Beaver Creek

The sun was shining when I woke up and the forecast said it would be sunny for the morning so I grabbed a quick breakfast and headed to Beaver Creek since I haven't been out there for several years.

At 7:30am on a Sunday morning I don't expect a traffic jam but that's what I got. It seems a little incongruous that some sort of fitness run meant people spent more time in their cars than out running. Eventually I made it out of town where I realized that black clouds had gathered from somewhere. I drove through the resulting downpour wondering whether I should just turn around and head home.

Luckily, by the time I got to Beaver Creek the rain had stopped. Of course, the gates weren't open yet but I didn't feel too guilty about hopping the fence. We have become so divorced from nature that we either rape her or we put her in a box with fences and rules and hours. We want kids to learn to treasure nature, but is that likely if what they encounter are signs saying stay on the path, don't walk beside the creek.  If you want to protect a place, just don't build any roads into it. Of course, that's the first thing we do.

A squirrel ran out to greet me soon after I got there and came right up to sniff my shoes. By the time I got my camera out it had retreated to a branch. It was still a little damp from the rain.



There were yellow warblers flitting around in the bushes but they were frustratingly hard to photograph. They seldom sat still and were usually deep in the bush where it was difficult to get a clear view and tricky to focus. With patience and lots of shots I ended up with a few decent ones.



I hung around on a bridge across the creek taking photos of the birds and hoping to see a beaver. Eventually I was rewarded with some ripples down the creek that in the telephoto sure enough turned out to be a beaver. I got a few distant shots and then it disappeared. I figured there was a good chance it would return so I waited patiently. Sure enough it reappeared. I crouched behind the railing on the bridge so I wouldn't be so obvious. It swam closer and closer and eventually paused just below where I was to pose for it's portrait.

spot the beaver

Just after the beaver disappeared upstream a chickadee landed on the railing beside me. I managed to snap a couple of shots before it flitted away. People sometimes feed the chickadees here so it might have been coming to see if I had any handouts.



There were still a few trees flowering.



This next one is actually two consecutive shots of the same bird Photoshop'ed into one. I think it's an Eastern Kingbird. I also got a couple of fuzzy shots of what I think was a Northern Harrier - a first for me. I was looking and listening for Kingfishers but didn't find any.



Just after taking this next shot of the sun sparkling on the raindrops on the grass, the black clouds reappeared and the rain chased me back to the car.



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