Spring Walk

We had a glorious day of weather here with lots of sun and the temp almost hitting 80. I decided to take the camera and wander the lagoon loop of the state park. Come along and see what I found.

This muskrat didn't seem to mind me peeking into his world. He was cleaning himself up, balancing on a log not far from the shoreline. A turtle was sharing the log, but you cant see him. I found that combination a bit odd. I never really thought about those 2 animals sharing a space. I actually saw 3 muskrats today. They seemed to be taking advantage of the sun while there still aren't many people about.

This egret posed for the first picture, but the camera beep as it focused scared him in to flight and I was able to capture this shot. When I kayak out here, these birds let us get fairly close. They kinda do a leap frog through our journeys, moving a bit further up the channel, allowing us to get near, and then moving further down. If you dont see one of them and get to close, they make a huge amount of noise when they take off in flight. They have scared me many times when I've been busy studying the nearby turtles and never noticed them until I hear a big commotion. They have a smorgasboard in the lagoons here with all the fish.

I'm still surprised I found this prince. He was hiding kind of under a bush purched on this log throne. I actually was trying to find a turtle when I found him. I didn't seem to bother his highness as he allowed me to bow to him and snap this picture. He was awfully big, and a little further on my walk I found another that was his equal in size. Of course, the second was in a seperate lagoon and I quickly realized I had walked through to another kingdom with a different prince.

This swan was all alone in the back lagoon. There were a group of swans near where I began my walk. They are always in that area near the lotus beds. Dont swans mate for life? I wonder what happened to this guys mate? He was very serene, stretching his neck down to dip into the water. He did get a bit territorial when a muskrat got a little to close. It made me glad I kept my distance.

These 2 geese were busy protecting their 3 eggs. Can you see the eggs? There was a blue heron not 20 feet away and I dont think the geese were real happy to have an egg predator so close. They built their nest on top of a muskrat or a beaver den. I actually hadn't noticed they had eggs until a nice bicyclist saw me with my camera and told me what they had out there. Not only did they have to fend off the heron, there were 3 other white egrets so close that you can see them and the heron in one of the other pictures I took of the geese. I guess its not all fun and games in the wild as they must protect their eggs from such close enemies.

I set out today hoping to see turtles. I love seeing them sun themselves on the logs. They are my favorite part of visiting the lagoons. When I'm in the kayak I try to see how close I can get to the logs. The turtles are pretty skitish and jump in the water at the first noise. By the time I snapped this picuture, at least 4 turtles had jumped off the log, but that still left these 14 brave ones for me to enjoy. There were lots of turtles everywhere today. Most of them were to far away to really discern what type, but usually they are painted turtles, with the occasional snapper thrown in. I grew up close to a river and I remember going down and finding turtles all the time. My dad would let me bring one home for the night, and then we'd go back and release him the next day. I've been fascinated with them since. I once stopped my car in the middle of a fairly busy road, put on my hazzards and then rescued a big snapper from the middle of the street and relocated him to the ditch where he would be safe.

I ended my walk by having this lovely creature flutter along with me for the last 1/4 mile. It looked like a monarch, but I really dont know. He was kind enough to land on a leaf so I could capture him before I had to go.

I hope that you enjoyed my walk. It was so delightful for me to slow down and really notice what was going on around me. I wish you all a beautiful weekend.