This past Saturday hubby and I drove down to the shores of Lake Washington to explore a small local park we just recently found out about. It was great fun! After all, what better thing to do on a chilly, drizzly day at the beginning of May than a wetlands nature walk?
Come along and join us on our adventure …
An enormous blue heron came swooping in low over our heads and landed gracefully in the marsh just beside the boardwalk where we were standing. What a beautiful bird!
Check it out! There’s downtown Seattle waaaay over there across the water, just peeking up from behind that far hill. How cool is that! I didn’t know you could see downtown Seattle from way over here.
I was particularly excited to come across this little bird. According to the interpretive sign, this is a Red-winged Blackbird. I’ve never actually seen one before, but I totally recognized its song! You see, I have a set of nature CD’s which feature instrumental music with nature sounds in the background. I love these CD’s. And on the Pacific Northwest one (entitled: North by Northwest) this little bird is featured prominently. I love this little bird’s song!
This little bird was singing and singing! … as it flew back and forth from one perch to another. It was great fun to watch! You can listen to the Red-winged Blackbird’s song here: Red-winged Blackbird Overview, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
I was busy taking a photo of the beautiful bright-yellow iris, when suddenly I became aware of the perfectly camouflaged bullfrog, just to the left of the iris. How cool is that!
One more close-up of the dynamic duo!
Turtles on a log! Aren’t they adorable! Our dear friends, who are now in Southern California, used to live in this area for years and years. And they used to take their grandkids to this very park. And they enjoyed watching the turtles on the log back then too! I can’t help but wonder if these turtles might be the grand-turtles of the ones our dear friends used to enjoy watching.
I just now checked with Google, and evidently “the average lifespan for aquatic turtles is around 40-50 years old.” Who knew! Maybe these turtles are the very same turtles our friends used to enjoy watching with their grandkids 18 years ago. What a fun thought!
A few final plant photos to wrap up our nature walk. My Seek nature app informed me that this is Thimbleberry. Pretty!
This sure looks like cottonwood to me! But I might be mistaken.
According to my Seek app, this is Bird Cherry. In the background you can see nesting grounds where there are probably lots and lots of baby birds hidden in the camouflaged safety of their nests down in the marsh grasses.
Here’s one final nature-walk discovery … a white Herb Robert! These plants grow profusely all throughout our forest, but they are always and only ever pink. I have never seen a white variety before. How cool is that!
Thank you God for a chilly, drizzly, Saturday afternoon wetlands nature walk!
Thank you God for all your beautiful creatures that You have created!
Truly all creation indeed does praise Your holy name!
