Sometimes

Friday - Sometimes the light hits the mountains in such a way as to see individual detail: the foothills, the big, brown scars from clear-cutting or landslides, the crags, the glaciers, and the outlines of trees; mostly what we see is a flat blue outline at best.  Tonight was one of those times.  Beautiful.

In the trees I walk past, someone has hung sunflower heads from the branches for the birds to find.

Each day when I walk to the Fill, I see one lone Western Grebe floating and diving near the lakeshore.  I only ever see one.  The N. Shovellers are back for the season.  And there is a lone baby Pied-billed Grebe, calling out in a squeaky voice.  And the Cormorants with their guttural calls and aggressive jockeying for perching spots are everywhere.

There is a bird voice I don't recognize from out of the crowd of birds.  And a massive heron lording over it all.

I hear a splash and then a very non-birdlike squawk.  I see nothing.  Bullfrog?

It's hot.  I only make it partial way, then turn back.  Overdressed.

Wednesday - I walk out to the dock and stand still.  I'm looking for waterfowl, I haven't been seeing many birds lately, but on my way over, I feel optimistic, and the walk is good for me regardless.  I see movement on the surface of the water, not a bird.  Mammal.  Beaver?  There's a dam nearby.  Nutria?  They are known to be here as well.  Suddenly, lots of movement in the water:  Quick, fluid, continual.  Two animals surface, hard to tell actually how many, they move so fast.  I catch a glimpse of a tail as it dives...not a beaver tail.  Then see a face, not a nutria face, more seal-like.  Otters?  I've never seen an otter in the wild before, didn't know they lived in the lake (I look it up later, and yes, in fact, they do.)  There's a third mammal off eating along the shoreline, I can't tell what it is, it's not playing with these two.  Going with otters, for the two.

They disappear and I go to the other side of the land mass, and they are over in that water now, scaring off some ducks which fly over my head in retreat.  Further along I spy three Western Grebes, makes me happy to see there are more than one, that they have each other for company.

When I stop on the bridge, something is moving the patch of lily pads.  It's swimming underwater.  I can't tell what it is, looks to have orange patches.  Turtle?  Bullfrog?  It never surfaces while I'm there, so I don't know.

While watching a bird in flight from the bridge and wondering what it is, something suddenly shoots into the water in front of me, and then back out with a small fish: a Belted kingfisher.  It flies up into a snag and squawks.  Behind it, in a tree along the canal, I see a lump, and decide to go get a closer look.  The hawk flies out of the tree before I get to it, but eventually circles back overhead for a closer look a few minutes later before heading over toward the lake.  No idea what it is, it looks as if it has double wings, it must be molting or something.  Crossing back across the parking lot to tackle the long flight of stairs up the hill, I look at a patch of clover and see a four-leafed one.  I pick it, and go on my way.

All in all, a magical excursion.