Island

This is a green island at the Sanitary District Ponds which are surrounded by one of our favorite walks in nature.

Yesterday's tennis ball nest brought a couple of interesting comments from Muriel and Leon:

A man uses the balls to play fetch with his dog. When he loses sight of his dog he gets on the ladder to look for him.

I always wondered where tennis balls come from. Looks like one is trying to leave the nest early.

Nest

On the same day that we saw the ladder along Corte Madera Creek, we spied this rare tennis ball nest beside the path.  Strange happenings. . . .

Osprey nest

Last Tuesday Bob T. and I walked to Divide Meadow while the others did their run. One of the sights to be seen on this walk is this osprey nest, abandoned at this time of the year. I'll check it again in the spring. Wikipedia describes the osprey:

The Osprey (Pandion halites), also called Sea Hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching 24 inches in length with a 6 ft wingspan. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly whitish on the head and underparts, with a brownish eye patch and wings.
The Osprey tolerates a wide variety of habitats, nesting in any location near a body of water providing an adequate food supply. It is found on all continents except Antarctica although in South America it occurs only as a non-breeding migrant.