Animals we saw on our walk this week

Squirrel watching us (especially our dog) from the safety from a tree.

 

 

We went for a walk on a gorgeous fall morning and here are some of the critters we saw.  The squirrel above greeted us at the beginning of the path by posing prettily.  (Either that or it was mesmerized by our slobbering dog that was equally enamored by the squirrel!)  It's been gorgeous weather this fall so far with golden sunshine dappling through the colorful leaves and the animals have been out in full force getting ready for winter.  The squirrels and chipmunks, especially.  I couldn't believe how many walnuts and hickory nuts there were on the ground for them to collect!

Here are some of the black walnuts hanging from tree limbs ready for harvesting by the squirrels and chipmunks.



I don't think this robin had quite woken up by the time we were walking by this morning.

 

When we rounded a bend we came acrossed a picnic table with a bird on top.  We got closer and the bird just sat there.  I don't think this robin had quite woken up on this chilly fall morning.    The swans had, though.  They were already busy taking baths.

A couple other swans shared a log with a slew of sea gulls.  It's nice to see sea gulls on water where they belong instead of in parking lots!  I always see them in parking lots!

There's a section at this park where you are walking on a strip of land between an inland body of water that's really like a shallow pond and on the other side of you is the lake.  When we were on this part of the path we kept hearing big splashes and caught a few glimpses of whales, I mean carp, breaching the water!  They sure are huge!  ...and gross.

All creatures have their place.  They all can't be pretty, right?  The graceful great blue heron helps make up for the carp ugliness!  We walked up on him and he stalked along the path for a spell before relenting and flying off.

So did the mallard ducks, though I think they were disappointed we didn't bring them any food.  They looked like they were expecting it!

In the same spot of the pond we always see these diving birds.  We always forget what kind of birds they are and sometimes when we get home we look it up in our bird book and say, "Oh yeah!  That was it!"  Then we forget again.  Here they are again and I have NO idea what they are called.  They're fun to watch because they dive under water constantly.  I think the male is black with an orange-yellow beak and the female is shades of brown.

Maybe by the next time I will have the name of them figured out!  Cormorants? Hm...