View From the Swamp

It has been a while, but I finally took a few moments to check on the swamp on our one sunny morning this week.  The water is high so it does not appear that any geese are nesting on the rock this year.

 Looks like herons may be on the three nests in the swamp.  I did not see any Wood Ducks or Hooded Mergansers.  There were a few Red-Winged Blackbirds but not the numbers I usually see this time of year; there seemed to be more Grackles than anything else.

Tree Swallows were back, but there are not an abundance of trees still standing in the swamp for nesting spots.  I played around with the color on this one because the sun was too bright to capture his iridescent blue.

This Red Squirrel jumped onto the stonewall in front of me nearly causing me to fall off the upended tree I was standing on.

Not a very riveting post just a dry report from the swamp.  My sister and I are trying to get hiking again.  We've taken a few years off due to hip pain then replacements and then a correction for her and grandbabies for me.  On a short hike last week we spotted Golden Crowned Kinglets!  A first for both of us.  They are so very small but noisy!  We heard them first and stopped to look, thinking they were Cedar Waxwings.  What a surprise when two spiraled down to the forest floor almost at our feet.  No camera that day, only binoculars.

Misadventures in Kayaking

The last time we went kayaking, it was Memorial Day!  This past Sunday provided an opportunity we couldn't pass up.  We headed out with friends to try a paddle in a pond attached to a large reservoir about an hour away from home.  The description in her book was enticing, no motor boats, eagles, pristine.  Following directions in a book and putting the address into two GPS, we did eventually find Gate 43, although my eyes were shut for a few miles while we went on what seemed like a toboggan ride over a dirt road through the woods!  Arriving at our destination, the ranger told us we were not allowed to use our own kayaks in an attempt to prevent the spread of invasive plants.  This information was not on the Government website nor in the paddle book.  Having kayaks on our cars, we did not want to shell out money to rent kayaks so we were directed to another pond not too far away.  This was a little disappointing, the brook leaving the pond was overgrown and not navigable.  We did spy a little thing swimming across a patch of lily pads.  My friend said snake, I said muskrat?  The men ahead of us said SQUIRREL.  It was too funny!  I wish I had had an unobstructed view to snap a picture.  The men made a valiant attempt to navigate a few channels into the marsh grass and succeeded in rousting out a heron.

Kayaking adventures continued Monday.  We dashed up the road after supper to a small pond, just to get a little time together while there was still some daylight, maybe see some beaver.  As we began to take the boats off the roof, my hubby groaned.  One of our paddles comes apart for easy packing and one is permanently stuck.  He had taken the stuck one out of the car so he wouldn't have the mud in the front seat on his commute to work.  It was still at home.  Two kayaks....one paddle.  No problem!!  It was different, but we managed with half a paddle each!  Canoe strokes were remembered and I appreciated the lighter weight of half a paddle.  So, not complete misadventures but certainly not the paddles we had visioned.

New Paddle, New Birds

For a while now, it seems every stretch of river paddling we do serves up the same views.  Yesterday was just full of surprises.   From beginning to end.  The launch site was a steep embankment beside this newly rebuilt covered bridge on the Nashua River.  Very steep.  The water level was a bit low....when we began.   This shot was taken on our way back to the launch site, water level was higher, current was stronger,  changed up where we took out just a bit, not to mention making for a bit of a work out, paddle-wise!!  This site is just below a dam, but we had not found any mention in the guide book on changing water levels.  Surprise!  

A cormorant sunning on a rock as we began.  On our way back we spotted him swimming just ahead of us.  Just beyond the cormorant, a Swan swam with the current, keeping ahead of us for quite a while.  I missed the video of the day after it "barked" at us twice, it turned around and "ran" back up the river.  I just sat in my kayak with my mouth hanging open.  I probably had plenty of time to grab the camera and set it to video since it began to run just in front of my husband's boat and then continued on beside me...maybe 6 feet away?  Wings and feet and water!  Just amazing!!!  




 We recovered from the swan, came around a bend and there were two osprey calling back and forth.  I was able to snap this before the two flew off.  Scanning the skies for the osprey, we found sky divers instead!!  

We paddled until we were right next to the airfield.  Although the current was moving nicely, we were able to just stop in the middle, held in place by a big swatch of vegetation.  I think we watched two flights come and go,  Each time dropping two groups of divers, directly overhead, 6 or 8 in each group.

It was amazing to hear the sound of the chutes opening!

I didn't even mention all the Cedar Waxwings we saw!  At least a flock of two dozen, back and forth across the river catching bugs.  They are not nearly as graceful in flight as Swallows and Kingbirds, but they manage!  They just made us chuckle, flapping madly.  A Kingfisher kept us company for most of the way on our return trip.  And no paddle is complete without at least one Great Blue Heron and some ducks.  I did get a video of the Heron in flight.....30 seconds of the camera wildly flailing through the trees, maybe two or three frames of actual Heron.  I will spare you the video.  

We will definitely do this paddle again, but we'll take a second car and find a take-out just beyond the airport.  It was a bit unnerving to find the water level had increased about two feet on our way back.

Hughie, Dewey, and Louie kept us entertained for a little stretch of the river.  They'd paddle along just ahead of us or beside us, then two would duck and one would fly. . . or all three fly.

Swallows and Warblers and Owl!! Oh My!!

