A FROG

(APRIL 30, 2010) A great white egret flew over head as I walked onto Angler's Park. I had seen the great bird there yesterday evening, but didn't have a camera to take its picture. As I shot a half dozen frames of the bird, I thought that this bird would be the subject of today's piece. The pictures were not bad, but the bird was a bit too far away to get a great shot.




However, I did have more success as we saw a great blue heron wading in the marsh. The bird strutted its stuff as it waded through the green marsh. But that was just the beginning of the wonders of the morning as we walked from Angler's Park to Dan Daniel Park.

There were few people on the trail. I passed only one bike rider between the two parks (sum 2 miles), but when I got to the ball fields at the park, there were two women with a small girl (maybe 4 years old). The little girl was riding a bike with training wheels, and when she saw Sadie, kept her eye on my English setter rather then where the bike was headed and ended up wrecking in the grass. She was OK; she cried a few whimpers, dusted herself off, and she was off again.

On the fence of one of the ball fields, I noticed a mockingbird standing there with its tail up in the air. Another mockingbird flew some 6 feet away and landed on the fence. They stared at each other; the second bird made menacing steps toward the first bird until they were only a couple of feet apart. And then the first bird flew hastily away; the second bird followed and tracked the bird down as they both landed on the fence again. The same thing happened; the first bird went to a tree where the second bird tracked it down. They did rumble, and then they both flew off. I have a series of pictures taken of this event which I'll later put on my web site.

On the way back to Angler's Park, we passed the little girl on her bike again. She was paying more attention to her driving (a good lesson for someone at any age), and I said, "You are a good bike rider." She thanked me as she rode past.

Shortly after that we passed the large frog on the trail. Sadie was very curious, but I kept her away. The last time she encountered a frog was in our front yard after a rain. She put the frog in her mouth, it emitted a toxic substance, and Sadie's mouth foamed for the next 10 minutes. Fortunately, the frog was quickly let go and Sadie was OK - but she still hasn't learned her lesson about frogs.

When we got back to Angler's Park, the egret wasn't there, but we did see some red-winged blackbirds. As I drove past the marsh, I saw a male sitting on a post, close to the road. Since there was very little traffic, I stopped, rolled down my window, and started taking pictures. I, like the little girl on the bike, was distracted while driving; fortunately, for me, I didn't go off the road.

It was another great morning on the Riverwalk.