A visitor to the pond

Although the pond is regularly inhabited by the mallards, every now and then a visitor comes its way.  There are the seasonal visitors like the Canadian geese that fly in every fall on their way south. Then there are the occasional visitors that appear every now and then.  I remember the first such visitor we saw, a snowy white bird towering tall and graceful among the stout brown ducks.  Its yellow bill and black legs marked it as a Great Egret. It stayed around for about a week, its white feathers beaming like a beacon against the  murky waters of the pond. Then one day it left, most likely on its way to brighten another pond.

A Great Egret visits the pond



It stood tall and graceful among the ducks





A very hot week

"Topsie's gone flopsie, again," I remarked to Tinkerbelle.  It had been a very hot week and Topsie was having the worst of it.  Five minutes into a walk and she was flopped down on the ground. And there she would lay despite Tinkerbelle's coaxing, rolling around among the cooler blades of grass.  I wished Topsie wouldn't fuss so much about the heat because it usually ended up with a trip to the groomer. Sure enough, a few days later, there we were getting our fur clipped.  To be fair, a shorter cut is more comfortable and Topsie even got two bows in her hair.

Topsie flopped down

Topsie with bows in her hair

An unexpected surprise

Today, as we set off down the trail, I spotted in the distance what looked like a small pile of dry leaves on the side of the trail.  But, as we got closer, we were met with an unexpected surprise as the pile of leaves turned out to be a turtle. I stopped to say hello, but it seemed to be in a hurry and did not stop to chat.  As it marched off, about as quickly as a turtle can, we bid it good day and went on our way.

I stopped to say hello to an eastern box turtle

The spotted bird

This morning as we walked along the trail, a bird bobbing in the grass caught my eye. The bird was unusual in that it was covered in spots and had a distinctive crescent mark upon its chest.  Not having seen a bird like this before, we crept in for a closer look.  The bird, unperturbed, posed patiently for a picture. Then, in a flash of white, it flew away. Later, when Tinkerbelle looked it up, we learned that the bird was a Northern Flicker woodpecker, a species that likes to eat ants from the ground.

A Northern Flicker woodpecker

The rescue

Yesterday, as Tinkerbelle and I set off on our afternoon walk, we decided to try a different route.  It was along this route that we spotted the fallen baby bird.  It was still alive, so Tinkerbelle picked it up with a doggie bag and looked for the nest. The nest was carefully concealed among the branches of a nearby tree. Tinkerbelle climbed the tree as I stood guard below.  Placing the bird in the nest  proved to be difficult as the nest appeared to be occupied. Then, with the help of two passersby, and after a few more tries, the baby was back in the nest. When we went to check on it this morning we were sadden to see that it had not made it. But, as we looked up at the tree, the sounds of chirping reminded us that though the nest had lost one, it was still full of life.

The nest was wedged high up in the tree

A rare sight

One day, not long ago, as we walked by the stream that flows through the glen, a sudden movement caught my eye.  As I turned to look, I was startled by the sight of a large red fox drinking at the stream.  "Oh quick" cried Topsie, as Tinkerbelle fumbled for the camera.  Disturbed by  the commotion, the fox slunk away into the brush.  Undeterred, I scanned the banks until I spotted a splash of red amidst all the green.  And, there, peering at us from the bushes on the other side of stream was the largest fox I had ever seen. It was at least twice my size, maybe bigger. We stared at it for a long while not wanting to leave as a fox in these parts is a rare sight. 

It peered at us through the branches

The old adage

Now, the ducks that inhabit the pond are not the most organized creatures.  In fact, despite the old adage, I can say with some certainty that we have never seen the ducks organized in a row ... until today.  Straddling a floating log in the middle of the pond, was an almost perfect row of ducks.  So surprised were we, that we stopped to take in this charming sight. 

Ducks in a row

Something new

Every now and then, we discover something new along the trail.  Today, as we walked past the wild strawberry patch we noticed an over growth of bramble bushes.  There was nothing particularly remarkable about the bushes until I saw the berries.  I went in for a closer look and discovered that they were raspberries.  Most had not ripened yet, but as I sniffed around I spotted one ripe berry and pointed it out to Tinkerbelle. Tinkerbelle was delighted and said that it would be lovely in a fruit salad.



I spotted one ripe berry