| We finally left Pennsylvania and headed west back into Ohio and to Cuyahoga Falls, just outside Akron. Here we met a new friend who
is hoping to come to France in the summer. He took us on a tour of the local
wildlife spots starting with a heron nesting site. |  |
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There were dozens of nests which these large birds were busy remodelling.
These shots are right on the limit of what my camera can do. |
| We then moved on to a beaver pond. Although no beavers
were to be seen (they come out in late evening), we did find an array of
turtles sunning themselves on a floating log. |  |
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The flooding of the land eventually kills many of the trees resulting in a
rather sorry looking landscape. |
| The actual beaver lodge is under this island built
around the old tree's roots. There is an impressive patch of rushes in the
background. |  |
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A path built on an old railway track runs through the park (and onward
through most of Ohio). Occasionally you find a group of people who have
spotted something interesting, like this black snake (not poisonous) sunning
itself in the branches of a bush. |
| A tourist railway runs here down from Cleveland. As in
England, the smart operators were the ones who remembered to buy some
passenger cars to carry people and thus make money to pay for the upkeep.
This is an early F9 diesel locomotive common here in the 1950s. |  |
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I made one of my usual inflammatory remarks about the Americans not having
beer and was told to look for the 'Winking Lizard' chain. They stock 200
varieties of beer from all around the world. We found one in the town of
Peninsula but didn't go inside since today we till needed to drive. But our
friends in Lorain took us out for a meal later that evening, and took us to
another branch. However they only had one English beer worthy of the name,
and they served that too cold! |
| You have to be quick to spot wildlife which is only
about 8 inches long (plus tail) and at a range of over 50 yards. This mink
had a nest in a hollowed out tree. It moved so fast we were lucky with this
shot at extreme 400x digital zoom |  |
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We also visited Indigo Lake which was very peaceful and a good place to
catch bass and walleye which is regarded as quite a delicacy, although you
shouldn't eat it too often since it contains excessive amounts of dangerous
heavy metals (according to the Ohio Fisheries Board). A gentle stroll round
the lake was a very pleasant interlude. |
| It was quite noisy, and the culprits were these frogs,
who made a prodigious amount of noise in between whatever else they were
doing! |  |
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Most wildlife is much too shy to be seen by humans and so you have to rely
on exhibits in the ranger stations to show you what you are looking for,
like this racoon. |
| I didn't realise that ducks made nests in trees, but
one assumes that this is an accurate portrayal of real life. |  |
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Our daffodils in France had been and gone before we left, but they were just
coming out here. These were of particular note because they were so small.
Hence the hand to show the scale. |
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