morning at the marsh

It’s amazing how much you can see early in the morning before the cyclists and hikers have hit the trails around the local marsh.  And it always amazes me to find such a diversity of wildlife inhabiting a small wild oasis in the urban landscape! I’m sure if I had spent more time on this hot, humid morning, I would have seen even more.

Dense mats of cattails float around the marsh propelled by the prevailing water flow.  They attract a wide variety of wildlife that may hunt from their edges, nest in their stalks, and hide within small crevices from the peeping eyes of photographers.

Great Blue Herons are often found along the shoreline, usually obscured by the vegetation.

Another heron was making its way down toward the shoreline — perhaps the mate of the other one?

I can always count on seeing a Great Egret or two foraging near the edge of the marsh.

What else is hiding here in this vegetation near the shore? A Green Heron pops up to see if I’m a dangerous predator.

A less nervous juvenile Green Heron hunted in the shallows.

Out in the water, a Common Loon swam by.

Nearby, a double-crested Cormorant surfaced from its dive, and took a look around.

I spotted something white way out in the middle of the marsh, swimming quickly away from me, and grabbed a quick shot of a Trumpeter Swan family with their two, seemingly newly hatched, cygnets.

It’s a bit late to find these newly hatched chicks; perhaps the first nesting failed and these are result of a second nesting attempt. The chicks have a lot of growing to do before they reach the body size of the adults which can weigh more than 20 lb.