A yen for Wood Lake

With all the rain lately, I’ve been a bit of a homebody with little motivation to do much outside, including getting out on the trails, I’m sad to say. But we did get out yesterday, and it was a great day for wandering! For some reason, I’ve had a hankering to visit Wood Lake recently. Wood Lake is a relatively small city park – well, a suburban park in Richfield, actually, but it’s quite beautiful. The central feature, as one might expect, is Wood Lake, but the lake is surrounded by narrow swaths of lush woodland to the east and west, and a prairie to the south.

We opted for an evening walk, getting there around 7:30. The woods were deep green, peaceful and cool, with sunlight slanting through branches at a long angle across the path. When the trail opened up to the lake, we were treated to serene views, with very little breeze to ruffle the surface of the water. Wild life was all around us, busy with day-end tasks. Taking little notice of us, we observed Red-winged Blackbirds, Muskrats, a Green Heron, Canada Geese, Mallards, Wood Ducks, and a pair of Trumpeter Swans in the distance, just going about their business. There was also a Great Egret doing some leisurely fishing not far from the boardwalk. We were quiet and moved slowly, but it definitely wasn’t paying any attention to us.

American Robins and Red-winged Blackbirds were especially oblivious to our presence, focused as they were at keeping members of their own species out of their individual territories! Muskrats were busy just about everywhere we looked, trailing long ripples behind them on the still waters.

We were fortunate enough to find a couple of Red-winged Blackbird nests, tucked deep into reeds and often difficult to see. In one nest, which was fairly close to the boardwalk, we could see, even from a distance of about 15 feet, a tiny bit of pink at nest-edge. When later I blew up the photo on my laptop, two nestlings (pictured here) were easy to make out. These were the only avian youngsters we spotted during the walk, but this was certainly a fun sighting!

Meandering through the prairie was nice, and we lingered for a short time, but I am more in love with the forest here, and the lake is very active. Overall our time spent in the prairie was short. As we were about to walk back into the woods, the sun was starting to set and cast a warm glow on the trees dividing prairie from woodland. The sight of the path disappearing between those forest guardians brought Middle Earth to mind…who knows what adventures might await us?

The woods were still alive with birdsong as we made our way back toward the nature center, and the activities of Wood Lake’s wild residents were still in fairly high gear as the sun was slipping over the horizon. But there were a few that had dialed back a notch or two, like this female Mallard, napping right in the middle of the trail (her mate was lying in the grass beside the path, just out of sight). Luckily we were at a “Y” and opted to take the other path so as not to disturb her.

Dusk had descended by the time we reached the nature center again. I was hoping to see some fireflies in the gathering dark, but it was only a faint hope. In an area surrounded by city, I imagine mosquito control is a priority, and where mosquitoes are eliminated, so too are most fireflies, sadly. So no, not a single firefly to be seen. But there were quite a few young bunnies darting around near the nature center. I tried to get a quick photo, although there wasn’t much light left… So I’ll leave you today with this rather dark photo of a Cottontail youngster washing it’s face. Until next time!