One of the redwings finally sat still long enough for me to take his photo.
Their calls are one of the signs of spring, living this near the marsh.
I loved the shadows this morning, and the golden glow of all the dried cattails.
And, of course, the geese. Parts of the pond were open,
and other parts were frozen over. I wondered why the geese were following the leader along the dog-leg through the open water, till I watched another trying to break the ice. It was not that thick, but I weigh a lot more than a goose. He was really struggling to clear a path for his friends.
Early morning at the marsh, and the geese are discussing their plans for the day. Do you think they regret not having coffee?
Early in the morning, the water reflected the pink from the sky. The ducks were safe, till they started another day of their journey south.
One of my favourite parts of autumn is the mist rising off the water in the morning,
and the geese.
During the summer, a couple dozen redwing families live in this marsh on the Carp River.
But late in August, thousands of them gather here.
In the mornings, they head off in flocks of half a dozen to fifty,
looking for food.
In the evening, they all come back to roost. The whole area is alive with their chatter as they discuss the day, and squabble about the best cattails for sleeping.
Then something will startle them, and they will rise by the thousands, wheel, and settle again.
This field of grain took a lot of rain or wind damage. Honest, it is a flat field, and what looks like hills and valleys is the standing or fallen grain.
This was Friday evening, a couple of hours after the storm dumped two inches of rain on the area over the course of two hours. The paper said enough water made it into the Ottawa River to fill 70 Olympic swimming pools. This is the path we usually take to get to the path on the other side of the Carp River.
Saturday morning, the water was down enough that you could see the top of the storm drain about a third of the way across.
Sunday evening, we took the long way around, and watched the geese at the hill of the storm drain. That was where the turtles laid their eggs.
This morning, the water is only eight inches above normal, and you can see some of the rocks of the path, beside the joe pye weed.
Sunday evening
and this morning, they are looking more normal.
Friday morning, these chamomile flowers had been happily above water. I took the photo on Sunday evening. They saw air again yesterday.
Sunday morning damage on the tributary of the Carp River,
and this morning, a duck floats downstream.
In the next photo, the flattened vegetation shows how high the water was at the peak of the flooding in this deep valley.
Friday evening, the water in the ditch between the road and the Carp River was just above my knees when I waded across. Both of the dogs had to swim.
