FIRST TURTLES/GREEN HERON?

On our walk today we saw three pond turtles of some kind basking in the sun at Watson Hollow. It was nice and sunny and the water level was receding. Great for catching some rays. They looked similar to the Northern Pacific Pond Turtle, but we were not close enough to key them out. My picture is not very clear but its the best I could get. I really need to get a tripod but I don't think my human would consent to carrying it around all the time. Maybe just one of those little pocket tripods. Anyway, these are the first turtles we have seen since we have been here. About eighteen months. A great day for walking and basking in the sun.


Our first turtle!

Yesterday, we met my friend Parfait, a black lab, and her 'alpha' male at Watson Hollow. While checking our pee mail we noticed a small wading bird on the far shore. It looked like a green heron with its crest erect. The coloring of the head, neck and body keyed out as a green heron, but its legs were black and the feet bright yellow. Similar to the legs/feet of the snowy egret. After a little research I came to the conclusion that it was an immature bird in the middle of a leg color change. Wish I had had my camera. Click here, All About Birds, to see the legs of the immature bird and an adult and you'll see what I mean.

The night temperatures are now warm enough to allow the frogs to come out and serenade us on our night walks, serenade us to sleep and wake us up. Pretty cool. ARF! There are several different frogs. I haven't seen the little ones up close for over a year so I don't know what kind we have here.

The fog has loosened its grip on us so we can now see the geese and ducks flying overhead instead of just hearing them. And it is so neat to see the graceful egrets come in for a landing at the hollow. Ahh, spring. Well, almost. Even some of the hollyhock seeds we planted about three weeks ago are coming up. And this afternoon I spent a long while just lying in the warm grass dreaming.
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