Blasts from the Pasts.

If you are just joining us, the recent deal is that I have to go to school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and the sun doesn’t come up early enough yet for me to visit the park before school. Two days ago, I tried to get by with a late afternoon visit, but the results were meager. I will try again this afternoon, just for the practice, but in the meantime, here are some pictures from the not-too-distant past that I haven’t shown you yet.

Back on December 22 “the sun rose on crystal-clear skies, bracingly-cold air, and a stiff breeze out of the west-northwest,” but it turned out to be a good morning for little birds, and here’s another look at a black-capped chickadee that was sticking close to the ground.

Later that morning, when the sun was high enough to light everything up, this white-breasted nuthatch gave us a look.

The next day, December 23, wasn’t quite so sunny, and here’s another look at one of the house finches foraging just above the riverbank at the far north end.

Fast forward nearly a month to January 18 when “the temperature was pretty mild for the season, and the winds were nice and light”, and several of the megafauna made surprise appearances. First there was the trio of deer crossing the river on the ice by the abandoned bridge abutment. The far shore is clear enough there that I was able to capture this image of one of the deer strolling up the so-called “Westabrook Trail“.

On that same day, if you can believe it, a few crows and mallards alerted be to a rare appearance of the great horned owl above the southern island.

Finally, still on that same day and perhaps the most surprising of all, a great blue heron was back to fishing on the river at the top of the mild rapids where the open water resumes. In this image, you can see it taking a quick glance skyward. Yes, that’s ice in the background.

Well, that’s our “blast-from-the-past” for now, and if I see anything interesting or pretty this afternoon, I’ll be sure to show you the pictures tomorrow.