The Ones That Got Away

There's something I like to do when I write my stories here on The Everyday Adventurer. Most of you regular readers know what this is. Whenever I'm describing what I've seen on one of my adventures I like to show you what I saw. If I saw a squirrel glaring at me, that's exactly what I try to show you. If I tell you about a deer that walked up to me, I show you a closeup shot of that deer. I'm not quite going to do that this time, and I'll tell you why.

I have seen some amazing creatures lately, but I had absolutely no chance to get them on camera. I'm going to tell you about a few of them, but I unfortunately can't show you the ones that got away. I'm not going to disappoint you completely though. What I will show you is some of the places I saw them. Don't worry, these are some good photos. I think they'll do fine.

A few weeks ago I was at the back of Woodland Hills Nature Park, where my favorite pond can be found. There is a small wooden bridge that crosses a narrow section of this pond. I like to stop there to look out at the pond and sort out all the things that float through my mind. I usually expect to see either ducks or geese near that bridge. When I got there it was something completely different that I saw!

Just as I stepped on the bridge I saw at the edge of the water a white-tailed deer getting a drink of water! She was only ten feet away from me, right at the spot where the narrow part widens into the main part of the pond! The deer saw me at the same time, and it bolted into the trees behind it! I ran to try to catch up with it, but it had already crashed loudly into the forest, and it was gone. I've seen plenty of deer, but that was an unusually exciting encounter!

I went home very excited, but I had no pictures to show you. How could I even mention it if I had nothing to show? So I kept my mouth shut and told you of other adventures and other journeys. I thought that would be the end of the whole thing, but I decided to go back to the same park only a few days later. After all, it is my favorite nature park. That's when something even more odd happened!

I was standing on the very same bridge, but this time I was coming back towards the front of the park. That's when I saw it! No, not the deer again. This creature was in the water! It was swimming from under the bridge! I quickly realized I was seeing a beaver, and it was quickly swimming away from me into the tall weeds. I tried my best to get even one picture, but all I got were several pictures of the weeds. Nothing again!

Now just yesterday on my latest adventure I saw something again! Can you guess where I was? No, you're wrong, it wasn't back on that same bridge. But it was at that very same pond! This time I decided to turn left and go to the forbidden section of the pond. There is no official path to that end of the pond, and the park officials constantly block the small worn area with old branches to block the way. I like going there anyway.

When I got over to that end of the pond, which is another split off section of this large pond, I could sense there was something there. The only thing I ever saw there before were ducks and geese, and one large heron. This time as I just got past the tall weeds I looked into the water at a fallen log. There on that old log were about six large turtles sunning themselves!

I still didn't have a clear view past the tall weeds, but I lifted my camera to try for a few photos anyway. It's amazing, but turtles seem to move faster than black squirrels. One by one these six turtles dropped off the log and into the water! This all happened from the time I moved my arm from my side to my face to take a picture! I moved over to get a clearer view of the log, just in time to see one more turtle drop into the water. Noooo!!!

It was the only time I ever had a chance to get a picture of turtles while on my adventures, and I got absolutely nothing. First a deer, then a beaver, and now half a dozen turtles. These are the ones that got away. I have no pictures of them, but that doesn't make the encounters with these creatures any less exciting. I am The Everyday Adventurer, and that's my story.