Brain reboot

[kayre]

September is never a great month for me, I think it's the already shortening days; and then there was all the stress this week. I felt a need to reboot my brain, so took off for the nature center this afternoon despite gloomy weather. Laura wasn't with me, so I could head for my favorite area, the big meadow and ponds on the upper levels of the park. At first I saw no wildlife but bunnies and common birds; but I began to relax, appreciating the varied colors and shapes of late summer. (Spring has brighter greens and yellows, but late summer has more texture, from full grown plants.) Then, as I no doubt became more attentive and stopped broadcasting tension, I started to see more animals-- two blue herons, a greenbacked heron. Then I saw two "swimmy mammals" as we call them moving through a pond, and took a quick pic so I could check ID later. And then.... they swam to a downed tree, and two river otters climbed out!









I got to watch them nuzzle each other, and one climbed right over the other. I watched them for more than 2 minutes, which is pretty much forever in terms of nature observation. Simply amazing.

And finally, as I walked back to my car, I glanced down a side trail and saw a deer (is that a button buck?) barely 20 feet away; and I must have been broadcasting calm, because after a long look at each other, she went back to grazing.