Back to Second Marsh

July 2nd, in order to get out and get some exercise again, we decided to head to Second Marsh in Oshawa. It's not too far from us so is handy. Part of the motivation to head there was to possibly spot the Belted Kingfishers again. We did, however, I failed to get a shot of them this time. They flew back and forth, under the bridge, and past us a few times. They were quite noisy this evening and there were 2, probably a male and female.

We also headed further along, towards the dead end of Colonel Sam, to the GM plant, and the lots that one parks to walk into Darlington Provincial Park. We headed onto the paths that lead towards Oshawa Path, towards the lake shoreline and through some glorious and cool forest areas. With the sun setting and its light reaching through open spots of the forest and touching leaves and parts of the path here and there, the views as we walked along were quite stunning! Reaching the open part of the path, on the way back to the car, we saw a most magnificent moon over the distant Lake Ontario with a beautiful landscape in the foreground.

One other reason we wanted to explore that area again was to see if there was much sign left of the devastation a purposely set fire that we had heard about from other conservation enthusiasts recently, had caused earlier this season. There were noticeable burnt pines along the marsh side area but a lot of regrowth seems to have taken place since then, which is good. 

Second Marsh Privileged Sightings!

Saturday (had to delete and repost due to bugs in the interface!!!), we decided to get up early and venture to Second Marsh, mainly to see if we'd get lucky and spot a Kingfisher.Well,we ended up seeing quite a few, however it was not easy to get a photo of them. Elusive little buggers. They must have good hearing. As well, we saw what we at first though had to be a deer walking far out in the water of the marsh. Looking through the camera lens, we realized it was a coyote! The ducks and blue heron couldn't care less that it was skulking through the water right by them. It was far so we did not get great shots of that either. However, and generally I find plant and flower life boring subjects, I did get some of the nicest shots of them that I ever have taken....plus butterflies lol! I'll do a second post with some of those.

Second Marsh - Oshawa

Really, we are extremely lucky to have important wetlands and marshes in southern Durham Region. Visiting them is like being in another world. Through visiting them and learning about them, we have developed a respect and awe for the history and efforts that have gone into preserving them. It has become clear that due to the needs of our modern day society,  there will always be a struggle for maintaining balance between the natural environment and the industrial and life sustaining needs of the ever increasing human race. It's just a given, and isn't soon going to go away, not unless we suddenly revert back to living like humans did 1 million years ago.

Visiting these areas, one feels like they are closer to the natural environment; experiencing the sounds of birds, water, trees creaking in the wind, seeing growth and decay, etc. However, there is always that reminder that modern human society is right there; the odd piece of garbage, controlled paths, water filtration plants, bromine like scent in the air, water level control or direction devices, bridges, etc. In a way, it is an interesting experience to see and feel nature mixed with bits and pieces of the city and human needs. I myself often like the mix of man made objects and nature mixed visually as a subject matter.

This past weekend, we visited the Second Marsh area in Oshawa. The day was threatening rain, which did end up happening. I had to keep putting away my camera in the knapsack, then getting it back out when it stopped.  This area was real cool! My boyfriend saw a humming bird first off, which I unfortunately missed seeing. We followed for a bit, a path that would lead to a pond, but since we forgot bug spray, it was a short exploration of that path lol! It was all a path of laid boards, through a real foresty marshy area, very neat, other worldly and lush. We'll do another trip there With bug spray, and follow the path to the pond. We stayed on the gravel path that paralleled the marsh, which had an occasional little human formed path that lead closer to the water edge in spots. We saw red wings chasing a blue heron, swallows, wood ducks and turtles, blue herons and a smaller heron, and swans. There were also an abundance of sparrows, yellow warblers, orioles, robins, flycatchers, sharp shinned hawk flying,  and black birds. This path lead to the shore of Lake Ontario. There was another entrance off Colonel Sam, which had a paved path, that then lead to a real thin path through the forest to near the opposite side of the river. It was pouring so we turned around. There were people fishing, not really allowed there, but I guess lucrative since we had seen a couple huge fish jump out of the water on our earlier walk between the marsh and river.

The area was wonderful and we'll definitely visit there again!