You know, it’s funny — at a distance, the open river sounds just like the highway.

Last week brought a day or two’s respite from winter’s worst, and it looks like I wasn’t the only one grateful for it. Beyond the usual suspects (woodpeckers, squirrels, chickadees, bloggers) reports have come in regarding kindly groups of pigeons, two brilliant cardinals (one following/chasing the other), and a big furry thing:

Subsequent closer inspection revealed it to be a porcupine. But no clearer pictures, I’m afraid; just as I was drawing close to the base of its tree, the camera suffered a battery-related demise. Although this was somewhat frustrating at the time, I realize now that it was likely a timely inconvenience. Sneaking up on a porcupine — whether it’s asleep or not — is probably not a great idea, and calling off the chase due to technical difficulties was likely the right thing to do.

Now, I came across this fellow down by Mud Lake, which is just a short piece downstream-ish from Britannia Bay. I figure the thing to do is return to the same tree at roughly the same time of day (8:00am) and see if our friend is there again. So, stay tuned…