Thursday, July 01, 2010

Summer Sauna


I took a canoe ride on a fresh water tributary that emptied into a brackish marsh the other day.  We started very early before the hot iron of the sun could bake our shoulders and arms and turn the air into thick mist.  Even though the sun was just breaching the eastern horizon, the air was already a wet and warm washcloth against our skin.  Red wing black birds were singing broadly like brass trumpeters across the marsh grasses.  Other birds, not seen, were twirping and tooting hidden deep in the center of the marsh, maintaining their mystery.



Gliding quietly and slowing across the broad green mercury surface our profile was still high enough to disturb the numerous herons who were picking out their breakfast snacks in the shallow areas. The surface of the water was moving with life and they had plenty in the breakfast buffet to choose from.  They would depart swiftly but elegantly as we got nearer while sometimes scolding us with a sound that could only have come from their ancestor pterodactyls.



Ospreys, also planning breakfast, had staked out their posts on eroded stumps of waterlogged trees in the middle of the water.  They sat in frightening, dangerous elegance surveying their domain.  There were dozens of aquatic species to choose from on the breakfast menu.  (Don't forget to click on the photos...I just love sharing.) Next post I will reveal the surprises we got while crossing from the river into the marsh.


13 comments:

  1. very cool. love going canoeing or kayaking where you can silently slip up on the wildlife...once came within a few feet of a baby doe drinking...hope they have a good breakfast. smiles.

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  2. Oh gorgeous. I love your photos and wonderful descriptions. You do that so well. Don't you just love the "grok" of the heron?

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  3. Very early morning canoeing is the best! I just wish I could get my own companions out the door so early...

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  4. Now there's a productive morning. I love your descriptions - hot iron sun!

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  5. Very thrilling, even to read... Thanks.

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  6. Beautiful. That osprey shot is magnificent.

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  7. Great shots of the birds with wings spread. Just killer.

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  8. that last photo is amazing - a whole ream of poems waiting to take wing!

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  9. That sounds beautiful and peaceful - if a little warm! I need to learn to paddle :)

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  10. tabor, i always love coming by and seeing what your photography offering will be! you have such an eye for beautiful things, both visual and for the written word.
    thank you so much for 'being there' these past few weeks. i haven't visited anyone but you never failed to leave a smile on my face with your lovely comments! thank you so much, my friend :)

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  11. Oh my gosh what beautiful photos! On our paddling trips on the local waterways, I am always thrilled to see the birds around us on the water, but I'm never fast enough with my camera and/or my camera isn't high enough quality to really get any good pictures of them. That second picture of the GBH in flight is spectacular! I also like the picture of the osprey, too - don't see those very often.

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  12. What wonderful images!

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  13. oh, the photos and words are stunning. you made me feel as though I were there. made me want to be in a place of such glory.

    we don't have any sort of outdoors trip planned for this summer as yet, and I'm already missing this type of experience

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Glad to hear from you once again. I really like these visits. Come sit on this log and tell me what you are thinking.