Life and Death in the Marsh

I met up with Giselle who runs the local avian rescue for a walk in the marsh this morning.  It was just the two of us today and we enjoyed beautiful weather, sunshine and a nice breeze.  Although we "only" saw 25 species, we got a few year-firsts which was nice.  And we saw this...

Apologies if this is too graphic for some.  We were standing on the edge of the trail trying to identify some ducks that were swimming near a pair of nesting Mute Swans.  I had my camera up and Giselle had bins.  Suddenly, the female swan, who'd been sitting on the nest splashed a couple of times at the edge of the water, drawing out attention.  And to our total shock, she was then drug off into the marsh grass, clearly dead!  I managed 3 shots two of which clearly identified a bobcat as the predator. (if you view this Large, you can clearly see her with the swans neck in her mouth.)  She must have crept silently through the marsh grass and sprung before the swan had any inclination.  The entire thing took maybe 30 seconds and the swan never made a sound.  What was odd was that the male was only maybe 10-15 feet away the entire time and never seemed to register what was happening.  I know this may be a little gruesome for some, but consider that the bobcat is probably feeding kits and this will enable her to keep her young alive for now.  Also, it was an extremely quick end for the swan (which an invasive species in the US).  

We also saw Cabbage Whites, Mourning Cloaks and one Admiral butterfly which was a nice species count for so early in the year.  Common Green Darner dragonflies are back in the area now too having moved up from further south.  They are our only migratory dragon species.  The insect world is slowing waking up...

Back at home, the bees are happily buzzing around in the cherry trees along with several butterflies.  

Dark to be determined.

xo
Debbi