1. Toad
Its almost dark. The heat of the day is finally letting go. Sweat is dripping down my sides, but the cooler air of evening feels good, and the breeze feels absolutely wonderful.
Something scurries on the ground, making straight for my feet. A mouse!? I’ve never seen mice here. I stomp my feet, and it dashes under the bench.
I turn around. There’s a toad sitting in our ground level water tray. It’s our “toad bath”. They find them. They can smell the water.
It sits in the water a minute or so and then hops out, making for the underbrush beneath the Monterey Oak.
2. Owl
There are chattering/scratching sounds in the branches of the Ash tree. In the fading light of dusk, the sounds are familiar. I whistle my Eastern Screeh Owl A-song [audio].
The chattering stops, and I can see three owl silhouettes in the branches looking down at me, bobbling their heads [video].
I whistle again, and the owls come gliding silently out of the branches, across my head and into the branches of a Red Oak on the other side.
The toad is nowhere to be seen.