Nest

Lots of babies out swimming in the canal, including wood ducks (I'm still breath-taken when I see them, can't help it, the males are so gorgeous) http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wood_Duck/id and ring-necked ducks, neither of which I had witnessed before (offspring, that is.)  Also, saw this, which must've been there last time I passed by. Can't remember whose it was, and though the occupant was present, it chose not to be photographed.

Someone's home/L. Herlevi 2013

Virginia rail babies

Into the Fill, it was much too quiet in the building, so went outside for a walk. Not a lot of birds on the water, however, while walking along the canal, two cedar waxwings chased each other across the path, and there was a duck swimming in the canal with three ducklings in tow. Swallowtail butterflies. Dragonflies. Crows, bathing in the lake and then flapping off their wings to dry in the trees. A heron flying low and heavy just above the grasses. Lots of turtles out sunning. In the Fill itself, about half-way around the loop trail, a common garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis) crossed the trail in front of me into the tall, dry grasses. Been hoping to see one, though surprised, as it's not that warm out today. Another duck with one kid lying in the drying mud east of the main pond. Housefinches, redwing blackbirds, more crows, a northern flicker, and lots of singing in the trees from birds I couldn't see.  Crossing back across the canal, a skinny brown bird with long legs walks across as far as it can on the pond lily leaves until it begins to sink then flaps across a short distance and disappears. At the edge of the cattails from where it started, I see small black creatures moving. They come out more into the open, the bird returns in a similar fashion (walking, short flight, walking) with something in its long beak to feed the chicks. I think there were two adults and six chicks altogether. It was difficult to get a good look. I didn't have binoculars, and they were in and out of the verge, but I'm pretty sure they are Virginia rails, (Rallus limicola) http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/virginia_rail/id they didn't vocalize at all. Super cool sighting. I'm pretty psyched.

Back to the Fill

Finally, had a lunch break again after 10 weeks. Walked down to the Fill, my ears assaulted by my least favorite sound in the world: chainsaws. They take away the wild. If anything is brought into replace the native tree, it's some well-behaved, proper, hybrid or otherwise non-native, ecological wasteland, killing nature's soul, bit by bit. Attempting to tame her into a neat and tidy submission.

Since I was last here, the barn swallows have returned as well. The air is populated by swallows, crows, dragonflies and the occasional (looks wrong every way I spell it) low-flying duck. In the distance soft calls of red-wings and other birds hiding in the cat-tails. The turtles are out sunning themselves in droves, and a massive gathering of Canadian geese is floating just off shore: must be 30-40 altogether. Another cottonwood has fallen. It blocks access to the water as well as the pathway.

It's hot in the Fill. A cool breeze blows lightly from the water, a little bit of relief. It shakes the leaves of the aspens, softly. The grasses are tall now, make me feel dwarfed by comparison. The pond where I'd seen the virginia rail last year has dried up already, green with plant growth, cracked mud underneath. Swallowtails flutter past again and again, and then an eagle swoops over head. Not hunting, the ducks don't seem concerned, just flying for pleasure. It disappears from view. I hear the clock chime in the distance, and wander back up the hill. Break over.