August 31, 2007 by OrientSee.

Labor Day and summer is over. No more trips to the Cape or the White Mountains. Landlords everywhere are looking for tenants. There’s a special place available soon in the marsh. This place has a spectacular view and is already furnished for new occupants. The one drawback is that it is directly beneath a flight pattern to Logan. The current occupants seem to have had no problem with the noise and the planes. Of course you have to be an osprey. The chick is fully fledged and any day, it will be gone. The nesting platform looks a little worn but that seems to be how they like it. The birds were always piling on one branch after another. It was a great summer to have a nesting pair of osprey raise a family. I feel like a cousin somehow.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 30, 2007 by OrientSee.

It was still and unmoving. The wings fluttered a bit. I think that a bird had aimed for a meal but missed somehow. This butterfly got its wings tattered and torn. That was why it was in the middle of the path on the ground instead of fleeing me. I saw the bright white wings but it was more a sense of something not quite right that drew my attention. Those are the signs to seeing something interesting. A little difference can lead to some wonder. There is much to see in the little world beneath our feet and our notice. Sometimes it’s an army of ants marching off in single file to some distant location. Sometimes it’s a web in the grass. It’s easy to miss the birds overhead but it is even easier to miss the ants.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 29, 2007 by OrientSee.

This vine is ubiquitous in the woodsier, thicket parts of the marsh. It does its best to strangle whatever trees or shrubs that it climbs. It doesn’t rival kudzu in its ability to grow and cover everything but it does have a certain robust aggressiveness. At any rate, there it is wrapped around this old tree and fall has reached out and touched it. Growing has stopped and the vivid colors are a loud announcement of that state. I wonder about all the white on my head and in my beard. We don’t get to display gorgeous golds, reds and oranges just faded grays and white. I am a little envious of the colorful appearance but at least, I’m going to last a few more decades not just a few months.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 28, 2007 by OrientSee.

Two things about this photo. First it comes from the Oasis. The great thing about knowing people is what they share with you. The Oasis is a complete pond and marsh habitat very close to where I live. I simply never knew it was there until some one told me. There’s birds galore and even turtles. It’s hard to find because it’s in an unlikely place. The urban wild is a very apt description. Thanks, Geoff and Soheil. The other part of the story are the egrets in the tree. I no sooner than last week admitted that I had never seen this before when today I saw a dozen or so. It’s a real roost because the droppings underneath are very obvious. It’s not a one time vacation shack but a home in the reeds. I got all scratched up trying to find a vantage but it was worth it to see them all up a tree.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 27, 2007 by OrientSee.

This isn’t the first sign but it is pointing to the next thing to happen. Yes, Fall is coming. A few ducks and geese have passed by. The field grasses have gone golden. The days are getting shorter. That all means one thing. Cool, cooler and cold are coming. The sun light is changing as our part of the earth is tilting the other way. Colors look different and the atmosphere is losing it’s humid life exploding scent. For this human, the best of the year is about to begin. There is no frenzied rush to get the next generation out of the nest and ready to tackle life. There’s time to take a breather and enjoy. By the time the foxtails on the phragmites turn silver, everything will be running slower, savoring the now.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 26, 2007 by OrientSee.

Out early for the heron count. I waited and waited and began to despair. There was nothing to see. Quite suddenly a flight of twenty odd egrets quietly landed in the puddle. Another flight followed shortly and then more stragglers. Ultimately there were 68 Snowy Egrets and 12 Great Egrets all wading around the puddle feeding. The sunrise came and with it a great view of all these gorgeous white egrets. With patience there came a reward. It was worth waking up in the dark to see this sort of gathering. It was a quiet grandeur.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 25, 2007 by OrientSee.

Atop the tallest tree in the marsh is a Great Egret. It’s not a real unusual event. Most herons and egrets spend their nights in trees and they certainly nest in trees. I know all that but I’ve never actually seen one atop a tree. It’s like seeing a clown on a subway train. I can comprehend it but I am totally overwhelmed with the fancy of it. A Great Egret is far from a starling or a robin in size and shape. Yet this long legged wader and hunter of fish is perched high in the branches. It is a small wonder that is the delight of the morning.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 24, 2007 by OrientSee.

A new path was blazed into the marsh recently. Walking along it, I found a veritable heaven of berries. These were the brightest by far. There were a least three kinds that I didn’t know plus bayberries and cedar blossoms. I was walking down a line of decorated Christmas trees. It’s no wonder that the birds have such choice food. Life is still good. Some one told me that he saw the swallows eating bayberries which is sooner than usual. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean a cold winter but who knows?

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 22, 2007 by OrientSee.

A bunch of the egret boys were hanging out by the creek. Belle Isle Marsh is very much a part of its urban surroundings, houses, roads, boats and planes. It’s hard to see that the city can contain such sights as these Snowies and Great Egrets just standing around. That is until you look at the kids hanging around and all of a sudden you realize that they’re just another bunch. This bunch is all white feathers and long gawky legs but really not that different. The marsh can’t exclude the city. You don’t look very far without seeing the touch of people. It’s not opposites coexisting with each other. We really are neighbors. I always enjoy hearing people around here nodding their heads with agreement and pleasure when talking about the marsh. No one ever wants to go back to the days of a drive-in movie theater specializing in seedy porn flicks. A lot of people enjoy the marsh without ever saying much. It’s our local thing.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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August 21, 2007 by OrientSee.

These two fisherman are just a few of the hundred or so birds that were lurking about this pan. First off, the telephoto distorts their relative sizes. The Great Egret stands 3 1/2 feet tall. The Greater Yellowlegs is barely a foot tall. They are about the same business, looking for food. The other thing is that this pond is only about 80 feet in diameter. Yet these and all the others are finding plenty to eat. This pond is really a pan that gets filled only occasionally during the summer by rain or astronomical high tides. It dries up during a dry spell. Most of the time, it looks like an empty cupboard but not to a bird. I remember back in January seeing an ice rink surrounded by dead reeds but right now, it’s a cornucopia of avian goodies.

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