foot.  It started after my run last week up to University Boulevard, as sensitivity in my heel.  Yesterday evening, it was more extensive, and it bothered me enough that I was hobbling up and down the stairs. 

I had PF a few years ago, and it took several months for it to go away.  I'm going to do some research and see how to treat it.  I hope I can manage it so I can still be active and relatively pain free.


Sunrise 7:07 am, sunset 5:36 pm

February 6, 2018

I walked up the creek and ended up with a bag stuffed full of bottles.  I hadn't intended to do a big collection, based on previous walks and that I had cleaned out the tributary the day before, I didn't expect to find much.  In fact the first bottle I saw was on the other side of the creek and I left it to pick up on the way home.  I was planning to walk up to the beltway, or perhaps to Forest Glen Road, then turn around and cross the creek on the bridge near the soccer field. 

Then my walk took an unpleasant turn.  Walking up the paved trail toward the beltway, I saw a small plastic bag a few feet to the side.  Could it be?  Indeed, it was a plastic bag with dog droppings - the third I had found in as many days.  I picked it up and went on, planning to drop it off at the first waste bin I found.  A little farther up I saw another plastic bag snagged a few feet off the ground in brush.  Another bag of dog droppings.  This one had been hanging there for a while, the bag was breaking up and the droppings were desiccated.  What is going through the head of a person who goes to the trouble of picking up their dog's feces in a plastic bag, tying a know in it, and then chucking it wherever they feel like it? 

Turns out, there aren't any waste containers until you reach the school past Forest Glen Road.  As I walked there, I saw six does on the other side of the creek near the stormwater ponds.  They watched me, but didn't spook.  After I dropped off the droppings, I walked back toward the creek and saw, in an eddy where a tributary joins, a bunch of bottles and foam.  They weren't easy to get due to the steep muddy bank, but I was able to retrieve them with a little work.  I then headed back along Sligo Creek Parkway, and found enough bottles to overflow my bag.  At one point I stopped, dumped my load out on the ground, and flattened all the bottles I could so I could fit most of them in the plastic bag. 

On the downstream side of the beltway, I saw a group of four bucks, still with antlers.  They were a bit more wary than the does.  Interesting that they're segregated into groups like that. 

By the time I got back to Dallas Avenue, near where the first bottle I'd seen was waiting, I was carrying so much that I decided to leave it for another day.


Sunrise 7:08 am, sunset 5:36 pm

February 5, 2018

Rain yesterday - over an inch - though mostly a slow and steady rain rather than a downpour.  Today was sunny but cold - right around freezing.  A little before 4 pm I went down to the creek and walked the length of the tributary that starts at the end of our street where a storm drain empties.

I've been picking trash up from this tributary every few days since the first of the year, so I know that almost all of what I found was new.  A dozen water bottles, a small basketball, snack wrappers, plastic bags, a newspaper still in its plastic bag, lots of small foam bits.

After throwing all the garbage away, I was left with these to recycle:

The main creek is running with a good current, but there's an eddy by the far bank and a plastic water bottle is floating there.  I crossed the bridge just downstream and was able to climb down far enough on the roots to reach it - thanks to yoga flexibility. 

Sunrise 7:09 am, sunset 5:33 pm

February 3, 2018

The days continue to grow longer and the sunlight a little more intense as the earth moves steadily around its orbit and the northern hemisphere tilts back toward the sun.  It was in the low 30s today with a little breeze, but pleasant in the sun.  I scrambled along this stretch of bank, picking up litter.  

Farther up, I stayed for a while on a gravel bar in the sunlight.  Some birds were singing - a cardinal I think.  The water riffled over a shallow spot into a pool.  Geese where honking and chattering over on the golf course. 

it’s nice to be out in the sunlight.

Sunrise 7:11 am, sunset 5:32 pm

February 2, 2018

A cold front came through overnight.  It rained a little - 0.14 inches in the gauge.  When I went to the park in late afternoon I saw that new litter had washed in.  There were dozens of pieces of foam, of all types, from foam blocks to cups to packing peanuts.  The first picture here has a peanut near bottom center, a rectangular foam block (14" or so long), and a foam cup at the top.  When I went to pick them up I found a couple more pieces among the rocks and leaves.

There was more foam than usual.  I think that's because foam is so light, that it easily washes downstream.  If we had a half inch instead of the little bit we got, the foam wouldn't have lodged here near the outflow culvert. 


Here's another cup.



Here are a couple of small foam pieces spoiling what otherwise is a pretty mix of natural colors and textures.  The bottom piece is the light foam that is like little round pellets stuck together.  These rapidly degrade, break apart and scatter the BB sized foam balls, which are, practically, irretrievable. 


Sunrise 7:13 am, sunset 5:30 pm

February 1, 2018

At 7 am, a quarter hour before sunrise, the sky over the hill in the east was a beautiful dusty rose.  A sparrow sang, and a cool, moist breeze washed across my face. In the west, the sky was dark, and the just past full moon was bright through the bare tree branches.

Later in the day, I went down to the park to shoot some video for ClimateYogi.  The temperature was in the 40s, but there wasn't much if any wind, and it was even refreshing to be out in bare feet and a T-shirt - for a while.

Sunrise 7:14, sunset 5:29