The Marsh Project Week #37

The dam is still releasing water at a stunning rate, so the trail to the marsh is still flooded.  I was out of town this past week, but was able to get to the nature preserve over the weekend; on Saturday morning, it was not to hike but to participate with the Son of Never Stops Eating in a trash cleanup, and then Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning I was able to get some hiking in.

The Son of Never Stops Eating was appalled at the amount of trash- especially glass bottles, beer cans, and fishing line- that we managed to pick up.  He kept asking me why people just couldn't put their trash where it belonged instead of tossing it on the ground or in the bushes, because didn't they realize that Mother Nature doesn't want their trash?

 As we were working with other groups to clean the area up, I came across another American white pelican that had suffered a fatal encounter with some fishing line.  When I showed this picture to people, several people felt that the answer to the problem was to stop allowing fishing.  That would probably solve the problem, but I'm not completely comfortable with that- the birds have great value to me, but fishing is also a valid recreational activity.  For some people, it's dinner.  For others, it's quality outdoor family time;  I remember how excited my kids were to catch their first fish.   I took a philosophy of environmental ethics class years ago and it just about broke my brain; what is the value of a pelican and is it worth cutting off access to another recreational activity that also has value?  I hope that there is an answer that allows for both; I just don't know what that answer is, especially when I see the damage firsthand to a bird species I love.

It was cool and cloudy Saturday and then Sunday it was just cold.  That didn't seem to bother some of the winter birds that have arrived; it's time once again to start working on the identification of the "Little Brown Birds" that are suddenly everywhere.  I'm starting to learn a few of them- there were plenty of white-throated sparrows near the entrance to the flooded marsh trail, and they were hopping on and off branches and then going to ground while I stood mostly helpless with my camera hoping that one would decide to hang out in clear view on a branch for a few minutes.  I finally met with success after several minutes of patient, quiet waiting.

The brown thrashers were also plentiful and lively, and hard to find as they moved around on the ground- but after more patient, quiet waiting I was able to get a fairly decent shot (as in, good enough for ID) of one.  The main theme for winter bird photography seems to be patient, quiet waiting- and good eyesight; unlike the herons and egrets, which are usually easy to find (except for those tricky green herons, which hide along the shoreline or amongst the lily pads) and photograph from a distance, these winter birds require a lot of work.

The dragonflies and butterflies were not in evidence this past weekend- except for one or two hardy variegated meadowhawks and some common buckeyes.  I'll be looking forward to seeing them again next spring.