A Day At The Garden

My buddy Branden and I went to the local Botanical Garden and walked all over the wonderful grounds.  The weather was perfect, sunshine, low humidity and in the mid 70's, very unusual for August!  The garden is a great place to relax, and enjoy the surroundings, flowers, trees, birds and waterways.  We found a number of tall Redwood trees, I did not think they would grow well here.  They have a membership plan, I think I am going join, and go more often.  Especially for seasonal events, like the Christmas lights, and spring flowers.  It was fun, great place and more enjoyable since I had someone to walk around the place with and talk about whatever.  Also I noticed it is a wonderful bird sanctuary, except for Eagles. They destroyed the Eagles nest because it interfered with the planes at the airport.   We saw a family of Cardinals, such a gorgeous bird!


There was a display of glass flowers scattered about the garden, wish I had thought of taking a picture of them.  Next time I go I will take my regular camera with me since it works better than the one on my phone.  Here are a couple of pictures.

 

 

 

A Micro Eco System

The apartment complex where I live shares a lake with another complex next door.  Its a nice large lake which attracts a variety of wildlife.  The time of year when birds migrate, one can see all manner birds, it can be interesting.  A pleasant walk around the lake can be an interesting experience. Recently, I saw an example of the food chain in nature on our lake. 

On a recent morning walk, I witnessed something out of the ordinary.  Being spring the population of geese has swelled, the nesting geese have hatched their young.  Its cute to see the families waddling around the complex. however, on this particular morning, I saw a goose family on the lake. I stopped to watch as they swam by. There were 6 goslings when I noticed the 4th one in line, was pulled under the water by something. the parents had a fit.  Apparently, something, most likely a bullfrog  made a meal of the gosling! I felt for the parents as they frantically searched for their baby and got the remaining babies to the safety of  land. 

Then on an evening walk this past weekend, I witnessed another sight.  There is a gorgeous white egret or loon that visits the lake frequently.  I saw it that evening near the fishing deck, I paused to try an take a picture of it with my phone's camera.  In a split second the bird dipped it's head in the water and came up with a big frog by the leg, and took off with it!   I have never seen anything like that before in my life! I was startled but in a strange way thought of it as nature's payback for the little gosling. 

A great example of the Eco system at work.