I think this is the same Mallard pair from yesterday's posting. Today I caught them busily feeding in the duckweed. This is one way surface-feeding ducks eat; they plow through the water with their heads partly submerged, taking into their bills what they find, then sifting out what they don't want through the comb-like teeth along the edges of their bills. Often a whole group of ducks is seen feeding like this.
Some days at the marsh I have to work at it to find something interesting to post to this blog. That certainly wasn't the case today! There seemed to be something new and exciting everywhere I looked. It started with this Least Sandpiper, one of two I saw exploring the mudflats along the stream next to the marsh (it was low tide). I had never noticed these common sandpipers at the marsh before. (Excuse the poor quality photo - I was some distance away.)
Hardly a day goes by when I don't see or at least hear a Belted Kingfisher at the marsh. I have been determined to get a picture of it - I'm assuming it's been the same one - but it never stopped in one place long enough for me to do so. This morning, however, I saw two fly over, and then one landed in a dead tree probably 200 feet away from me. I knew if I tried to get any closer, it would just fly away, so I settled for getting a mediocre shot - better than nothing at all.
This morning, the sun was shining brightly when I walked the trail. This Mallard pair, probably juveniles, was making a path through the duckweed at the upper end of the marsh. The duckweed was so thick there, it soon closed up behind them.
The sun was highlighting this little mushroom (a Fly Agaric, I believe) beside the trail yesterday, with its surroundings in shade. It presented another opportunity for me to practice setting the exposure to get a good shot. I took a number of photos; when I put them into my editing program, I discovered I got a bonus with this one. A midge of some kind had landed on the mushroom cap. Don't those little bits on the cap look like bread crumbs up close? Apparently they are remnants of the universal veil which surrounds the 'shroom' in its early stage.
I had to walk through a wet patch to get to the viewing platform yesterday morning. As I did, something hopped out of my path into the grass. When I poked around to see what it was, I found this little Leopard Frog, no more than 2" long, trying to hide from me. You can see how easy it is for it to escape detection.
By the time I got to the far side of the marsh yesterday morning, the sun was beginning to break through the fog. Apparent were many spider webs clinging to the vegetation, bejeweled with beads of moisture. This close-up of a Green Midge caught in one of those webs, was the result of experimenting with exposure levels so the insect wouldn't look washed out. Underexposing led to a darker background than in reality, but served to highlight the midge and the dew drops on the web. I'm not sure what the gold colored 'ball' next to the midge is; possibly a spider egg sac? - can anyone enlighten me?
It was really foggy yesterday morning when I walked the trail. There were many ducks on the water, but all you could see were shadowy forms, except for this Blue-winged Teal who was fairly close to the shore. I like the pattern in the water created by the fog-diffused light.
I was on my way out of the marsh late this afternoon when I heard the sound of geese honking, and it wasn't long before I saw 16 of them in "V" formation, flying from the river into the marsh. I hurried back to the viewing stand to get a shot of them out on the water, as it had been several weeks since I had seen them.
I just read in our local paper, with some trepidation, that this year the season for goose hunting has been expanded; in addition to the usual season, from Oct 1st to Dec 31st in our zone, the period from Sept 7th to the 17th has been added. However, geese can only be hunted on farmland. I know that in some areas the Canada geese population has become a problem, requiring measures to reduce their numbers. It's just hard for me to accept that birds I have watched grow up may end up in someone's oven!
This Song Sparrow was sounding its jimp call in a tree just over my head this afternoon, when I was getting a shot of an Earthball mushroom beside the path. It appears to have a dark dirt mark on the side of its breast; it is also apparent on the other side of its breast in a different shot. I can't imagine what it might be from.
