Six frogs, ten duckings, seven deer, and one woodpecker

[nwhiker]

I'll start with an anecdote from yesterday.

I was walking down the trail, minding my own business, absorbed in some day dream or another when.... something hit my right thigh. Hard. I screamed, and jumped. Not as high, however, as the poor frog who'd jumped straight into me did, though. Heh. Anyhow, it jumped to the edge of trail where it stayed, trying to hide, dark against a green background.

There he is:


Both yesterday and today I went out a lot later (dentist appointment and meeting about Linnea, gah) than I usually do, closer to 10/11 rather than 7:30.

Today I saw: at least six frogs, and loads of tadpoles, in just about every single pond and puddle I went buy. Some of the puddles, by the way, are drying up, which does not leave me with a good feeling about the poor tadpoles.

I saw one pileated woodpecker, heard at least one more, and one that was probably a downy (they don't all peck the same way).

At the Beaver Pond (the Parks Dept relocated the beavers years ago. I used to love to see them!), I saw a mama ducks and ten little ducklings.



And as I was leaving, at the edge of the woods, there were seven deer. That is more than I've ever seen at one point, and all were adult-ish. The grass was high, though, I might have missed little ones.

So there. That was today in the Redmond Watershed Preserve.