We went out to Slate Run for a hike fairly early this morning (we
arrived right around 7:30), and were a little surprised by how low the
water is in the ponds.  This apparently makes for mudflats ideal for
killdeer -- we saw many swooping and whooping around each pond.  A
number of Canada geese and mallards were also around, but more
interesting were the numbers of belted kingfishers hanging out along
the boardwalk in the wetland area -- at least 4 or 5.  We've seen
kingfishers at the casting pond on the other side of the park, but I
don't think I've ever seen in them in the wetland.  There were also a
number of green heron, too, often competing with the kingfishers for
the same log perches.  We also saw one of the sandhill cranes as we
were making our return trip back to the car (between 10:00 and 10:30,
I think); it's been quite a while since we saw any of them, so it was
nice to see at least one apparently doing well.

Kingfishers and green heron:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jklsemi/7433960140/

Sandhill crane:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jklsemi/7433941600/

--S.
spines at gmail.com

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