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Afternoon walk
Mar. 14th, 2010 12:07 amTook a walk this afternoon on a branch of a bike path (open to pedestrians, of course) that I hadn't walked before. There was a bit of a footpath as well that looped around over a couple of hilltops, and I took that on the way back. Up at the top of the second hill I found the feathery remains of some predator's wild turkey dinner. No bones, no flesh (except that small mite of skin that kept that one group of slightly iridescent feathers clumped together), just a lot of feathers.
I wondered what had eaten the turkey. A fox, perhaps? A coyote? A bobcat? Even less likely (though possible, if I recall correctly), a cougar? I'm near positive we don't get wolves this far south anymore, and even if we do, the raggedy patch of near-forest certainly couldn't sustain a pack. One or two, maybe, but they'd like as not have a hard enough time living on their own without worrying about humans to the one side of them and train tracks to the other.
It's also pretty bogged down near the paved part of the trail. Between all the snow we've had this past winter, and the rain we've been getting so far this year, I'm not at all surprised. It looks like it's normally fairly boggy, too, what with giant patches of cattails and thick pools with duckweed clumped at the top. A few of ducks, too, though in a different spot. I found myself quite at home in that area; perhaps it's only one too many visits to the local history museum when I was younger, or perhaps it's having been all-but-raised through trips with small nets to a local pond and helping set up the artificial wetland park, but the swampiness felt ...comfortable to me. I suppose that also may be why I liked the swamp episode of A:tLA so much ;)
I think I may go skating there tomorrow. Hopefully, the sand won't jam up my skates too badly ^^a Maybe I should look into cleaning procedures. Hrm...
I wondered what had eaten the turkey. A fox, perhaps? A coyote? A bobcat? Even less likely (though possible, if I recall correctly), a cougar? I'm near positive we don't get wolves this far south anymore, and even if we do, the raggedy patch of near-forest certainly couldn't sustain a pack. One or two, maybe, but they'd like as not have a hard enough time living on their own without worrying about humans to the one side of them and train tracks to the other.
It's also pretty bogged down near the paved part of the trail. Between all the snow we've had this past winter, and the rain we've been getting so far this year, I'm not at all surprised. It looks like it's normally fairly boggy, too, what with giant patches of cattails and thick pools with duckweed clumped at the top. A few of ducks, too, though in a different spot. I found myself quite at home in that area; perhaps it's only one too many visits to the local history museum when I was younger, or perhaps it's having been all-but-raised through trips with small nets to a local pond and helping set up the artificial wetland park, but the swampiness felt ...comfortable to me. I suppose that also may be why I liked the swamp episode of A:tLA so much ;)
I think I may go skating there tomorrow. Hopefully, the sand won't jam up my skates too badly ^^a Maybe I should look into cleaning procedures. Hrm...
