July 30

On the way to the boardwalk entrance, I saw part of the lawn in front of Dr. Rose’s shed was disturbed. I thought that the excavation was done at that site by the Center for Archaeological Studies yesterday. I did not see any members working in the Aquarena Center area this morning.

When I went through the covered entrance, the mother of the chunky, juvenile Yellow-Crowned-Night Heron just caught a big crayfish. The bird held the struggling crayfish between its beak and hurried up the bank. The bird stood at the site where the tub the Sammy, the sick Snapping Turtle was once placed, and turned around and adjusted the crayfish many times then gobbled it up.

The three American Coots were on the way to the feeding place. One of them started beating the water with its wings. Then, the bird started flying on the water surface beating and splashing the water around with its feet still half emerged under the water. The bird landed in the middle of the feeding place and started hunting as if it was very hungry. The other two birds calmly swam near the Great Blue Heron, several Green Herons, and three Snowy Egrets.

A short time later, all birds left for the river except one American Coot and several Green Herons.

When I was standing on the boardwalk, I remembered how busy the feeding place was last year, compared to the quiet wetlands this year. Last year they were filled with excitement with many busy migratory birds and resident birds all summer long. The behaviors of many Tricolored Herons stirred up the wetlands and a pair of the Egyptian Geese enhanced the lawn in front of the diving facility. There were rare visitors; a Roseate Spoonbill and a Glossy Ibis had a short stay at the wetlands and hunted in the feeding place with other birds. An Osprey showed gorgeous flight over the wetlands one day.

It is interesting to see and I feel lucky to see the changing of the wetlands, the behavior of the nature.