The Marsh Project Week #30

I had to skip a week due to work travel and other commitments, but who's counting, right?  The lack of rain is becoming more and more apparent on the trail; large ponds along the boardwalk are either completely dry or quickly drying up, and the vegetation is getting browner and crispier.  Late summer is here; the Son of Never Stops Eating has a week and a half of vacation left before school resumes, and The College Student is packing her stuff up in preparation for The Big Move.  This has been an odd summer in that the butterflies never really showed up although it ended up being a good season for dragonflies.  We will still have several weeks of heat, but I'm ready for some cooler weather.

No matter how hot it gets, in the late afternoon I usually hear at least one armadillo rustling around in the ground cover.  They seem to stick to the shaded areas on the trail, just like your intrepid nature observer.  Sometimes if you're really quiet, you can sneak almost right up on them before they notice that you are there.

The marsh seems to be full of green herons.  They are small birds, so they're not always visible amongst all the green (or not so green) vegetation, but every now and then one will fly up, startled by something, or poke its head up.  Soon enough, like the little blue herons, the scissor-tailed flycatchers, the painted buntings, and the indigo buntings (and college students all over America), they will be migrating on, so I'm enjoying these gorgeous little herons while I still have the chance.

For the last four weeks I've been seeing these stunning neon skimmer dragonflies at the same spot.  The bright color just pops out at you (which is probably how they got their common name). This morning, I was fortunate enough to come across one who was willing to pose for a few photos before flying off.  Sometimes if you wait a few minutes, a dragonfly will come back to its perch, but this neon skimmer went elsewhere.

One of my favorite finds this week was this cottonmouth snake, nearly immersed in this small shaded stream.  I love the way the tree canopy is reflected in the water.

Seen on the trails:  Scissor-tailed flycatcher, painted buntings, green herons, little blue heron, Northern cardinal, osprey, anhinga, Eastern phoebe, Carolina wren, cottonmouth, green tree frog, regal darner, royal river cruiser, widow skimmer, wandering glider, great blue skimmer, slaty skimmer, queen butterfly, Eastern giant swallowtail, common buckeye butterfly, common raccoon, armadillos