Huntley Meadows Park from a visit on Saturday, March 12th, 2016

A few more photos from our last visit.

You can find the Huntley Meadows website here.

I thought you might like to see what one looks like inside, and found the following on line.

As you can see by my first photo, the beavers decided to build their lodge next to the pathway, and have taken over some of it.  We were there a few visits back and the seat had been totally covered, as had more of the path.  Usually the park people let nature take its course, but as this was stopping access and they probably didn't want anyone falling into the water, part of the lodge was removed.  It looked like they had done this very carefully as now the lodge is as well built as ever.  I occasionally sit on the bench and one of these days I am expecting to have company sitting next to me.

The beavers have also built a dam.  We were amazed at how high the water level was, and of course we had snow not so long ago, but the beaver dam has added to its height.  On one side of the dam was full of water, on the other it was much lower.  They are amazing engineers. 

This is where I saw the Hooded Merganser....

and also not too far down was the Wood Duck, that I have shared before.

I never get to see these birds normally so I was very happy at the sighting.  Canada Geese are year long residents and I enjoy them too.  

They always keep a wary eye on us as everyone walks by on the path.

There were nesting pairs here.....

 and a lot of territorial honking going on as this pair came in.  Gregg took the photo of them landing.

The ducks didn't seem to care.

Nor the coots.

Neither did this pair of snakes.  Yes I know, not everybody's cup of tea but they have a part to play in the nature of things.  Are they rat snakes?  Not sure so maybe someone who knows about reptile ID can help out.

There was also a great cacophony of sound and we were amazed to find that it was coming from all these frogs.

You certainly can't tell by these photos, but there were literally hundreds and the water was alive with them jumping all over the place.

Another beaver lodge, surrounded by water this time.  Busy little things aren't they?

Nature is amazing don't you think?  It soothes the soul.

Gregg took the following photo.  He took several today.  You can see me making my way along the path on the right.  I was lollygagging, taking photos of birds.  I wanted to take a good shot of one of the Red-wings singing, and it took the one I was looking at a long time to open its beak, smiling here.  

The following photo is of a mum with her little girl.  Our paths crossed when we were walking by the visitor center on the way back to the car.  The center holds classes for all ages.  They made such a sweet sight.  Not that I intentionally eavesdrop but I heard mum telling her little girl how good she had been, especially as mum had been sick all week, that she was going to give her a special treat when they got back to the car.  That little girl had the sweetest disposition.  I love to see parents out with their children and all this nature must have a calming influence.  I have never seen any child have a temper tantrum on any of our many visits here.  Parents, get your children out into nature.  You can kick me or thank me later.

Well, there was one little boy we passed with a very glum face, and I was thinking he probably didn't want to be here.  I was actually tempted to tell him where to find all the frogs and the snakes, about the beaver lodge and the dam but I didn't want to be that crazy lady, figuring he would find them by himself.  You couldn't really miss them and I bet he'd have a smile on his face when he left the park.  Here's hoping!

About time baby!

Yes, you I'm talking about.

If you haven't seen these before, you'll be seeing them again.  I love these guys!  This one too, and yes I am smiling.

What a great day we had!  I can't wait to get back here again.

I am sharing with the following memes as they become available, with my thanks to all our hosts for bringing them to us.  You can click on their names if you would like to visit other participants.

Anni at Bird D'Pot
Michelle at Nature Notes
Stewart at Wild Bird Wednesday
Jesh at Seasons 

N.C. Sue at 

Wordless (on Tuesday) at Image-in-ing

Linda Kay at Wednesday Wit and Wisdom