Outside Exploring

Yes, I did get out for a bit even though it was cloudy with a mix of drizzle and rain. I walked along the creek bottom to see what I could find. I like to observe how things change and what is going on in the woods.

There is a pool that is about knee deep or so next to a rock wall. During the summer it was nearly dry, but with some of the rain and moisture we've had, it appears to have more water in it!

I was so happy to see the little trout swimming around.

I love to just sit and watch them. If they notice you, they flee to a darker shaded area of the little water hole. So I waited a few minutes and then they came back out and began to swim around. 15 second video.

I found the partially fresh carcass of a deer. It was mostly bones but there was enough color in the bones to indicate that it had only been there a couple of days. 

The birds were happily cleaning what they could off the bones.

I climbed out of the creek bottom and made my way along an old deer trail when I spotted a old birch log in the wet snow. I recall reading somewhere that one could start a fire in the woods even with wet birch.

I had some time so I decided to try that theory out. 
I picked birch bark off the log and made it into strips than piled it in the snow on another log.

I had a lighter in my bag, so I thought I'd try making a tiny fire.

Imagine my surprise when it worked! I watched the little fire catch and burn and then stomped on it. There was no danger of it spreading anywhere. However, now I knew if I could find birch [which is common in this area], I could always build a fire if I needed to.

This was my New Year's Eve day adventure. I had about an hour or so to use up and so I hiked through our woods and enjoyed fresh air.

I hope to start out the New Year once more Exploring. After all, I love that the best. 

Her. By Charlie

She says: Want to go for a walk?

I think: IF I go out with you, we can smell squirrels, eat deer poop, and I can ignore you unless you offer tiny dog treats and call me repeatedly.

I'd be an idiot to turn all that down.

She heads out the door and towards the hill. I head the other way and sit down in the driveway. Obviously, she is going the wrong way. 
So I sit. And sit.

And then She calls me and I turn my head to stare up the drive. I will ignore her first few calls and then think a bit about it. 

My collar goes buzzzzzz... buzzzz. Oh crap. She really does want to go the wrong way. Tsk, tsk. 

I guess. 

So I stand up and trot to her with an upward glance. She calls me a Good Dog and reaches wayyy down to run her mittened hand over my head.

Off we go.

Maybe I'll find some really good smells and maybe I can chase a deer. I know She thinks I am a little tiny dog, but I don't see myself that way. I'm a hound. I am a Hunter with a capitol H. I seek voles and mice along with the big game. 

I have Her to protect me from the scary things in the forest.

Like Coyote smell and Bobcat smell.

We got down into the creek and I found a curiosity. A dead raccoon. It looked like it was sound asleep in the creek. I smelled it and just stood and stared at it. 

She told me to "Leave it be" and we went on.  Contrary to popular belief, I don't roll in dead things. I like to find something nasty, sticky, black, and that has an intoxicating odor to roll in. Dead animals are not interesting at all.

Smart pellets like deer poo are delicious. When I was a pup an old hound dog named Dixie taught me how to find them and eat them. She was an excellent mentor. She said they would make me smarter. Dixie said that Morris told her that.

Val however, is okay, but just doesn't have much of a nose to speak of. She is pretty nice to cuddle with and She is in charge of feeding me, but she has no good sense of smell. I guess I'll just have to forgive her for that.

She also has no fear. When I smell coyote tracks and shiver and quiver, She just looks around and shrugs. She also has a pistol thing. It makes Huge Loud Scary Booms. Since I am so frightened of guns, she usually leaves it in the holster thing.

I like leading. The only time I don't is when I hear gunshots or perhaps smell something quite dangerous near by. 

I headed down the creek. She stopped to admire a small pool of trout. 

Then there was something inside a log that captured her attention. 

"Look at this Charlie! Ice!" 

I was busy smelling for wild things. 

Finally She sat on a log and just didn't do anything. I think She was just listening. Maybe She was trying to smell.

Maybe She was thinking. I do that a lot. I think.

Mostly I think about Food.

Finally She stood up and called me.

I was on the other side of the little creek so I sat down and pretended my ears were plugged up. I was in a good place and She could just sit down again and Think.

She buzzed my collar and I came on the run.

I'm pretty good that way. If She buzzes me or rings the collar I do come quickly.

Otherwise?

I ignore her.

She and I walked along another deer trail and headed back towards the house. We went slow. Well, She went slow like She was looking for something.

Maybe if She had a better nose She would know what She was looking for.

But She seems to drift here and there through the forest just soaking things up. And often She sticks that camera in her face.

She is...

a bit Odd.

I have to admit, She isn't all that bad for being a two-legged creature. But She is what I've got so I guess I will make do.

At least She makes me a nice place on the couch with blankets to rest. For that? I like Her.

Last of the Ice?

What do you see? 

I had no idea what I was looking for other than fresh cold air and getting out of the cold wind on Saturday. I didn't take Charlie with me. The snow had a hard sharp crust on it in areas of the valley and I was going to walk near two coyote dens.

I followed the creek east and just spent time enjoying the tiny ice formations that I wouldn't see again until next winter.

I spotted several places were there were trout darting back and forth under the ice. They are hard to see but yes, they were there. The trout are pretty cool, they are so sensitive to any movement so in order to watch them you have to remain absolutely still.

I eventually found myself at the far eastern edge of the valley. The one with the long ravine and tiny spring in it.

I was happy that I'd put my YakTraks on!

There is no way to travel up this ravine other than climbing the ice or the boulders.

I turned and went back to the creek to follow it home.

Cool Bubbles

Is there a face in this ice?

Layered ice near the deer trail I use to climb out of the creek.

