HENCY MARSH

The morning after I’d photographed the eagles, I wandered into habitats I’d not visited before.

I happened upon a beautiful marsh, resplendent with red vegetation.  I’d not seen anything like it in the area before.

 

As I drew closer to the water, I could see it was frozen.  Part of me wasn’t surprised at that because I was in a deep valley at the base of two hills.  Another part did surprise me, though, because many of the farmland ponds in the area were already free of ice and hosting migrating Cackling Geese and Trumpeter Swans.

When I reached the far edge of the marsh, I began to understand the scope of this wetland.  I was intrigued by the red vegetation.  From a distance, it reminded me of the Pickleweed I’d seen in some salt marshes around the east coast.

I finally reached a spot where I could take in the marsh as a whole.  The vista was stunning and I looked forward to exploring the wetland more in the spring.

And then, just as I was leaving the marsh, I heard a familiar bugling call.  Cranes!  I had just enough time to grab my long lens and get a quick shot off before they flew completely out of my range.  Wow!  Two surprises in one morning.