Swamp Things - Morning and Evening

There is a large swamp across the road from our house.  If the idea of a swamp fills you with thoughts of a dark, damp, dismal place, well, I have to tell you, you are not of like-mind with me!  Our swamp is a place of wonder... filled with beautiful creatures and scenery.

I think the nicest times of day to wander along the swamp are in the early morning and the late evening.  In our swamp, late evening has the nicest 'light'.  This is because when the sun is setting, it fills the area with sunlight over the water and trees.  If the air is still, there are usually pretty reflections in the water.

In the morning, the sun comes up over the hill behind the swamp, which is pretty, too!

Our road parallels the edge of the swamp.  While it's sometimes annoying to have a car or truck go by on the road while I'm filming a video... the road also makes it easy for me to walk along the swamp to see what's going on.  

Lately, there's been a lot going on!

Remember the mallards from my "Just Ducky" post?  I saw them early this morning and wonder if this is their nest?

If you look carefully in the next 'morning' shot, you can see the ducks on their little mound, in the distant middle right of the photo.

There are several pairs of Canada geese nesting in the swamp this year, too.

In the photo above, some of them swimming around in the early morning.  The sun is shining on the hill in the right of the background, while the swamp is still in the shadows.  The water looks different in the morning, often it is dark with little sparkles in it.

One of their nests was left untended while the geese were parading around.  Can you tell if it is morning or evening?

Yes, that one is in the evening light.
 
In a 'morning' photo, the great-blue heron didn't seem too happy to have this goose swim close by his fishing spot.

No matter, he got lucky and caught a catfish for his breakfast soon enough!

Here's a video of the events of him, after catching the fish until he finally swallowed it!  (You can hear the geese honking in the background, a hoard of red-winged blackbirds "oka-lee-ing" and a vehicle going by on the road near the end).

 
And this goose had something good to eat for dinner, too, apparently.

Something down there must have been really tasty, by the way he was paddling to keep his head under the water.

Meanwhile, our tree swallows arrived back this week.  It was so cold on Sunday morning, when there were 20 of them on the wire over our driveway, that I worried about what they would find to eat.  There didn't seem to be any flying insects around, but I guess they made out okay.

That morning, they were fluffed out trying to stay warm...

... but this afternoon, I saw one feeding another in an act of courtship, looking nice and warm and gleaming in the bright sunshine.

I love watching the tree swallows soaring over our house and the swamp.  They are such fantastic flyers!

Of course on sunny days, the painted turtles are favorites of mine, too.  No soaring for them, but they are still fun to watch.  I'm not sure where the little one in the next photo thought he was going.  Maybe up on the back of the bigger one?

I'm excited to say that I saw a beaver in the swamp on Friday evening.  We haven't seen any for awhile.  First, it was heading right towards me.

Probably because I was watching this spot (where he was also heading) about 7:30 pm.

My brother-in-law had cut some poplar branches from up on the hill (one of beaver's favorite foods) and put them near the swamp, hoping a beaver would find them.  

Chomp, chomp, chomp.... I could hear the beaver eating!

The sun has already gone down in the next photo, but the geese are still flying around.  So, while not a very good photo (not enough 'light' left), I like it because you can see the white "V" they have in their tails from this viewpoint.

One final 'evening' photo, of some grackles. They are not typically thought of as 'lovely' (possibly like you thought of a 'swamp' before this post?), but pretty in this setting, I think.

Now I hope you see why I think a swamp is a beautiful place!