The Marsh Project Week #35

The title of this blog post is really a misnomer; the marsh trail is flooded and I have no access to my favorite place, so I had to settle for exploring other trails, ones I don't hike as often. Last weekend I was temporarily out of commission with some nasty bug and it was really just the best thing to hang out on the sofa and read a lot of books while drinking ginger ale and munching on the occasional saltine cracker.  I seem to have recovered, but the trail is still flooded.

It was a hard week for multiple reasons, which I won't get into here; suffice it to say I badly needed some time out in nature just to breathe and see if I could find anything interesting or different.  Some people do yoga or drink wine; I go look for snakes and dragonflies.  As it happened, earlier this week was my lucky night: I was just about to leave the trail and head back to my car, and I saw a copperhead sliding in between the slats on this small bridge.  I think the Dad of No was a little worried that maybe I was too close, but that snake was not interested in me; it was getting chilly and I suspect it was interested in finding a warmer spot.

Then, on another hike, I found something else- not a snake, but three sora in one pond.  A sora is a very elusive bird; it likes to hide amongst reeds and vegetation and they generally make themselves scarce as soon as they suspect that you're getting close, so it usually takes some luck or some stealth or both to sneak up on one, or you need the kind of patience that lets you stake out a spot for a long time hoping a great bird will show up. I don't have that kind of patience; I'm always thinking that I might be missing out on something else while I'm sitting there looking at a pond with no birds in it.

Anyway, I was out wandering around and I happened to glance over at one of the ponds I was walking around and saw one sora, two sora, and then a third sora.  This was the first time I had ever seen more than one sora in the same place;  I'd gotten several sora sightings in this area, but I was never really sure if it was the same bird multiple times or multiple birds once- but now I know there are at least three sora in this area.

Since it's been so rainy and wet, mushrooms have started to pop up all over.  Most of them are the usual white caps with gills that pop up after rain storms, but a few have had some spectacular colors. This morning, while on a hike with a friend, I found one that looked like a glorious sunrise (or sunset);  the camera was reluctant to take a good photo in the early morning light so it's not the best picture, but it's one of the most beautiful mushrooms I think I've ever seen.

I'm starting to notice more deer out on my evening hikes, along with some wild turkeys.  A few nights ago I'm fairly sure I saw a coyote watching me from a distance half hidden in some tall grass, but he took off as soon as I turned my head in his direction.   Even though it's still warm, there are leaves on the ground and, every so often, a chill in the air.