It was the sound of the crows that woke me up on this chilly September morning. It was 6:15 a.m. and I wasn't wanting to be awake yet. Eventually they moved further down to some other part of the park and things got quiet again. I fell back to sleep for a bit. When I awoke the second time I could see the outlines of leaves that had fallen on my tent. Then I realized that one of those outlines was not a leaf. It was moving. I was pretty sure it was the outline of our little (or should I say big) friend the European Hornet. I got dressed and went outside to take a better look. Sure enough, there was our "Gentle Giant" back again. I watched it for a bit. It was in no hurry to go anywhere, It was probably too cold. Every time I came close with the camera it would rear the front half of it's body up. When I stepped back it would sit back down again. I did this a couple of times and it repeated the motion each time. I couldn't leave it on my tent though because we were leaving today and the tent will be taken down and packed up. So I took a long stick and scooped it up and moved it over to an out of the way place on a fallen log.
Carsten and Penny weren't awake yet so I decided to go for a walk down at the picnic area. It was quiet and empty with only the sounds of a White-breasted Nuthatch breaking the peaceful silence.
There were purple asters dotting the edge of the woods.
And there were " Butter-And-Eggs" flowers lining the edge of the rocks.
Floating in the water was some strange sort of plant matter. I fished it out to have a better look at it. I still don't know what it is. I threw it back into the water to let the current take it where it may.
Out on the lake I could hear the Canadian Geese calling out to each other. Then I witnessed something I had never seen before. A flock of geese was heading south in the usual V shape when a smaller group of about 6 or 7 Canadian Geese came towards them from the other side of the lake going in the opposite direction.
I watched as they met up with each other and then seemed to almost suspend their motion as hover in mid-air as the smaller group rearranged themselves and fell into formation alongside the larger group. Soon they were one big flock and they continued on together; migrating south for the winter.
I heard some more commotion out on the lake and saw 3 Cormorants come in for a landing. Many birds were here for a rest on their journey south.
When I got back to the camp, Carsten and Penny were up and eating breakfast. I joined them in a quick bite to eat and then we got to work tearing down the tents. I was completely taken by surprise when I started rolling up my tent only to find that a frog had been hiding out underneath it! I hope that I hadn't squished him while I was sleeping. He didn't seem hurt or troubled in any way so I guess he was all right.
Frogs were not the only friends we found while packing up. I came across a small spider with pretty off white colouring to it on the outside of dining tent. I am used to seeing boring old brown spiders all the time so I was surprised by the off white colour of this one. I don't know what kind of spider it is. Looks to be some type of Sac Spider. (The picture makes it look to be much bigger than it actually is...it wasn't a really big spider. Maybe the size of my pinky finger nail).
Once the cars were all packed up and we were ready to go, we decided to make one last stop at the outdoor amphitheater to see it in the day time. When we got to the top of the stone steps and stood quietly enjoying the peacefulness of the place, I could hear a faint sound that I couldn't quite figure out what it was. It sounded almost like drops of water falling into a cistern or something. I asked Carsten and Penny "Do you hear that?" I moved very slowly and very quietly in the direction it was coming from. I was moving quietly because the sound was so quiet that even the sound of my foot steps would drown it out. When I discovered what it was I was glad that I had been walking so slowly and quietly.
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted some movement. Then I realized it was a partridge! I was happy to get the opportunity to get this close and get a picture because usually the only time you see them is as they are flying away because they spotted you first and you got too close.
As I was watching the grouse, I noticed more movement slightly off to the left and was surprised to see a second partridge! I could hear it cooing to the other one and realized that this was the sound I had heard. The partridge were not concerned that we were there at all. They were preening themselves and just hanging out.
As Carsten tip toed towards where I was he whispered "There's another one!" The closer we looked around the more we saw. There was a fourth ...and then a fifth...and then a sixth! There was a whole flock of them! My sister, Heather, likes to call them "Forest Chickens" and here we were with a whole flock of Forest Chickens so close to us that we could have almost reached out and touched them. It was amazing!
After watching them for a bit we moved away towards the amphitheater and to have a look around. We figured that we would give the partridge their space.
But the partridge decided that if we were going to move away then they were too. And they headed towards the amphitheater as well. Now they were no longer hidden in the leaves and under brush. They were walking around right out in the open.
Even out in the open, I couldn't get over how well camouflaged they were. They are experts at blending in to their surroundings!
This little chipmunk did a pretty good job of blending into his surroundings too. Not as good as the partridge, but still pretty good.
Eventually we left the area and went to take a look around children's playground that is just down the road from the amphitheater.
We adored the little chipmunks on springs that were there. We used to play on toys similar to these when we were kids.
So we couldn't resist taking a ride on the chipmunks for old times sake.
Feeling very lucky to experience a flock of partridge, we were in high spirits as we left the park. It had been a fantastic weekend and we really enjoyed our stay here. Even the cloud in the sky were putting on a show for us today. As I drove the long trip back home I was already thinking about all the places I want to go camping next year. Maybe a second trip back to Charleston Lake Park will be on the agenda. If not next year, then definitely sometime in the near future.
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