Goldfinch

Today’s hike was a six mile towpath trek. It’s been a few weeks since we hiked there and the trail is now almost entirely hemmed in on both sides by tall grasses and flowers and reeds. The water level in the canal is very low – entirely dry in some places. The river, too, is slow moving and aching for rain.

We spotted a bunny just off the trailhead. It sat very still and Chuck didn’t seem to be aware of it at all until it darted away. Then, the movement triggered her to jump after it, but the rabbit was far too fast and disappeared into the grass.

When we were able to find a rare break in the grasses, we could see giant carp in the canal. The water is so low that their backs are often breaking the surface of the muddy water as they swim.

We found a little group of mallard ducks – a female and two of her young brood. Right near them, a muskrat was busy collected grasses for his den. It’s not a great photo, but I was able to capture a shot so you can see how close they were to one another. It’s always fun to see neighbors out enjoying a sunny day!

Most of the little warblers and other birds I watched all spring seem to have moved away. The trail is fairly quiet except for the hum of the crickets in the grasses and the drone of cicadas higher up in the trees. Suddenly, I saw a flash of yellow! An American Goldfinch was perched on a branch near the trail. He was out in the clear and he sat still for me for some time so I was able to get a couple nice shots of him. I was so grateful that he posed!

We were almost back to the car when Chuck dove into the grass at the side of the trail and tossed a little mole into the air. It landed on the trail, panting and badly injured. It’s little eyes were scared and desperate. I was holding Chuck back, waiting to see if it would recover and run away, but it didn’t. I was torn about what to do. Should I leave it there to die slowly in the dirt? Should I kill it quickly? Should I let Chuck finish the job? In the end, I could not kill it myself. But I couldn’t leave it there to languish. I loosed the leash and Chuck quickly put it out of its misery.

Click on any image below to launch the gallery and view all images full size.