Come Walk With Me: Exploring with Mother Nature

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               Hey! It’s good to see you again, and I’m so glad you came by! Come with me. I’ve been dying to show you something.

                Follow me down the path and wait a moment while I open the big, iron gate. Hey, did I tell you I got a new camera this year? It’s really cool. It takes excellent shots.

                Hey look! There’s a spruce cone in that pine tree! Um…or is it a pine cone in a spruce tree? I can never tell which is which.
 

                Anyway, what was I saying? Oh right! My fancy new camera! It has a 30x lens. That just means it magnifies images to 30 times their normal size. It’s also known as a zoom lens. It’s going to be great to have … oh here we are! The old pond. Alive and buzzing and ready for another summer.

                Oh, I just heard a favorite familiar song. Listen! Do you hear it?
Click here to hear that song! (Scroll down to find the play button.
                Look! There he is! Sitting on that fence post!
 

                It’s the Red-Winged Blackbird. A sure sign of beautiful weather to come. This guy’s nearly got his back to us, but that sure is a great view of his beautiful, vivid red and yellow shoulder patch, hey? I love that sight.

                Well, it looks to be another great season by the pond. A couple of weeks ago, I saw the Red-Necked Grebe, again. He’s the beautiful little water bird with the wonderful laugh.
Click here to hear that laugh. (Scroll down to find the play button)
                Then a couple of weeks before that, I saw some new visitors that I’ve never seen around here before. It was a Mr. and Mrs. Bufflehead duck! These are cute little black and white ducks with bright eyes.

                And then there was –

                Oh! Oh! Look! Out on the water! Just over there! It’s “Musky”, our resident Muskrat, peeking at us! I wonder what he’s thinking?
 

                You remember Musky? I told you about his adventures last year. Well, he’s back with his wife. I don’t know what happened to his young ‘un. (Actually, all I know for sure is there are two muskrats out there. I have no real way of knowing which two.)
                Anyway, I think he’s kind of cute, don’t you?

                Oh! He’s swimming off! See? Over there. Be patient. You may need a minute to focus your eyes.
 

                Well, he just paddled off kind of quietly, didn’t he? The other day, when he saw me move, he dove under with such a noisy SPLASH!! that he made me jump! His safety measure, I suppose.

                Wow. Well, I can see where this camera is going to be a lot of fun to have around this year. And I’ll be sure to bring it down to the pond often. I’ll let you know what I find! (And, yes, I’ll practice holding my hand steady.)

                Well, thanks for coming down here with me. Do you have to rush off, or can you come to the house for a cup of tea?

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