Surprises at the Wetlands

Surprises at the Wetlands

By Sarah Heidrich

ESCI 408

Driving out toward Lake Whatcom, I stopped at a small yet secluded wetland to make some general observations of the area. Being across the street from a mobile home park and directly next to an apartment complex, I had my doubts of finding any substantial amount of diversity. As I pulled up and parked on the side of the road, I ventured through the dense thicket of Himalayan blackberries (OUCH) to find a spot next to the bank to set up my camera.

Upon arrival, a family of mallard ducks quickly scurried away before I was able to set up my equipment. Waiting patiently near the bank, I sat and listened to the whistles of the red winged black bird. These territorial birds are polygamous, where one male may mate with up to 15 different females. I saw males chasing away other males from their females nests, swooping in to fight off intruders. Females nests were in a dense thicket of cat-tails in thick and marshy swamp water, which I was not intending to get close to, since these birds are so territorial.

As I watched the birds, I suddenly heard a large splash, way too loud to come from any type of frog. Looking down directly at the water, subsequent waves of ripples flooded the bank. Intently watching, I saw a black/brown figure emerge on the surface, weasel like in appearance. A muskrat! Characterized by its long, skinny tail and short brown fur, it swam almost completely submerged except for it's head.

It was not visible for long before disappearing into what I would assume would be an under ground den.











After the disappearance of my short term friend, I began examining the bank more closely. Directly next to me, a tree had large 'bites' taken out of it. The bites seemed very large and my only explanation would be of a beaver. Other downed logs in the area rose my suspicions even further.




A little further inland, a bright object in the grass grabbed my attention. Upon further inspection, it turned out to be a skull. My initial reaction was to look around for any other bones, which were not present. Sort of creepy. The skull seemed to be of some type of herbivore, however the teeth were not present. The absence of a sagital crest (indicating large muscle attachment capable for crushing bone) was not present.

Returning to the bank to pack up my things, I heard a very loud rustling coming from the closest cluster of cattails to me, and one very angry red winged blackbird. Emerging from the brush, a fairly small raccoon made direct eye contact with me, less than one meter away! I froze, not wanting to make any quick movements to scare it off but wanting to get a photo. He slowly backed off, returning to the cat tails. I decided to wait there a little longer, kicking myself for my missed photo opportunity. After another 20 minutes of me listening to any rustling in the cattails, and peering through the dense thicket, I saw a black mask standing up to look at me.

 Standing still, I watched as Mr. Raccoon exited the brush on the opposite side, crossing a log. As soon as my viewfinder was up to my eye, I saw another raccoon emerge. They both crossed a log to get to shore, single file, and stopped to wash their hands off the side of the log (so cute!). Once they got to shore, they disappeared in the dense thicket of black berries. The only thing left was their wet footprints staining the log.

I was extremely surprised at what I was able to come across within my short 2 hour excursion to the wetlands, and look forward to watching nature with the knowledge I have acquired through this course!