the Way of the Turtle

CRITTERS!
1.9 Mile Walk at Ann Lee Pond
0.9 Mile Walk at the Bauer Environmental Park
Friday, March 27, 2020

It took a bit of thinking but I finally decided Ann Lee Pond was a good place to go for a walk this evening - fairly level terrain, the possibility of interesting wildlife, and it seemed less likely to be mobbed with people. Plus I haven't been there in ages.

One of the first things I saw at the pond was a pair of ring-necked ducks. They usually migrate back through this area around now, but I hadn't seen any yet this season.

 

Next I spotted several mergansers - I've been seeing them around for a couple of weeks, but it was still a pleasant surprise to find some here.

 

And of course, the usual geese and mallards, including one pair of geese who are clearly planning to nest.

 

 

I also spotted a couple of beavers swimming around, though I didn't get a good look at them before I headed back into the woods along the wetlands. Oddly enough, they seemed a lot more active than beavers usually are.

 

Back along the edge of the former beaver pond, I spotted one remaining heron nest (there used to be two or three) - with two herons in residence.

 

I had originally thought to loop through the woods and come out on the far side of the pond but decided to go back to the bridge and see if I could get a better view of the beavers. I didn't have much luck, but they did occasionally pop their heads up out of the water in a very un-beaver-like manner. It wasn't until I got back to the spot where I first saw the ring-necked ducks that I good a good enough view to convince myself - that the "beavers" were actually (I think) otters!

... which makes so much more sense in retrospect, though how some otters ended up in Ann Lee Pond is beyond me.

After that I headed over to Bauer Park hoping to hear or see an owl... sadly, all I saw and heard were two small children on bicycles accompanied by their father. Well, that and a bunch of peepers in the marshy section near the other entrance. I did see that the town has apparently put down a drainage pipe and filled in over top of it so allow easy access between the Sunset Blvd parking area and the fields and woods heading over to Ann Lee Pond... the last time I went there I had to jump the stream. So that's definitely someplace to do a bit more exploring at, before the bugs get too bad.

JMH