Wetlands!

We didn’t have much planned for today, Memorial Day.  It was mostly just going to be an extra day that Nyal didn’t have school.  We decided to go to Kung Fu Panda 2 in the afternoon.  It was forecasted to be rainy and not very warm.

Well late morning we realized it was anything but rainy.  The sun was out and we wanted to get outside a bit before our scheduled movie date.  So we just started driving near the movie theater and found a little hidden treasure.  We’d seen the signs many times, but had never taken the time to explore it.

 

 

 

 

Jackson-Frazier Wetland is a swampy wetland with a 2/3 mile long boardwalk built through it.  It felt a world away from town.  Especially with the plethora of birds giving us music!

 

 

The boardwalk went through the high grasses as well as under the trees and around to a large pond.  Along the way were observation points with interpretive signs giving information about the history of the area and identifying both animals and plants in the wetland.

 

 

 

The most common bird we saw was a red-winged black bird.  They were hanging out on the tops of the cattails.

We also heard a number of birds that we don’t know what they were.  Such an interesting variety of sounds greeted us throughout the entire walk.

 

 

There were plenty of water beetles and tadpoles. And a couple Wooly Bear caterpillars!  We were told by another visitor that come later in summer there are so many of these furry friends that its hard to walk without stepping on them!

 

 

We definitely have plans to come back.  We’d love to come in the evening and hear the frogs and maybe in the morning to hear more birds.  I’m thinking it would be a fun place for some nature study too!