My children all learned to ski at the ski hill in Earl Bales Park.

I enjoyed visiting the area today in perfect warm weather.

MYSTERY BIRD

I will identify it at the end of the post.

Earl Bales Park also has a very large pond.

Some botany:

MYSTERY BIRD

Despite the lack of a red belly, this is a Red-bellied Woodpecker. The name “Red-headed Woodpecker was already taken.

NATURE POETRY

Now, from the thick grass, the fireflies 

begin to rise: 

up, then down, then up again: 

lit on the ascending flight, 

drifting simultaneously to the same height, 

exactly like the bubbles in champagne.            – Elizabeth Bishop (1911–79) 

Miles Hearn