I went on two nature hikes in the Metro Parks this weekend. Columbus Metro Park Hikes The first Friday I forgot to take a camera… it was a moonlight hike…in Sharon Woods Metro Park… how much picture taking could there have been? There were great shots of the full moon at Sharon Woods Metro Park on Friday evening. We saw a great horned owl too thanks to volunteers who knew what we were looking for. I saw it fly away… what a wing span. Would have made a great photo… oh well we did not bring a camera.
We took the camera to a moonlight walk at Battelle Darby Park on Saturday evening… we were ready. In the ranger station prior to the hike we talked about what animals we could see, deer, flying squirrels, owls, coyotes. We looked at the taxidermied (stuffed… spell check is unsure about the spelling of the word I am grasping for animals who have had taxidermy done to ‘em) animals at the ranger station.
The natuaralist said there is at least one badger living in the Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park now… and beavers, coyotes, river otters, muskrats, foxes, flying squirrels, owls, etc.
Saturday November 24, 2007 was the full moon and the Metro Parks called it the full Beaver Moon, the early settlers and the Native Americans needed to set their traps for beaver. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day so we never saw the full moon… Or any animals… the naturalist, Gary did owl calls, to no avail. Some thought they saw a deer as we crossed one of the roads in the park, but it was a sign… It was dark.
It was a four mile hike. Very hilly but no moon, no animals.
Returning to the ranger station we took pictures of some of the Ohio wildlife including a beaver, a badger, a river otter, ducks, a fox, a coyote and a skunk… other stuffed animals in the Ranger Station included minks, a muskrat, and owls, including the great horned owl.
I could not identify the muskrat I guessed ground hog… but I guessed the badger… The stuffed skunk at the ranger station is brownish red so I guessed it was a badger too… I think skunks are black not brown. When in doubt guess badger…
A Link to the Slideshow of stuffed “wild life”
One more try to embed… then I give up..
Santa Claus hung out in front of the Worthington Inn all afternoon Sunday, November 25, 2007 meeting kids. However when the Worthington Police delivered Santa to the Worthington Green for the Tree Lighting he seemed disoriented, saying something about being in Westerville…
lighting at 5:30. A few Christmas carols were sung by candle light. There were lots of umbrellas as you can see of the photo of the tree on the south- east quadrant of the Worthington Green.
