Potter Marsh
What a beautiful fall day!
The fall colors glowed in the sunshine from the golds of the cottonwoods and
aspen to the reds on the mountainsides. What a welcome reprieve from all the
rain!
I stopped at Potter Marsh
boardwalk on the way home from Anchorage. The seventeen or more TRUMPETER SWANS
that I had seen from the highway were not visible from the boardwalk. They
attracted a hoard of people; nearby parking lots were full of cars and people
with scopes and cameras, and more cars parked (illegally) along the busy
highway shoulder. No thanks!
Instead, I found Black
Meadowhawk Dragonflies perched quietly on the boardwalk railings, soaking up
the sun. They all seemed to orient so the sun warmed their long sides, casting
a big shadow. The males are black and the females orangish.
Despite their incredible
compound eyes, they didn’t seem to notice (or object) to my camera lens slowly
encroaching into their personal space only inches away, then retreating. Must
not be in their memory bank for danger.
I also found a large, round,
gray spider, a tiny red-orange slender spider, and another a bit larger. They
were mostly on the move and harder to photograph, but their eight-legged shadows
were impressive!
A single Shield Bug crawled
at top speed along the boardwalk railing. This insect is also called a Stink
Bug, and is a true bug. In large numbers, these plant-juice suckers can be
pests, but I only saw one.
Aside from the preening
MALLARDS and a really, really good, stocky shorebird that erupted from the
wetlands and flew over the highway and away, I did not see much bird action. Nonetheless,
I was very pleased with the fine stroll and other things with wings enjoying
the sunshine as much as I.
Happy Birding!
Carol Griswold
Traveling Seward Sporadic
Bird Report Reporter
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