The Natural Area

Yesterday we went to a natural area in town that we’d never been to even though we’d lived in this town for over two years. The trail in this natural area pretty much goes around the town. Google Maps told us to start at this one particular point which turned out to be some crescent in a newish residential area with no signs of a trail in sight. Bad Google Maps! We finally found where the trail actually started and went for a walk.

It wasn’t until we took a shortcut to a trail that goes along the river that we started to notice some interesting wildlife. First, we saw two woodpeckers up on a tree — an adult and a young one. The adult woodpecker was really hard at work and made a lot of noise. The young one was a lot more quiet.

Once we finished observing the woodpeckers, we went down to the river’s edge. That’s when Troy saw something swimming in the river. It was a baby turtle! Troy, of course, was being Troy and had to pick up the turtle. It’s just something he does. He likes to pick up little critters so he can look at them closely before putting them back where they came from.

Isn’t it just the cutest thing ever? Well, maybe not, but it’s still pretty cute. At one point the little critter opened its mouth wide in an attempt to look menacing, but it only made it look even cuter.

Once I took some pictures of our little buddy, Troy put it back into the river. We wished the turtle a safe travel and away it swam.

Troy followed the turtle for awhile from the side of the river. He saw it got caught in something that it had to climb on, which was probably a good thing because not too far away from it was a Great Blue Heron, standing quietly, looking for something in the river to catch and eat. I really hope that our little friend survived and didn’t end up being the heron’s dinner.

The Great Blue Heron was big. The picture above doesn’t do it justice.

It was a lovely place. I would love to go back there when the fall colour is at its peak. I bet it’s going to look quite stunning! If you’d like to join me, come visit us and we’ll take you there. 🙂

By the way, changes are afoot around the site and I like to think that it’s for the better!