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I saw one of the wood duck families this morning in the area where the nesting boxes are located. "Mom" was constantly calling her "kids", who were scooting around in all directions, not paying a bit of attention to their mother. A little later, when I headed out towards the viewing stand just off the railbed, I heard a plaintive cheet, cheet, cheet sound, and around the viewing stand came a tiny duckling, all by its lonesome, presumably calling for its mother. I watched it for several minutes, as it swam among the reeds, but no sign of the rest of its family. I think it was a wood duck chick, although I'm not 100% sure. Its chances of survival on its own can't be good.
Talking about winged insects, when this one flies, it looks just like a miniature helicopter the way its wings rotate. It is one of the various damselflies seen at the marsh. I tried to identify it, but was overwhelmed by the task - too many darn variables (possibly one of the spreadwings).
I watched this common grackle going through some complicated maneuvering this morning, in order to, what it looked like to me, get a drink of water. It wasn't until I enlarged my shot that I realized it was after a winged insect of some kind.
With a little finagling this morning I managed to get this shot of three of the 20 or so male wood ducks that have been hiding out among the dead trees at the marsh's edge recently. It's very difficult to get close enough for a shot, as the slightest movement or sound will send them flying off. They will shortly begin to molt into their summer plumage.
I think this is a different family of wood ducks than the one I posted yesterday. The chicks appear to be a little smaller, and can't be very old. And look, they've lined up behind 'Mom', disproving my statement that wood duck chicks didn't do that. I'm fairly certain that behaviour won't last long, however.
'Mother Goose' and her six goslings were taking a break alongside the trail this morning, while 'Dad' stood watch. It doesn't take long for those youngsters to become gangly adolescents.
As I walked the portion of the trail yesterday between the marsh and the old train station, this female yellow warbler flew right in front of me and landed in a bush. It proceeded to move around the bush, across the trail to a tree, and back again. I took several shots, and when I got them into my editing program, noticed that she had what appears to be the web-like remains of a larval cocoon in her beak - either that or a spider, web and all. I suspect she may have been bringing lunch home to her nestlings nearby, and was attempting to distract me. If so, she succeeded.
The hawthorn bushes and trees are coming into full bloom now at the marsh. There are many flowering shrubs and trees around the marsh, beginning with the service berry (also known as Indian pear or shad bush), moving into the various wild cherries, and now the hawthorn and red osier dogwood. Shown here is English hawthorn, with deeply lobed leaves and short, stubby thorns, Nova Scotia's only introduced hawthorn.
Yesterday I was also able to get my first shots of the year of a Sora. I was watching one of the many red-winged blackbirds in the smaller marshy area alongside the railbed, when I noticed movement behind it. I was happy to note it was a sora moving fairly quickly through the shallow water, although right out in the open, which is rather unusual for these shy birds which are more often heard than seen.
I finally was able to get a shot of the wood duck family yesterday, although I had to work to get it. So far, they have been keeping fairly close to the area where the nesting boxes are. There are ten chicks in this brood. They definitely don't form up in a line behind mom like the young of other duck species do, but move around quite independently of one another.
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