The bounty of fish is gone. The shiners that once lay within easy reach of all who munch fish in our little Wetlands have either dispersed or been dispatched. No more can the egret and herons pick off shiners at their leisure at the edge of the Wetlands. They now have to work for every fish, tadpole, frog, or crayfish that they catch, which is probably why egret and heron are nowhere to be seen.

It’s been just about a week since I’ve seen the egret in the above photo, longer since the last time I laid eyes on GBH-2, our visiting blue heron.

Even the number of mergansers is down. In fact, I saw no mergansers this morning as I made my rounds in Explore the Wild (2/7/12). The Wetlands is very quiet.

Now that I think about it, it wasn’t all that quiet out there this morning. The Red-shouldered Hawks were up soaring, stooping, calling out and just plain showing off for their potential mates. Very noisy, they are.

Cardinals were singing, the Eastern Phoebe was vigorously calling out to any females in the area (I don’t think there’s any other Phoebes on site though), and the bluebirds have been seen investigating their nest boxes. Even the titmice and nuthatches are vocalizing.

I didn’t hear any frogs (peepers) though. The cold nights must have put them back in their places.

Have a good one!