Marshes: Patrick and Cherokee

 

Today around noon I was walking on the Lakeshore Path and praying the Rosary, as usual, and the coots were swimming around, calling, standing on the boathouse piers, and splashing around in the shallow water. They are so cute! I thought about how they are individuals but they have no moral understanding, and if we made life easy for them, they would accept that. Like Hank the Tank, who steals food from people's houses because that's easier than foraging and hunting. Then it occurred to me that the people who claim to be Christian but don't want to stop being greedy are the same way. I kind of hate those people - like, if you want to be greedy, fine, but don't claim to be a member of my religion. But then I thought the truly enlightened person would realize they are just like those animals - they want something (in this case, to go to Heaven) without having to do anything, so I should pity them, not hate them. They aren't very evolved; they are just as amoral as Hank the Tank or the innocent coots. The real question is how do we save the world from these amoral people who have power but no interest in enlightenment?

Here are some photos Travalon took. First are photos he took in our neighborhood last week. Here is the pair of cranes by the tennis court.

I like this photo of one crane going down the path alongside the tennis court.

From the dock, Travalon saw coots and scaups. From the Lakeshore Path, I usually see a few scaups mixed in with the coots as well.

I love how the coot in the middle is triumphantly arising from the water with some food.

In this photo, you can see a female scaup in the foreground, with a bunch of coots behind her.

Here is a close-up of a coot.

And here is a male scaup with a coot.

Here are photos from Patrick Marsh. We saw a number of killdeer. They are very loud.

Here are the male and female red-breasted mergansers.

Here is a close-up of the male.

And a close-up of the female.

More male red-breasted mergansers:

There were still some ruddy ducks around.

On the far side of the marsh, we could see a lone pelican and some cormorants.

We also saw a great blue heron fly by.

By the shore, we saw three eared grebes. They were very playful, but Travalon did manage to get a few photos of them.

We also saw two male canvasbacks, but no females.

Then, in a pond on the way back from the marsh, we saw this male bufflehead doing his mating dance.

As we drove home, we saw large white birds in Cherokee Marsh. We went to the canoe launch by the dog park and saw they were pelicans. So close to home!

There were also buffleheads, scaups, and swallows.

And two male northern shovelers.

More pelican photos.

This little tree was the only green thing in the marsh. Everything is so slow to bud because it's been so cold.

Back on our dock, we saw a flock of coots.

Then we saw a much closer one by itself. After Travalon took this photo, another one appeared, following this one.

We hope to get up to Horicon soon, to see what's going on there. We are taking next Tuesday off for our wedding anniversary, so maybe then we can get up there. So look for more bird photos soon!

Famous Hat