I was up on the rise away from the little cove where herons visit and geese and ducks nest when I heard men’s voices. I picked out colored shirts and thought there were three, who I figured would have fishing poles. When I came up the road I was slightly astonished to count eight men tromping the marsh. They had metal detectors.

I asked what was going on, their representative said they were “working with the state” and looking for a motorcycle, built in 1962 that was purportedly driven into “a pond.” I expressed the wish they watch out for bird nests and wildlife. “Oh, there’s nests in there?” He seemed genuinely astonished at the idea. His companions sniggered.

“I hoped you were here to clean up the place.”

He laughed and replied, “I think that’s your job!”

On Saturday my daughter and I witnessed a young man let his large, black dog plunge into the small pond after the wood duck hen and young that were resting on a log. A woman who was in the park today had two dogs, one on a lead, the other she let run free where we witnessed it chase a chipmunk, birds and squirrels. She said, ‘”He wouldn’t hurt the little creatures.” –Well, lady, when a wild animal is chased by a carnivore, it is not having a good time.

Earlier today we found this turtle, which someone stomped to death. We have seen other small creatures crushed. It is great to have park rules and laws against this, but without actual enforcement. This continues.

I left a report about the turtle on the Park Ranger line. Someone has to speak up.

This shot was taken with the sun at a bad angle, but there was a pair of geese with their two young and a big family of wood ducks (I counted 11 young) all together, so I could not resist. It wasn’t until I uploaded the images to my PC that I saw the big turtle with its neck outstretched on the log with the ducklings!

My mind was eased today after I spotted a group of geese, – adults and 8 juvenile geese on the marshy spit (usually overrun by people fishing). –It would be better if I saw all 12 little ones, but maybe tomorrow.

This was the first sun in many days and there were 3 (painted) turtles soaking up rays. I’ve been alert for signs of nesting.

The last couple of days, even with clouds / low light, hermit thrushes have nearly fooled me into thinking they were cardinals, the plumage looks so red. They are beautiful. They seem have have cut back on their singing, and I miss that lovely trill.

New mushrooms are popping in response to the damp, – white ones and the showy orange-red caps.

The rain was crazy last night. The weed from the small pond was up 3 feet onto the shore and several mid-large tree limbs were down behind the school. Despite that I got a record count of chipmunks (28), nearly as many squirrels (including 2 black morphs), saw a young rabbit and a pair of flickers (woodpeckers) among the usual park denizens.

This was the third day I saw no geese. There had been a steady census of 12 adults and 12 young (down from 15). Where have they gone?

I’ve been seeing a female wood duck with 4 ducklings fairly regularly, but I’m saddened not to see the male and because I counted 10 young initially.

Last week, I was seeing a mallard hen with 4-7 young at different spots. This week it’s been a single hen, accompanied by multiple males (5 today) but no babies.

I’ve had some interaction with park employees and they actually followed up promptly. On Monday 6/7 someone removed a grate on road and leaving a hazard (the miscreants shoved a trash barrel down there). They also cleared a horrible trashing of the children’s play area, -which was far more than my daughter and I could handle ourselves. – So I’m happy to report something positive about maintenance.