Not as exciting as mammals
Today has been alright. I actually got up at a respectable morning hour, ate some breakfast, and took Shtiya to campus for an hour-long walk. After this I went to Fred Meyer to pick up ultra secret exciting items, and came back home for lunch.
Late afternoon I went down to the river without a dog (for the first time...) for critter watching. There was a shitload of birds singing and bopping about in the trees. No doubt trying to attract mates. Blackbirds, sparrows, robins, the like. I descended a rather steep bank by a fork of the river which is basically a slough. The only place I found to sit seemed to be in the middle of an animal latrine (raccoon?), but at least I found sufficient space to sit and not do so in crap. I had brought me binoculars and camera just in case of an exciting animal glimpse. I was probably there for forty minutes before I finally saw a large aquatic rodent break the surface and swim to the little grassy island - and it disappeared in the reeds. I'm fairly positive it was a beaver. Its fur looked reddish and it had a head too broad I think to be a nutria, so that was cool. I thought I was going to get a close-up glimpse of a small critter beneath me in some blackberry vines, but it turned out to be a damn songbird. So not as exciting as a mammal. Oh well.
I heard a distressed cat crying at the top of the bank, and a while later I swear I heard a kitten mew from the underbrush. But I couldn't pinpoint the sound. I am assuming it's not lost from its mother....
On the way back up I spotted a banana slug of the "rotten banana" variety. Brown with black spots.
Today has been alright. I actually got up at a respectable morning hour, ate some breakfast, and took Shtiya to campus for an hour-long walk. After this I went to Fred Meyer to pick up ultra secret exciting items, and came back home for lunch.
Late afternoon I went down to the river without a dog (for the first time...) for critter watching. There was a shitload of birds singing and bopping about in the trees. No doubt trying to attract mates. Blackbirds, sparrows, robins, the like. I descended a rather steep bank by a fork of the river which is basically a slough. The only place I found to sit seemed to be in the middle of an animal latrine (raccoon?), but at least I found sufficient space to sit and not do so in crap. I had brought me binoculars and camera just in case of an exciting animal glimpse. I was probably there for forty minutes before I finally saw a large aquatic rodent break the surface and swim to the little grassy island - and it disappeared in the reeds. I'm fairly positive it was a beaver. Its fur looked reddish and it had a head too broad I think to be a nutria, so that was cool. I thought I was going to get a close-up glimpse of a small critter beneath me in some blackberry vines, but it turned out to be a damn songbird. So not as exciting as a mammal. Oh well.
I heard a distressed cat crying at the top of the bank, and a while later I swear I heard a kitten mew from the underbrush. But I couldn't pinpoint the sound. I am assuming it's not lost from its mother....
On the way back up I spotted a banana slug of the "rotten banana" variety. Brown with black spots.
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