Saturday Morning Nature Walk

I went for a walk in a natural area again today. It's starting to become my regular Saturday morning activity. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed spending time alone out in the middle of nowhere, looking for wildlife, taking a picture here and there. Today, I hit the jackpot as far as wildlife-heavy nature areas go.

This one, surprisingly enough, was the closest to my house, and is called the North Shields Ponds Area. It does what it says on the tin, as the Brits say. It's a wide flat area dotted with small to medium-sized ponds. Here are a few of the things I saw:

A red-headed woodpecker, building a nest. (pictures of this) Three great blue herons (pictures of this too). Either a beaver or an otter. I am not sure, but leaning towards beaver until I look at the pictures closely. Many many wood ducks and geese. (pictures of one goose) A snapping turtle head the size of my fist, watching me from the water. Two catfish as long as my arm, swimming in the shallows and eating the bugs on the surface of the water A perch, sitting in a beam of light, just below the surface of very green water. An eagle with a wingspan of like four and a half feet. A small falcon eating a dove. Painted turtles. Lots of cricket frogs, calling for mates.

I think I might start going out there every Saturday or Sunday morning, depending on what else I have to do. God, I love wetland habitats.