23/5/2022 9:20-11:30 AM

Lots of activity at the park.
Still failed to ID the two conifers at the entrance- the one I know, White Pine, has at least two lichen and some mass on it, not sure if dried sap or a growth, or it's a weird fungi.
After I was done checking out the Pine I saw a red mass and thought it was meat and it turns out to be the severed head of a Bullhead fish, just laying there in the mulch, some organs still attached, intestines leaving its body.
Multiple geese were hanging out by the water, saw some sparrows, more lichen, a spider that hid before I could take a pic.
Went to the "island" part and saw a bunch of violets growing and they smelled nice.
Went back towards the geese, saw a squirrel, a small bullhead near some muck, recorded some Blackbirds, then a male Mallard flew in, scared me a little, I got excited and tried to get a better angle on it and a female Mallard was hiding in the plants in the water and spooked me as well.
Saw thousands of tadpoles, I think they're American toads, as they swarmed the park and my window well last July-August.
Saw a weird fish hanging out by the tadpoles, it's face looked like it was skinned, it drifted around, looked like it was close to tipping over, and was missing a few scales, only reacted with a stick I tossed in bumped it and it nearly got knocked over.
As I was leaving I saw a small head or snout sticking out in the water, first thought was beaver or muskrat, but then I saw a wide back and spiky tail and thought Alligator? Then I realized it was likely a turtle of some sort.
When I walked to the island to find the turtle I found a clump of hair that might have belonged to a rodent or some other small mammal but was killed by a raptor. May have been hunted by whatever killed the bullhead by the tree.

Posted on Μάιος 23, 2022 0531 ΜΜ by thenamesjonas