Wildlife On Beebe Pond, Callahan State Park

 

I realized recently that I havent been to Callahan State Park with my Canon Rebel T3 yet, which is crazy because Callahan is one of my favorite hiking spots, and I've had my camera for almost a year, and I go for a hike at least twice a week. I had gone to Callahan, and parked on Millwood Street in 2022 a few times, but only with my phone camera. I decided to park at the entrance on Edmans Road, on November 25th. I walked down the road for a while, and then crossed it, headed for Beebe pond. I hiked for around 20 minutes before I finally made it to the water.

First, I actually went up the hill, and out of the woods, into Beebe meadow. The meadow grew from the riverbank, to the top of the closest hill. It was made up of dead goldenrod, dead grass, and tall structures of oriental bittersweet. I think a tree used to be there, but now the vines are just growing up each other. It was sprinkling, and there was overcast:

Towards the top of the meadow, I found a small patch of birch saplings. I'm not sure what species they were, but I think they were grey birch:

                                                   ...I then headed down to the pond...

I started walking along the trail that loops around the pond, when a bird caught my eye. A juvenile great blue heron was perched, taking a nap on a fallen tree that hung over the water. As I loudly crunched through the dried leaves, though, towards it, it woke up. It's brown juvenile feathers made it camouflage well with the tree it was perched in.

It was nice photographing such a tolerant bird. It spent a long time (maybe 5 minutes) without moving at all. It was probably trying to sleep through the cold rainstorm at this hidden spot. During these five minutes, it was standing on one leg, a behavior used to keep one leg warm, while the other is exposed, and it can switch legs in it's sleep, So it dosent wake up with frostbite. Blood is also pumped away from the limbs, and into the core, when it gets really cold. It was about 40 degrees that day.

                            ...This is how I can tell adult and juvenile great blue herons apart...

     

  

                      ...It eventually started stepping away from me, down to the end of the log...

                                                           ...Where it stretched it's wing...

            ...and left. It flew parallel to the riverbank, and I could tell it landed at a different spot, further down along the trail...

I hiked further down the trail, hoping to find it again. I passed by a beaver lodge, This one was unusual because it was on land. It is still predator proof though, because all beaver lodges have hidden, underwater entrances. 

I walked about 30 feet past the beaver lodge, and found a little beach, with a bench, and a log that jutted out over the water. Standing on the log was the heron from earlier:

I crept forward, slowly, while crouching. I really wanted to sit on the bench, but I didn't know if the heron was going to let me. It was a complete statue, not reacting to me at all at first. I touched the back of the bench. No reaction. I put my camera lens through the gap in the back of the bench, using the bench boards as a photography blind for a minute.

...Then I tried to climb over the back of the bench as slowly and quietly as possible. The heron spread it's wings, and soared across the pond. It landed in another tree, on the opposite side of the pond.

                        I continued down the path. The trail went across the pond's beaver dam...

     This is the view from the middle of the dam, looking across the pond. The rain stopped around the                        time I took this photo, so the water was completely still. Great reflections:

On the other side of the pond, I found the heron again. This time I gave the heron a lot of space, and only took a few photos. 

                                 ...Right around the corner was another beaver lodge. I think this one is inactive, because beaver families dont share territoritory with each other, and this is a small pond. The one shown above has more recent mud, meaning it is used more often. I could be wrong though.

         ...and there was more evidence of beavers nearby. Beaver chews were all around the pond.

                        Then I finished my loop around the pond, and headed back to the car.