5 Crows, 3 Herons, 2 Spiders, 1 Hawk (spiders at the end)

Hold fast to dreams

For if dreams die

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

 - Langston Hughes

This can be a peaceful start to the day - a walk along the creek.

On this first walk in the park in weeks (rain and absence - and a little "tired" - prevented us from our regular monitoring of wild things) there were three Great Blue Herons fishing away, five American Crows "mobbing" one of the Red-shouldered Hawks we watched "grow up" here all summer, and two spiders spinning large webs. There was much discussion of the wind and weather expected over the next few days as well as the time change coming up.

We did not see too many folks walking and running. They may have adjusted their outings based on the darkness. There was a police patrol that surprised us (it was nice to see them, but also made us wonder if there had been an incident that led to their presence).

Floods have left their mark, but the birds and park cats didn't seem to mind.

Neither cell phone nor good camera can take much of a photo in the dim light. We would revisit this GBH on the way back.

Under the Penelope Street bridge this GBH was having good luck.

I was distracted by a spider, but tried a few more shots of this bird. See how beautiful the water is right now - clear and flowing.

I promise I am going to take some classes with this camera.

Snail

This is that first GBH we saw in the almost-dawn light. I sometimes forget how well camouflaged they are.

Can you see it now?

How about now?

As we approached the Second Avenue bridge we were stunned by the amount of flood debris piled around the base of the bridge.

I wonder if there will be an effort to remove this snag.

Another view.

I mentioned to VM that we had not seen crows yet. And there they were.

First we saw one on the phone line.

Then we saw 5 mobbing* the Red-shouldered Hawk. It was strange and disturbing behavior. But these guys were part of it. Do not believe their feigned innocence.

Three times the crows chased the hawk away

This was the first perch we saw.

It came back and was chased (sorry, I missed the crows in this shot).

This was the second perch.

We love this bird - last seen fleeing across the creek. Check out the link below to learn about crow mobbing. All is well.

This GBH was down below the footbridge on the northern-most part of the park. How it could fish in this spot, I do not know.

They are such stately birds.

NOTES:

*http://archive-srel.uga.edu/outreach/ecoviews/ecoview110320.htm

*** SPIDER WARNING ***

These are two orbweavers. Spiders are tough. I am not sure about one and think the other's identification is correct. One never knows with spiders...

 

Under the Penelope Street Bridge. I couldn't get a good focus.

It's appropriate to find spiders this day before Halloween.

This spider was beautiful! And you can see from the disheveled web that it had been successful today.