Every once in a while I see something that makes me nuts and I just feel the need to spout off about it. Yesterday over at the reservoir was one of those days and there were two separate but similar incidents that I witnessed that made my blood boil. I've written in the past about OHV's (Off Highway Vehicles, a group which includes ATV's/4-wheelers and off-road motorcycles/"dirt bikes") and I don't have much love for them - or at least the percentage of users who are irresponsible. Truth be told, I wouldn't mind having a "4-wheeler" for some of my backcountry adventures. I was hanging around the trailer yesterday morning (see below), and would really prefer to get out to the reservoir earlier with Roxy since there are many more families on summer vacation infesting the area. There are some pit toilets near one the spots I take her to swim and that is where I saw the first object of my ire. A woman, presumably the mother, was parked outside the toilets with 2 children - a girl, aged 11 or 12, and a boy about 8 or 9. There were two 4-wheelers, which meant the mother must have been the driver of 1 and one of those kids would have to have been driving the other. Despite the fact there is a helmet law in this state for minors under 18, there was not a helmet in sight. To me this is just the height of stupidity, especially considering that they had to travel a road with blind corners that is also used by cars and trucks.
But it gets worse.
The second incident involved a guy, probably in his early thirties on a dirt bike that I saw just as we were leaving the "swimming hole". This idiot was riding around with his 3 or 4 year old daughter, also sans helmet, straddled across the fuel tank in front of him. The road they were traveling on is used frequently by pick-ups towing cattle trailers that I know for a fact fling rocks along this gravel road and have the chips in my windshield to prove it. We won't even get in to the possibilities of what might happen if he should lose control and her head were to hit the ground just "right". I simply do not understand the mindset that would put children in such a high risk situation and it makes me just a little crazy.
On a more positive note, in the past few days the Northern Flickers, who've been in the area since I moved over in April, have begun frequenting the bird bath. This is the male just before he dropped down for a little refreshment. Don't know where they've been getting water up to now, but it seems like the pattern was similar last summer, too. While I was waiting around for photo ops, the Williamson's Sapsuckers showed up as well, though they are exceedingly shy and very difficult to photograph. In fact, the female stayed on the backside of the dish, drinking from the overflow and only occasionally showing herself.
THEN I SAW THE GRAY FOX KITS!
Sorry for shouting, but I've never seen a Gray Fox before today and these two "babies" were my first. It was around dusk and photos, even if they would have been out where I could get a good views, would have been near impossible. Their "den" is a culvert under one of the park roads, which makes it kind of scary since it is a pretty busy intersection near one of the main viewpoints. They're also near a prairie dog colony though, being mostly nocturnal, the adults are probably preying on other rodents or rabbits. Pretty cool stuff, sure hope some pics are in my future!
Last week's quiz featured a rather motley looking Red Crossbill. A small flock spent a couple of days ravaging the emerging cones in Blue Spruce right in front of the Visitor Center, then left. Who knows where they ran off to after that. For this week we have a species that I watched (also over a couple days) coming into the area of the campground where I live to gather nesting material. Now I just see them flying around - guess they got all they needed from here. As always, good luck and great birding!