It is supposed to get into the higher 40's today with warmer temperatures all week. So this may have been my last Ice Adventure in our creek this winter. After all Spring Solstice is but 7 days away.

Those huge ice formations will hang on for a while yet, but these little beauties will disappear. 
Sad Face.

Hmmm. The ice will melt, the birds will start migrating and landing in the open water, and I could go back to KVR and enjoy some birding time!
It all balances out!

I Touched a Trout

Oh the photo stinks but ever try shooting into the surface of the water and under a rock?

But I went to the creek to sit for a while. I decided to let all those crappy things stay up at the house on my to do list.
I needed the sound of water and some fresh air.

One of the very first things I noticed when I got down by the creek was a water ripple that splashed around and stopped. I stood stock still. Trout fish are so shy and quick to hide. I saw what I thought was the body pattern of a trout, it had to be a very small one to get up into this shallow place.

Slowly I squatted down and stayed there for a while, just watching and waiting. I took a few shots with my tiny camera. The trout didn't move though I could see him/her. It was a fingerling. As long as my pointing finger. I set the camera on the rock above it and slowly reached in with my finger.

I touched a trout.
Hmm.
That was amazing.
So I backed up and moved the large rock that it was under.
Quicker than the eye could follow... the trout flitted and went downstream.

I decided to find another spot to just squat and peer down into the creek bottom. It took a while but I started to see movement below me in and about the rocks and tiny granules of sand.

I found a pouch snail. Note the tiny Caddisfly stone houses around it. I dipped the camera into the water for this shot. [I like that it is water proof!]

Below is one of the more curious finds in a while. I found the Scud Bugs, they were scuttling about and Caddisfly larvae were not far off.
But this creature was really bizarre looking.

....
and it was pretty darned ugly in a way.

I got out my handouts from the Master Naturalist course. The chart from the book Wonderful,Wacky, Water Critters helped me figure out the creature. Six legs, 3 tails....

The tails got me closer to it. I 'googled' 3 tail Mayfly larvae and found much better photos of it.

I studied this Mayfly larvae to see where in the stream it was staying and decided to come back and see how many more times I could see them until they morphed into something else.

I walked up stream and stopped in another place where the water was not rushing.

Another new creature!

Well, obviously not 'new'. But new in the sense that I'd never examined the creek's bottom before like this.

A beetle of some sort. A Riffle Beetle? A Whirligig Beetle?
Nope.

I kept up my search of images and settled on a Crawling Water Beetle. The images matched as did the description of where it liked to live.
They don't swim, they crawl.

It's name or bug family is Haliplidae. I like the Crawling Water Beetle better as it describes how it moves.

I finally decided to head home excited about my finds.

And

I
touched
a
Trout!

Amazing.

Scuds, Fry, and Marigolds

My dry notes from yesterday.

March 4th.
Temperature 39 degrees F.
Valley in the Drifless Region by a large spring.
Head of the spring.
Amphipod Scuds were emerging from the sandy area among the grasses and vegetation.

Fry: Just hatched brown trout found in the stream in several spots.
Egg sacs?

Trout spotted in various areas.

Evening saw and heard Mourning Doves.
Question: Do they migrate as I never here them during the winter in this area.

Now for how I write things.

I took off hiking with Charlie with the goal of going to the Big Spring in the valley. It is a rather long hike and I had to follow the snowmobile trail in part to get there. I should have brought my Yak Traks. The gravel road was mushy, the snowmobile trail was packed ice and the side of the trail is still nearly knee deep in places.
I made my way over 3 or 4 stream crossings as the creek meanders back and forth across the valley.
I found the remains of a doe that had been stripped by coyotes, birds, and probably 'possum.
At one of the crossings I stopped to just watch the water for a bit.

What I saw was pretty amazing.

From above, while standing, it looked like some tiny tadpoles trying to swim upstream.
So I got down on my knees [ouch] and got close with my little pocket camera and waited. I took a series of shots hoping to catch the little buggers and this is what showed up.
Not a tadpole. I think frogs may live in quieter ponds, but hey, I am just learning.

A Baby Trout! I found out later that the proper name is an Alevin which is still eating off the egg, then it becomes a Fry. I think this is a Fry. Trout Lifecycle.
Who knew I'd even get excited over this? See those little bubble like things? I think they are eggs waiting to hatch!

Charlie and I followed the tracks of the 4 wheelers. The snow where I usually find Skunk Cabbage was still over knee deep.
I finally made it to the Big Spring.

The spring flows out of this hillside and joins the creek. The water flows even in the coldest parts of winter and covers these mossy rocks with frost.

Below is the view from the wall looking towards the valley. This is where it gets exciting. This is where I've never really sat and 'looked' before.

Below the arrow points to the Marsh marigolds that are just coming up through the water.

Then at my feet....

I catch some sense of movement. Again I have to find a way to get down close to the water. These little bugs are flipping and moving in bits and pieces with the slow flow of the spring. Those are granules of sand below them.

It isn't until I get home and look closely at the photos that I see the ones buried in the sand or...are they coming out of the sand?

I know so little!
I discover that they are Amphiopod Scuds and there are quite a few varieties of them.  These guys are notable because the jerk and swim sideways!
They roll up like a rolly polly and then spring open. Very fun to watch!
They eat everything dead vegetation, plant matter, and dead critters that are found in the stream.

They seem pretty insignificant except that they are only found in fresh clean water!
That makes sense. No one visits this place except me I think. The cattle left this land 15 years ago.

So.
The instructors want us to have a 'notebook' to present at class. So I am going to use a larger notebook and print the photos of the interesting critters I've found so far and glue them in my notebook. I am not going to try and draw these!

They would become Stick Figures!

I think I better print up some photos to glue in my journal!
Yes?