A day in the life of a marsh in distress

[Loupey]

I finally made it back last night to where I've been shooting the green herons (and, most recently, the great egret). I imagined that the water was completely gone by now as it had not rained signficantly for several weeks.

The water was still there. Just barely. It's really just a wet spot in the armpit of Ohio - well a guess Cleveland still has that official distinction The lighting was horrendous and I just mainly sat around to watch the goings on.

First, here is the shot of "my marsh". A very small watering hole within earshot of the highway behind me. The reflection of the near house can be seen if I shoot from a lower vantange point (hence why I don't get any lower in my shots). This is my first photo-merge combining 3 wide-angle images. Approximately a total angle of view of about 135-degrees here.

The rest of the images to folllow are what I saw, in order, last night.


Welcome to my world

[Loupey]

As I'm sitting there, I see a brown bird emerging from the reeds. Thinking it was a killdeer at first, I didn't really pay attention to it. Well it apparently didn't pay attention to me either because it came really close and I could see that it was something I'd never seen before. In the backlighting, I had a hard time tracking and focusing on this fidgety little bird.

Found out today that it is a Virginia Rail.

[Loupey]

As you can imagine, the shrinking water is placing a severe strain on the fish, frogs, and even dragonflies (less places for them to lay their eggs).

In fact, I see very little fish being caught by the herons now. The frogs are being squeezed together and their heads can be seen everywhere.

Found this very large guy in obviously bad shape.

[Loupey]

Along with the herons, the shorebirds are streaming in to take avantage of the bounty.

These killdeer were sparing (I assume they were two males). They would display like this before they charged into one another. Couldn't get a shot of the charges - even at 1/2000s.

There are 3 or 4 other shorebird species here. Can't name them (not a birder).

[Loupey]

I also began to notice that many of the green herons were targeting the frogs. Not just the small ones, but the large bullfrogs as well.

I had not seen this before. The fish were aways what they seemed to be hunting.

The frogs were so large for these herons that I did not know if they would actually down them. The frogs would keep sliding down their beaks that they hard a hard time just getting them up to their mouths. They would spend a full minute or two shaking them in the water, readjusting their grip on their bodies, and trying to jerk them up into their throats.

[Loupey]

Just after shooting the previous sequence, I see that there are a pair of frogs to my left about 20' away. I also see that there is another green heron stalking them from their rear.

At first, I didn't know if the heron saw them (they seem blind to anything that doesn't move) but it seemed to get a lock on them. I was hoping to get a nab-shot and so I waited. And waited. The heron waited. The frogs waited...

The larger one finally escaped. The smaller one never moved. The heron got distracted by some minnows at his feet. And the situation eased. No nab-shots that night.


And that concludes my photo-essay. Thanks for looking.

[Eric D]

Excellent captures on the frog take down. Focus is spot on.

[Cassie1]

I really enjoyed reading the story of your marsh, what a wonderful place to spend a few hours capturing all that wildlife. As always your images are excellent Loupey, and as Eric said, focus is spot on. I just love the colour of the frog in #3. Thank you for taking the time to share all of this with us.

[mn shutterbug]

That frog sure looks like a mouthful for that heron. My fave is the shot of the rail. Your avian shots seem to be getting better all the time.

[AgingEyes]

Hey, at least the killdeers stay there for you to photo them. The marsh lands here also look horrible, definitely can use a lot of rain. But yours have more activities though. Looks like you had a lot of fun there!

[Loupey]

Eric - thanks, I had a great time watching/shooting the frogs being devoured

Cassie - I wanted to share the rather odd evening. I'm glad you found it interesting!

Mike - thanks for the comments. I've really been enjoying shooting birds. They have been addictive - hard to shoot, exciting when shot. Right now, they provide the most thrill for me (photographically ). I'm fortunate to have this site to bounce some of my ideas to see what works and what doesn't.

AgingEyes - The marsh reminds me of a watering hole in Africa - desperation at the micro level. We finally got some rain tonight. I'll see if it went completely dry before it filled up some.

[scott-devon]

Wonderful shots Loupey. The slough here that I normally wander around is also drying up slowly, fewer and fewer waterfowl to be seen there.

[Loupey]

Update

I shot these last night. As you can see, the water was just about completely gone. I can still see a few fish and tadpoles. Dead snails are scattered everywhere. The frogs are jam packed into any small crevice of water. Only the killdeer remain. All other shorebirds have left.


#1 - the marsh as it looked
#2 - a small frog in a footprint in the mud
#3 - a small frog hiding in plain sight (actually almost overlooked it)
#4 - the effects of the drought


Thanks for looking.

[scott-devon]

That really is a sad sight Loupey, I hope you get some rains to rejuvenate that marsh.

[paulnj]

Rain is coming my friend

Great find on the Virginia rail, they are hillarious to hear during breeding season. They sound very similiar to a pig and when battling for a female have a voice the size of texas. Mind you, I find mine at 2am and hear them 1/2 a mile away sometimes.

[Loupey]

scott-devon - thanks for looking (again ). It rained three straight days (Friday~Sunday) and Friday was quite a downpour. But the grounds are so dry for so deep, it didn't affect it at all. I'm sure the toll will affect next years "crop" - perhaps even for another year after that.

Paul - The rail was definitely a surprise. Before this, I had heard, in passing, a couple birders mention something about a "rail" but I never took the time to research it. After this shot, I was surprised at how many birders came out in search of this bird. I guess I should have shot it more Oh well, better to get an uneducated shot than to never get a shot long awaited - or something like that

[Loupey]

Update: I haven't been back to this area in 2~3 weeks - I assumed that all the water was long gone or that the recent rains filled it back somewhat.

Wrong on both counts. All that remained of the water yesterday was a 3' diameter mud hole. And it was packed with several hundred tadpoles of all sizes.

Somewhere inside lurked 3 fully formed frogs. The sun hit the mud hole for only a few minutes so I was happy that this frog come up during that time. Had to wait 1 1/2 hours in a rather uncomfortable position for the sun to finally hit it.

[Pink Dragonfly]

Uhm...Yummy, every boys dream

All good things come to those who wait!

Mette

[SmartWombat]

Well worth waiting for that photo.

[AgingEyes]

It's a photo of natural abstracts eyes. Very interesting pattern and texture!

[serenity]

How did I ever miss this thread??? These shots are amazing. Very nice photo essay. That last shot is certainly forth the wait. What a unique capture!