“Most of the shadows of life are caused by standing in our own sunshine.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson 

For many years, while walking on a sunny day, I’d take a photo of my shadow and pronounce it “a good shadow day” – my blog was peppered with that statement.  For some reason I stopped writing those words, so today, above is a shadow of me, myself and I taken on this walk.

On this June 1^st walk it was a picture-perfect day, the eighth day in a row of gorgeous weather with sunny skies and low humidity.  I’m glad I savored those back-to-back-to-back days and got out as much as possible as the rest of the Summer has sure not been stellar.

That day I decided to walk on the Cherry Island Trail where I’m always sure to find lots of egrets, herons, ducks and turtles.  Earlier that morning I was frustrated by my lack of seeing either of the two Osprey families, with zero activity at the fire station siren nest on the fringes of Lake Erie Metropark, nor in the nesting platform near that park’s marina.  Equally frustrating was bopping by the Offshore Fishing Bridge in search of the pair of Sandhill Cranes or a nesting Mute Swan mama and coming up empty there too.

I parked by the Marshland Museum where I stopped to chat with Luc, the resident Bald Eagle, but he was in a snit and turned his back to me, so no pics of my feathered friend either.

Seeing a deer would be great – it was a little early for fawn sightings though. 

Initially, my mindset was maybe it would be a walk to rack up steps only, but rather than resign myself to muttering “it’s gonna be one of those days” … photographic-wise that is, I changed the channel to say “I hope I fill up the camera card with lots of critters!”

I headed along the overlook.  The cattails were still in their explosion phase, having busted out all over the place last Fall and the reeds had not greened up yet.  It was way too early for lotuses, but a few pond lily pads were floating on the surface of the marsh. 

The fuzz was flyin’.

Poplar tree fuzz was everywhere, lining the sides of the path and …

… embedding itself into the grass, even glomming onto spider webs and fence posts. I wanted to use the subtitle “Here comes da fuzz” but how many people would remember that phrase from the 60s?

Who was fishing in the marsh today?

There were no humans fishing from the overlook, but glancing over to the marsh, I saw a Great Blue Heron standing with its bill open – was it downing a fish or catching flies?  It was too far away to see closely, but I knew it wasn’t disgruntled about something as I heard no noises coming from that open mouth.  Herons always seem to have an attitude … around humans anyway. 

On the other side of the marsh a Great Egret was fishing but appeared to be coming up empty.

Agitation and aggravation amongst the cattails.

Being disgruntled at the marsh is not just a heron trait. During nesting season, the Red-winged Blackbirds get testy with birds that trespass near/into their nesting territory. You’ve seen me post pictures in the past of the Red-winged Blackbirds dive-bombing the Sandhill Cranes or Osprey after they strayed too close to what they consider their territory and they are on the lookout all the time, like this male enjoying a snack while surveying its kingdom for trespassers, while another male lurks in the background.

Other Red-winged Blackbirds were balancing precariously on fuzzy-looking cattails.  The cattails waved back and forth, but that didn’t cause the Red-winged Blackbird males to depart for sturdier ground. Nope, there were territorial wars going on between the males, with lots of squawking and swooping down, the signal to the intruding male(s) to leave its territory.  The females blended in with the still-blah landscape and are hardly ever seen in nesting season.

Beauty in the woods.

There were wildflowers aplenty along the Cherry Island Trail, like these Canada Anemones …

… and these pretty Dame’s Rocket.

Let’s play count the critters, shall we?

There are always turtles sunbathing on a log to instill a peaceful interlude in my day and for the post that recounts my walk. 

Sometimes there are so many turtles you need an abacus to keep track of them.

Other times, the official count is easier and more accurate and you could use your fingers …

… well, maybe not, unless you have eleven fingers. 🙂

The below turtles seemed to be on high alert about something – was it me?

As I turned the corner to the last leg of the Cherry Island Trail, what really caught my eye was Mama Mallard and her passel of tiny ducklings.  My eyes ran together trying to count them all and I figured I’d wait and do a beak count when the images were on the screen. By my count, I found eleven ducklings – you too?

So anyway, to take a photo of the whole family, minus Dad, I had to back up a little (not too much or risk falling into the marsh water behind me). 

These darling ducklings didn’t stray far from Mama, paddling furiously to keep up. 

Alas, Mama saw me …

… and that dashed my hopes of any close-up shots as she and her offspring beat a hasty retreat as far away from me as possible.

How sweet they were and I was hoping to see some ducklings, having seen one Mama and her babies walking on the grass near the road when I was driving when I visited here on May 12th … this was not them – that family would be much larger by now. Then I saw a Wood Duck Mama and her offspring, but they weren’t near me, but I took photos anyway.

I intended to stop at Elizabeth Park, renewing my quest for ducklings at this venue where there are lots of ducks, but, by the time I got to the car, the outside temps were climbing and my sun protection clothing and a big sunhat were helping with the UV rays, but making me uncomfortably warm, so I decided to just head home.

I will be linking to Terri’s Flower Hour today and my Wordless Wednesday salutes skies that are blue and smoke-free. I also linking to Pepper’s One Step at a Time Challenge.