Pike Island Creatures

It was another reasonably warm day - my car thermometer said 39 - and a chance to get some exercise before Thursday night tennis. I went over to the state park and decided to walk south on Pike Island. On the way to the parking area I passed at least five white tail deer - too far away for a decent photo - so I continued to the big island. It was a pleasant day, but the lack of snow made it seem like late November, or maybe like winter in Memphis. On the way to the island there is a new statue representing a common creature in the flood plain, the beaver.

After a walk down the island and back on a fruitless quest for more wild deer or turkeys, I came back to the bridge that separates the mainland from Pike Island. There have been beavers at work here, apparently gathering building materials for a new lodge. Real beavers.

They've been busy chomping on tree trunks. The beaver lodge was fashioned from the gnawed down trees near the waterway.

There were other creatures - a gaggle of Canada geese were waddling along the edge of the waterway, the deer which I saw on the way in were still around, and I got a couple of distant photos, not of sufficient quality for the blog, and lots of squirrels - vermin.

A bonus photo of an isolated bench, surrounded by brown fallen leaves in the middle of Pike Island. The snowless landscape is still pretty much brown and yes, nearly snowless.
 

It's Thursday and there will be some tennis played at Wooddale tonight. I'll be there trying to stay competitive with Jerry and the hardcore girls.