Catching the best light for wildlife photography and videography means you need to be up early for the hour after the sun rises or wait for the hour before the sun sets. These are the golden hours and will usually provide a nice golden soft light that is absolutely gorgeous. On this adventure was the exception because when I arrived at the marsh trailhead, the entire valley was blanketed in a nice thick layer of fog. It was not altogether a discouraging development since fog creates a unique feel in photo and video. It essentially created an all natural, county-wide light dispersing softbox courtesy of mother nature.
Walking down the trail is an eerie experience headed towards the marsh along an old canal. All around are the calls of various birds such as European Starlings, Blue Jays, Canadian Geese and Red-Winged Black Birds. In addition to these were over a dozen or so other calls that drifted in through the trees and across the wetland waters. Lilypads, cattails and other marsh grasses cover most of the wetland's surface except in the deeper areas of the water. Tall dead trees, barren of foliage and most of their branches stand over 30 feet into the air, many with multiple birds atop them singing, preening or calling out warnings to other birds.
All told I spent around three hours walking up and down the boardwalk trail watching and photographing the various bird species I spotted. Since fall recently set in I noticed a lack of amphibians and reptiles, and unfortunately, the local beavers were not out in the open. The marsh is a beautiful spot that is easily accessible with an abundance of wildlife. My only complaint, since I know it may be noticeable to others, is the almost constant background noise of cars passing by the marsh. For most, it probably is not that big of a deal but if you ever try to take clean audio of the birds calling, like me, the noise in the background is somewhat distracting. That by no means takes away from the sites physically beauty and I will be going back there soon without a doubt.
As a side note, I also wanted to list the bird species I either saw, heard, photographed or captured on video as a kind of a species archive from this adventure. Those species include:
Great-Blue Heron
Wood Duck
European Starling
Belted Kingfisher
Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Canada Goose
Red-Winged Blackbird
Double-Crested Cormorant
Blue Jay
Grey Catbird
American Robin
