I took a hike along the river trail behind the visitor's center. The day started off cool and breezy but quickly became quite warm and I was sorry I forgot to bring some water with me. Along the trail on one side, there were brief glimpses of a stream but the view was mostly obscured by shrubs, vines and trees and was very shady. On the opposite side of the trail, the sun was shining brightly on cattails and wildflowers. I caught several glimpses of bees and cabbage butterflies feasting on purple and yellow flower which I couldn't identify, and dragonflies perching a top tule grass stems. Also in this area were lots of blackberry vines with fruits of green, red and purple. On the stream side of the trail, wild grape vines bore many bunches of small grapes.
Awhile down the trail I approached a larger pond area which was being fished by a great blue heron. Also swimming in the pond was this pair of pied-billed grebes, which darted into the cattails when they saw me approach but later came out in the open to resume diving. I didn't realize it at the time, but they were diving for what turns out to be their favorite meal: crawfish. In this photo you can see the grebe on the right attempting to swallow a fairly large crayfish.
At the pond's edge, I could see tiny fish and an occasional very large tadpole break the water surface. In the mud, there was mosaic of bird and mammal footprints and I believe I saw several river otter prints.
I continued along the trail and came across and area that was blanketed in cotton, like fuzzy snow. Leaves and ground and branches were all coated in the fuzzy white stuff, which I assume was created by some of the cottonwood trees. Also in the area I happened upon a hole in the ground with hornets buzzing in and out and was thankful that I saw it before I stepped on it.
I crossed a small bridge over a stream that connected the pond on the left with another pond on the right hand side and continued down the trial a ways until thirst got the better of me, and since I had no map or indication of where the trail was headed, I turned around to head back. Then I saw what I had missed the first time around: crayfish crawling across the open mud. This was the first time I had seen crayfish that weren't in a pot or on a plate and I watched them for quite awhile as they crawled, swam, and dug into burrows in the mud.
I backtracked to my car and stopped to photograph a few more dragonflies in the parking lot before heading out to an area down the road where I had seen quite a few migrating ducks, geese and swans last winter. I had seen fewer and fewer birds here as the year progressed and this time there was practically nothing there. I did catch a glimpse of a Northern Harrier diving in the air over the now-dry wetlands, but he soon flew out of range of my camera. I drove further down the road to where I had watched a kestrel and a white-tailed kite hunt from power lines earlier in the year, and had seen in separate occassions a red-tailed hawk and a kingfisher in the same area, but this time only a lone mourning dove was present.
I stopped to photograph a monarch butterfly which had rested on a milkweed plant, then turned to look on the other side of the road, where several curious cattle were watching me.
I was pretty hot and thirsty at this point so I rolled up the windows and cranked up the AC and headed out to the road to find someplace to buy a giant soda.
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