The Marsh Project Week #12

My project hit a snag, so I am going to have to go in a different direction for a week or so.  We've had a lot of rain, and as a result, the trail and the high blind are inaccessible at the moment. But this is definitely not an insurmountable obstacle; my project, my rules.  Since I couldn't go down my favorite trail,  I selected a different path.

I first spent part of the afternoon picking up trash along the flooded river bank along with several other volunteers.  This is something that I do on a regular basis;  I wish that people would take out what they bring in. This is a good time of year to get into some of the areas that are harder to get into once the plants start leafing out and pick up bottles and cans that have clearly been there awhile.  After we were done cleaning up trash, I had a snack and then hit the trail.

It's obvious now that early spring is here.  Although I have not been able to get any butterfly photos yet, I saw several goatweed leafwing butterflies.  They are hard to see because they are camouflaged so well with the dead leaves on the ground.  As I walked along the trail, I spotted the first wildflower popping up: crowpoison.

I also sighted my first dragonflies of the spring, a common green darner.  Actually, several common green darners, and some of them were feeling a bit frisky.

A rough green snake was also out, enjoying the warm spring sunshine. Seeing this little non-venomous snake was a treat because they can be really difficult to see when everything is green.

Finally, a new bird for the life list, a tufted titmouse.

Seen on my walk: rough green snake, common green darners, unidentified damselfly, northern cardinals, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, red bellied woodpecker, little brown skinks sunning on logs, American coots in a pond, one armadillo (which was so busy rooting around I was able to walk right up to it)