SWALLOWS

It was a foggy morning on the Riverwalk as Sadie and I started our morning walk. The river stopped half way across with a wall of fog obscuring the other side. As the sun broke through, the fog lifted showing a beautiful blue sky and birds enjoying the sunlight as they fluttered around and sang their melodious songs.

It was also cool this morning - in the 30s when I set forth. There were few people on the Riverwalk and only two young men fishing near the bridge at the Public Works Department. They had felt the chill and had started a small fire on the bank of the river to keep them warm.

We stood and watched 5-6 tree swallows as they played above the wires in one of the large fields near Dan Daniel Park. They would do large circles in the air, fly out over the river, skimming it, and returning to the field, perch on one of the wires, and then flutter off again. Often they would do a duo dance where two would look as if they were in a whirlpool in the air. I assume this is a mating ritual.

As we got near the parking lot on our way back to the car, we saw a squirrel on the rim of a trash barrel enjoying the wealth of munchies left there the day before. He was a happy fellow, munching away, until he saw Sadie, and Sadie saw him. Sadie paused, pointed and stood motionless, as she does when she sees an animal. She is very graceful as she tip toes forward ever so slowly - ever so gently placing one paw down and then another one. However, the squirrel let her get only so close, and then up the tree he scampered. Sadie went around to the back of the tree to see where the squirrel had gone - she didn't see him. He was about 20 feet above us safely hugging the tree.

It was a cool, foggy start this morning on the trail, but it was another great morning on the Riverwalk.