The Marsh Project Week #18

The weather this month has been kind of strange so far; several days have been cooler than normal and a few days have been very windy.  It has to be really cold and windy to deter the intrepid Mom of Go Outside No Matter What, but yesterday came close.  Even I, the crazy nature lady, was walking down the trail, wondering to myself just why I was out there.

Actually, I know why I was out there- it was the same reason I'm always out there, besides the fact that I need the exercise and that after a long day of work it feels good to get outside and move.  I'm on the prowl for something new and different, or something that makes you think, wow, that's strange, or interesting, or fascinating.  Some days I do find a new addition to the bird life list, or something unusual for the area; on very rare occasions I've found out of range butterflies or unusual dragonflies.  I get excited about that.

Other days (most days), my observations are of the common critters that hang out at the nature preserve all the time: the Canada goose, the common whitetail dragonfly, the great blue herons and great egrets, the mallards, the red admiral butterfly.  Unless they're doing something unusual, it's tempting just to pass them by without a second glance or a photo for documentation.  Just how many mallard observations does one person need, anyway?

When I look at some of these creatures up close, however, I am reminded that even the common things are beautiful.  The metallic coloration of a variegated meadowhawk glinting in the sunlight is stunning, as is the pattern on the body of a female common whitetail.

Sometimes, if you wait a few minutes, these every day critters will do something you haven't seen before, like this great blue heron stretching its neck out. I happened to be walking by as it was perched on a nearby tree.  I hadn't even planned on taking a photo, since I have so many great blue heron pictures, and then it started to move its neck to bend down on the tree branch.

In April of last year, I found common buckeye butterflies everywhere.  I couldn't get down the trail without seeing several.  This year, I haven't seen any.  I don't know if it's because of the flooding, or the weather, or if they are on another trail, or if there is another reason .  Last year, I stopped taking photos of them because there were so many.  This year, I miss seeing them- the patterns and colors on their wings are beautiful.  Perhaps that's the danger of not documenting the common things; we won't know they're gone missing if they do disappear.

Seen on the trail: Common whitetails, red admirals, belted kingfisher, green tree frog, Blanchard's cricket frog, broad-banded watersnake, plain-bellied watersnake, blue corporal dragonfly, variegated meadowhawk dragonfly, little wood satyr butterfly, snowy egret, great blue heron, Carolina wren, swamp sparrow, scissor-tailed flycatcher, osprey (with fish), little blue heron, yellow-crowned night heron, greater yellowlegs, plains clubtail dragonfly, monarch butterfly, broadhead skink, blue dasher dragonfly, armadillos galore, and a coyote.