Morning in the Marsh

It’s not the largest marsh in northcentral Pennsylvania, but it’s right up there. The marsh seems to have had its origin at the end of the last glaciation when, as the ice melted, vast quantities of water rushing to the sea changed the course of rivers and created new channels. The marsh occupies one of those old river channels, receiving water from some tiny streams and surface runoff from the surrounding higher ground.

Parts of the marsh appear to have been used to pasture cattle because there are the remnants of several rows of old fenceposts. Other areas seem to have been used to raise crops, similar marshlands were drained to raise celery and lettuce. An aerial photo from 1938 shows a number of fencerows crossing what is now the marsh. There also appears to have been a channel from what was probably an ill-fated effort to drain the marsh; that channel would have gradually filled with silt over the years and the surface of the marsh would have subsided due to the draining and subsequent drying.

Now the marsh has returned to be outstanding wildlife habitat which is why I went there one morning. The first sighting was of a mixed group of wood ducks and mallards –

There were more birds, a lot more, in the cattails and sedges that border the open water but, while they were hidden from sight, they were not hidden from hearing. And so I moved on, to a larger area of open water with an extensive border of cattails.

Even from a distance it was obvious there were more birds there. Gradually I drew closer, but the ducks were a long distance away across open water – no way to get closer. There were dark gray American coots (rails that lack webbed feet) with white beaks, mallards, a few black ducks and some gadwalls with their black rumps.

Too far away for photos, I decided to try for a video of the waterfowl –

It was time to leave. Along the way were a few white-throated sparrows –

And a male eastern bluebird that presented opportunities for photos –

For wildlife and flood-prone areas downstream the return of the marsh has been a boon.

These photos were taken several weeks ago, the marsh is frozen solid now and the ducks have moved on.