Today around 8pm there was a medium size snapping turtle at the mouth of the piney branch creek where it flows into the Rock Creek. I was running and stopped on the bridge to check it out. The turtle was pretty active but wasn't going for a curious smallmouth bass that was swimming right in front of its face. There was a also a bottom feeding fish which could've been a small carp, large trout, sucker or something.
When I ran by there a few minutes later there was also a Great Blue Heron fishing. The great bird seemed to get nervous as I paused to watch, and flew gracefully under the bridge out into the main channel of RC.
Earlier at the corner of Newton and 17th I witnessed one of those tough sights that brings up a complex range of emotions. There were two beautiful white eggs, about the size of thimble, laying on the sidewalk, delicate shells shattered and parts of the soon to be born chicks splayed around them. I can only guess what brought them there from the nest 20 ft. above in the tree- whether a Crow, or one of the Jays that also lives on the block. I don't know whether cowbirds live here yet or not.
Since I was there on the April mornings when the birds were scouring the front lawns on Newton for loose twigs, grasses, and the occasional strip of loose plastic, seeing the eggs lying there was even more poignant. I can only imagine what this is like for a parent, but I assume that within a short period of time, these birds will again have eggs in the nest. Resilience is prized in nature.
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