Archiving my Twitter, Facebook and other social network activity
Ducks feeding in a marsh pond. The last time I was here, the entire marsh had dried out for summer. After a couple of fall rainstorms (which, if they’d come sooner, night have at least cut down on the massive wildfires last month), parts of the marsh have flooded again for winter.
I was halfway there before I realized I hadn’t brought the film camera, but I at least had the Canon, which has a more powerful zoom anyway.
#ducks #pond #marsh #photography
Finally got around to curating my photos from an August hike at Madrona Marsh in Torrance, California. This was the first time I’d ever been to the marsh that there was *no standing water left*. Usually the lowest part of the preserve still has some ponds even into fall, but this summer, it had all dried up.
Full album (12 items) on Flickr
#photography #marsh #summer #dry #nature #flowers #fungus #spiderwebs
Brush fire reported at the marsh preserve where I took the last photo I posted here. It’s not a very big preserve – basically a large city block, in the middle of suburbia. (There’s literally a Target across the street.)
Here’s hoping they manage to stomp it down quickly, before it does too much damage.
Got a follow-up alert that the fire’s been put out. The word “small” was included, which is a good sign. Next time I hike there, I’ll have to ask about it.
Some sort of flowering scrub brush in the dry part of Madrona Marsh preserve. Some parts of the preserve have ponds year-round, some collect rain in winter and spring, and some are always dry land with grass or chaparral.
Birds of Madrona Marsh in Torrance, California.
It’s a seasonal marsh, where the low-lying parts stay wet most of the year, but the rest dries out ever summer and floods during winter rains.
I spotted ducks, doves, geese, these black birds with bright red wings that sound like a smoke detector battery alert, this white bird that looked like it was fishing, plus dragonflies, a huge bee, and I heard (but didn’t see) frogs.
Full album (21 pics) on Flickr
Actually the croaking frogs might have been quacking ducks in the distance, now that I think about it.
I think the white bird might be a snowy egret, and that red-winged black bird turns out to be… a red-winged blackbird. š
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowy_egret
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-winged_blackbird
Photo taken at: Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center
Last water standing. Madrona Marsh is seasonal, flooding during winter and spring rains and drying out over summer. When I hiked there last weekend, this was the only part I saw that was still underwater.
Photo taken at: Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center
Found some green!
Seasonal Wetlands: Summer vs Spring by Kelson Vibber
It finally occurred to me to put together a side-by-side image of the one spot I managed to take photos of on both hikes!
On the right: May in Madrona Marsh, after winter and spring rains filled up the low-lying areas of the preserve.
On the left: Late August in the same spot, after summer had dried up the pools. Despite the drought, and helped along by a couple of freak summer storms, the ground is still holding onto enough moisture that the floor of the vernal pool is covered with low greenery instead of dry grass.
I know, itās always better to put ābeforeā on the left, and I tried it with that layout, but it ended up looking better this way.
I returned to Madrona Marsh at the end of summer to see how much it had changed since spring.
8 new photos on Flickr. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kelsonv/
Photo taken at: Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center
The last of the seasonal wetlands at Madrona Marsh, a nature preserve surrounded by suburban Torrance, California. These pools spread over the grounds each winter and spring with storm water, and dry out each summer.
And it really is surrounded by the city. Housing tracts on two sides, retail on the third, and a Target on the fourth, just a few dozen yards to the right of this spot.
#marsh #trees #nature #madrona #madronamarsh #torrance #whpmyoasis #water #california #southbay
Note: check description on Flickr
Photo taken at: Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center
Canada geese at the marsh. Remarkably unconcerned with an unpredictable human child 15 feet away, but then they *are* geese.
Photo taken at: Madrona Marsh Preserve and Nature Center
Seasonal wetlands at Madrona Marsh. Winter and spring rains fill up these shallow pools, which become home to birds, frogs, insects and more during spring and summer. By the end of summer, the pools dry up until the next year.