Chilly, damp morning in the rowboat on the swamp....water was higher due to heavy rain this weekend and we decided to just drift.  Swallows have arrived!  I wish we could figure out a way to put up some nest boxes for them as each year there are fewer and fewer standing trees in the swamp.  A lot of activity among the brambly dead fall near the water's edge drew our attention and we were not disappointed; about a dozen Yellow Rumped Warblers!  I thought I had been hearing Warbler song the last few days but hadn't spotted any!  We checked on "Mother Goose" and she is still sitting on the beaver lodge.
  We continued to drift and paddle, making our way toward the heron rookery.  Spotted one sitting in the first nest and watched two adults flying into the woods and back to the lowest nest.
 Saw something odd in one nest and snapped a few photos, figuring we'd see better when we could enlarge it.  My guess was tail feathers or perhaps just parts of the tree branch sticking up through the nest.  Hubby said the heron's must be the culprits taking the neighborhood cats!  As we circled around the nest, it did seem as if the prongs were following us.  Getting closer, we confirmed it was an Owl.  We think a Great Horned Owl.  While it was neat to see, I'm not all that thrilled to find an Owl in a heron nest.

I don't think the herons were all that thrilled either.

Saturday In The Swamp....Really

A SPECTACULAR Saturday IN....yes, IN the swamp!!!  An old aluminum row boat purchased years ago (ten or so), dragged down the hill and left near the edge of the swamp.  Hubby surprised me Saturday afternoon as he grabbed the oars down from the garage and said, let's give it a try.  No leaks, not many bugs, nothing living inside it....dragged it over a few trees, struggled to get over a submerged log near the edge, and off we went, using the rowboat like a canoe! ~ facing forward, each with an oar to paddle...and occasionally pole!  Such a different perspective from my years of viewing from the end of a log on shore!!  We discovered the Canadian Goose pair nesting on the beaver lodge this year instead of the rock!  She is very well hidden and has her head down, blending in nicely with the sticks.  It was just so amazing to be behind and beside the rock and lodge I've been looking at across the swamp for years!

 Unbelievable how large this tree is that the beaver are obviously working on!  

Heron rookery!!  This is the newest nest.

These shots are the three nests down the far end of the swamp.  Turns out, they are not all the way at the end of the swamp as I thought!!

Hard to fathom that 23 years ago when we bought the property, we could walk across the swamp on mostly dry ground and that 15 years ago our children walked across on fallen trees.  What a treasure.

View From the Swamp: SPRING!!

 The ice is leaving the swamp!

March 7th

March 19th

You have to click to enlarge these photos.  Canada Geese and a pair of ducks....I won't try to id them.  The next shot you also have to enlarge to see another goose pair as well as a duck - Wood Duck or Hooded Merganser perhaps??  Even enlarged it is difficult to see.  It never ceases to amaze me how well camouflaged they are!

As my husband and I were about to leave the swamp Saturday, we took a final look down the far end of the swamp.  When we first arrived, the heron nests were empty but as we were about to leave, we spotted a heron flying and were just thrilled to see it land in the newest nest.   A second arrived within minutes and as we passed the binoculars between us, well.....spring has arrived!  We'll be looking forward to seeing the nest full and we'll do our best to keep you posted.

Saturday In The Swamp And Sanctuary Sunday

Mountain laurel is blooming! It is blooming all around the edges of the swamp. The water level seems quite low. I did catch a glimpse of a beaver, preening among clumps of cattails. (click to enlarge photo below)

The Beaver picture is a definite "Where's Waldo" kind of picture or "Can You See It?"

It's been a while since I've ventured through the poison ivy and bugs to check on life in the swamp. There are now four active Great Blue Heron nests; three down the far end of the swamp and the newest one in the middle. My binoculars and my shaky arms don't provide an extremely clear view but they are definitely active nests.  I numbered the nests, you just have to click to enlarge the photo.

Standing on a log over the water at the edge of the swamp is just a very therapeutic thing to do. Road noises are far, far away. The swamp gets quite quiet until I have stood still for about 45 minutes, then some noise and activity resume. Just to stand and watch and listen and be so

still.

The message tonight at church was just what the "doctor" ordered. After a long day at Children's Hospital on Friday regarding my grandbaby, my daughter and I just felt like our brains had been liquified. Too much information to try and process. Through the rest of the weekend, I have just been unsettled and overwhelmed and absolutely jittery and exhausted. And then tonight's sermon....delivered from an old, frail retired minister.....John 6 - feeding the five thousand with 5 fish and 2 loaves......Jesus knew what He was going to do but asked two of the disciples how they would feed the crowd? One said not possible, the need was too big. The other looked at what they had available for resources, and said not possible, inadequate resources. What was the solution? The Lord........

A simple message...

one I've heard before....

the answer I most certainly know in my head....

but just what the doctor ordered for my

heart to be reminded of.....

He knows exactly what He is doing with Amber and with us....

I am to trust and to rest and to watch Him work.

Empty Nest Blues And Ongoing Construction

New Great Blue Heron nest construction continues. I'm not sure if they don't like the lower nest and are trying to rebuild or if this is another Heron pair. Then there is the solitary Heron with stick, a new nest there?

The nest is empty.....no Mother Goose, not on the nest, not nearby,......

New Construction

Seems to be some new construction down at the swamp. Early evening Easter Sunday I was checking on the swamp. The two Heron nests at the far end are occupied. You should be able to click on the pictures for a larger view to see the nests with GBH in them. A pair of Canadian Geese won the turf war and the nest on the rock is now occupied.
I'm hopeful for a successful hatch but not optimistic. The past two years have yielded nothing. The biggest surprise down the swamp is a new Heron nest under construction. I did not have a camera with me on Sunday but I watched as two Great Blue Heron stood in a naked tree in the middle of the swamp. I watched as it took 45 minutes to place one stick. So, when I left Sunday, there were maybe two sticks that had been worked into the tree branch. This was the scene Thursday morning.