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