Bird, branches, and beavers, Oh My!

I stalked a bird for at least a half an hour at the "beach" a few weeks back. It was about 5 feet away from the edge of the river. It was catching some small fish.

I started out about 50 feet away. I would put my tripoded camera down take a few photo's, watch the bird for a while then move a couple feet forward on my knees stop then do the same thing again.

The photo's did not come out that good because the sun was in behind the bird. So the bird was darker than I would have liked. But I had fun stalking the bird.

On my way to the "beach" I discovers a beaver lodge under a steep embankment. I had seen it many times but I though it was just a clump of trees fallen in to river. I currently can not get a good photo of the lodge. No good angles to shoot from. I have been thinking of taking a canoe or kayak trip down the river when the leaves start changing colors. If I go by the lodge I will try to take a picture. I have not ridden in a boat for a long time and never by myself. This may be a bad idea. But I hope to do it soon anyway.

Anyway, I was walking along the trail and I see something swimming in the water and it was headed towards the clump of trees. It saw me and dove deep under water and I lost track of it. So I waited a long time near the clump of trees to see if it would come back. It finally did and I saw the big flat tail. Then I knew it was a beaver. Later a larger one showed up as well. I got an OK picture of it. It was difficult to get a good shot between the many tree branch's.

While I was waiting for the beaver to come back I took some pictures of some tree branch's

Dead Wood

Here are some photos of some dead wood I have encountered on the trail. I like takiung pictures of dead wood, tree stumps and assorted branches. But some times the color of the dead wood blends in to much with the dry dirt and other bland colors or the trail.

Saturday Morning Hike

This Saturday I started my hike earlier than normal. I was planning on going outside and finding a good spot to photograph the sunrise. My backyard is OK but there are a few obstacles have have problems shooting around.

Well, not being a morning person I did not get out in time to find a new spot. I walked around the neighborhood to find better vantage point but the sun came up before I found one. Next time I will hop on one of the kids bikes and ride around to see what I can find.

Here are some photo's from the trail.

While I was crossing the bridge to walk on the south leg of the Wabash Heritage Trail I heard some shouting. I could not understand what was being said or where it was coming from. Then I happened to look over the side of the bridge and saw this.

Purdue Crew Team

The southern portion of the trail near the bridge is very sandy. In some area's the sand is very deep and hilly. It can very tiring to walk through on the return trip.

Sand and Shadows

What is making these tracks? I have seem them in the sand many times.

A few minutes later I was taking this first picture of the early morning sun reflecting on the river. Another couple Purdue Crew team passed by. None of my photo's of them from this vantage point came out very good. But the waves they made adde more interest to the second photo.

My destination today was the "beach" I have talked about before. It was nice to hang out there a while. The sun was not too hot yet. I took a few photo's and just sat in the sand for while. Here is flower that was growing in sand.

On the way back home I came across this pumpkin growing in the sand at the side of the trail. Not sure how I missed it on the way in I was growing very near where I had take my other sand pictures.

After I got home from my hike, I decided to begin getting my house ready for Halloween. I normally take two or three weeks vacation time to start build and repairing props for Halloween. But since someone in my department was let go last week I am not sure how much time I will be able to take off from work. So I decided to get started early.

While in the basement gathering all the needed tools I dropped a battery pack from a cordless drill on my toe (see below). I of course was wearing sandals at the time so I messed up my toe pretty good. I can walk around on it but going up and down hills is very unpleasant. I has to cut my hike short on Sunday. The only pictures I took were the sunrise from Happy Hallow Park. Again I did not find a very good vantage point, so the photo's were not worth sharing.

  

Wildlife Along the Wabash

Destination: Wabash Heritage Trail, north end / Wabash Heritage Trail, South end
Miles hiked: 8/9.5
Camera: Nikon D40
Lens: Nikkor 50mm 1:18 non DSLR lens.

This weekend I came across more wild life than I normally due on the Wabash Heritage Trail. Saturday I drove to Battleground and walked the south end of the Wabash Heritage Trail. While there I hiked a small trail called Prophets Rock Trail. Its a short trail up a small hill. Its maybe about a mile or mile and a half loop. Its mostly just a steep climb.

After Prophets Rock Trail I continued on to the south end of the Wabash Heritage Trail. This trail follows and cross's Burnett's Creek which feeds into the Wabash River. At the begining of the trail off to the side is an open area with some wild flowers. Here are some shots of the flowers.

In the creek I spotted the remains of a turtle.

A green frog in a small swamp.

Some moss on a log

Sunday I walked from my house to the trail. I passed through the Downtown area and took a few shots.

This "beach" is where I was headed. It has gotten bigger since the last time I was here. This is the same place that I found all the dead fish. This time I found a skull of some kind. I am guessing its from a deer. I packed it up a brought it home. An other addition to my Halloween collection.

This was a surprise. It was moving along the edge of the river off of the beach. I have never seen a mussel in action.

Just a log in the sand.

Next are some photo's of some mushrooms I found. They were on a small mound leading up to a old tree stump. I took about 20 pictures but I was not really happy with most of them. I failed to capture the scene. Here are a few OK shots.

I found this molting Cicada..

And finally, this Garter Snake had just finished swallowing a small toad or frog. All I saw was the legs sticking out of the mouth. But by the time I had the camera ready the legs were gone. I got off a few shots then it stuck its tongue out at me and zipped off.

South leg of Wabash Heritage Trail

I forgot to turn on my GPS tracker this time. So, I am not sure how long a hike it was. But I am guessing it was about 7 - 8 miles. I was hiking almost 3 hours around trip.

My destination was a large exposed portion of the river that I found a few months ago. It  has been under again since then. It is a large area of gravel, sand and shell covered beach.

On the way there I came across a few thing of interest.

My favorite black iron bridge

Exposed roots

Soon to bloom flower

Spider web. It took a while to get this shot. It was windy and I had trouble finding an angle that would show the web well.

A weed going to seed

And finally we reach the destination. Unfortunately I did not take a overall picture of the area. Next time I go there I will take one and add to this posting. Here are some shots of the things I found on the beach.

A mussel shell

Assorted shells, rocks and sand

A lone spiral shell

A feather in the sand. It was a little over a foot long. I found it this way.

Part of the beach was still under water. I liked the look of these fallen trees.

Fallen trees in some still water.

Somebody left a large pile of dead fish. There were a couple of Gar, a catfish, and some carp. There were about 10 fish. Most about 2 feet long. I brought the head of the Gar home. I will photograph it later. I wanted it for my Halloween display.

Fish tail and some scales.

Close-up of some spiral shells.

If you want to see more photo's from this trip click here.