Making the most of the sun

Today promises to be rainy around here, but yesterday was sunny. We capitalized on it by taking two walks, each to a different preserve.

The first was a marsh about 5 minutes from our house. It has a primeval feel, with moss-covered, fallen trees all around.

It was cold, and the frost sparkled on everything, from winterberries —

— to goldfinches (this one’s head has frost on it) —

— to water — beautiful, blue ice —

On the way there, we saw one of our usual hawks hunting.

And on the way home, we saw another. As we watched, one crow landed in its tree, followed by a second and a third. They began darting at it, and the hawk took flight.

We went home and made our journal pages. We finished the rest of our schooling and had some lunch. By mid-afternoon we had agreed that another sashay into the great outdoors was called for. So we headed for another preserve.

It was warmer, so there was no more frost. As we made our way toward the pond, we saw a number of woodpecker trees. There were more mosses — I love this variety growing together:

But the most interesting woodland sight was this tree, which Older Daughter identified as the work of a hungry porcupine.

The critter-spottings awaited us at the pond, though. We arrived and looked out over the water…

It was Younger Daughter, a.k.a. Eagle-Eye, who suddenly saw the muskrat right next to us.

Lest there be any doubt that Younger Daughter has eagle eyes, here is a photo of something else she spotted. It’s some kind of newt, but I doubt I’d ever have had the patience or focus to see it without her.

How about you? Would you have seen it?

The irony is that we saw no deer. This preserve has been in the news lately for its overpopulation of white-tails, which eat the plants and trees. There was a plan afoot by its supervisors to hire sharpshooters to come in and shoot 90 deer. It got bogged down in a lawsuit by someone whose property adjoins the preserve, which is why we were still able to walk there. But this is the first time ever that I’ve gone there without seeing any deer. Perhaps nature has taken its course (as it’s supposed to do in a “preserve,” wouldn’t you think?); if the deer really are eating everything, maybe they’ve polished off the flora here and moved on.

At any rate, despite wishing for a little snow, escaping the housebound feeling of January and soaking in a little sunshine felt wonderful. The gray drizzle of today is easier to stomach with yesterday’s jaunts to look back on and talk about.