No Regrets, Just Egrets

Today I took the day off of work because the weather forecast was perfect, and Travalon and I went to Horicon Marsh. First we took a walk on the boardwalk, and we saw these two sandhill cranes.

Then we went to a part we had not been to before, but that Cecil Markovitch had recommended. We saw swallows all over, a lone swan, and a family of two adult swans and five teenage cygnets.

                              

                              

Cecil had said walking along this trail was like being in a Disney movie, with swans and egrets all around you, and indeed it did feel that way! Frogs and grasshoppers kept hopping across the path in front of us, and butterflies flew alongside us. We saw this wooly bear, and I've heard that the more black they have, the harsher the winter will be, while the more brown they have, the milder it will be, but what does it mean when they are vanilla-colored? Seems fitting for 2020.

We also saw this pretty caterpillar.

And if you like egrets, is this the blog post for you!

Now and then we saw a blue heron trying to hide among the egrets. They are a similar shape, but a very different color.

As we approached, the egrets would fly away and land a few feet further into the marsh. They are graceful when they fly, and usually they are silent, but once in a while one would complain "Ah! Ah! Ah!" in a very raspy voice, totally ruining the effect.

As we headed back to the car, we could see the swan family had come a lot closer. Here is one of the parents in the water.

The five teenagers were on the path. Two were closer to us, and they quietly slipped into the water and joined their parents, but as we kept going, these three stubbornly remained on the path and hissed at us. They did finally get into the water, so we were able to pass.

                              

We drove further along the road, and that took us to a dead-end road into the marsh. We saw some more egrets, and way in the distance some pelicans. Those photos didn't turn out as well.

                              

But that's okay, because we went to the part of the marsh where we used to see the white-headed goose, and we saw a bunch of pelicans and cormorants just hanging out.

Nobody commented on our sort-of matching T-shirts for Hawaiian Punch and Tahitian Treat.

                               

Here is one of the many, many frogs we saw today.

And this is a photo Travalon took of the marsh.

It sort of looks like these sandhill cranes are strolling through heather, but it's probably either blue vervain or purple loosestrife.

On the way home we saw a couple of faces in the clouds.

                              

At home there was a beautiful sunset!

The weather was perfect all day, very sunny and warm but not hot, with a lovely breeze. I'm so glad I took it off! Tomorrow is back to the grind for me.

Famous Hat