The Wilderness Goes Quiet

I wake early, planning to reach the south lagoon in time to watch the beaver finish their activities. But, rainfall on the roof changes the plan. I roll over and sleep another hour and some.

I start again at the unnamed lagoon. It is 7am and there are no beaver to be found. But, I see my first green backed heron for the season, flushing it from a branch on the Workbench. It pauses on a snag on the nearby lodge and then gets up and flies a big circle all the way around the lagoon, following the edge of the trees.

Sedge Meadow

The highway that penetrates my wilderness is closed today and it is comparatively quiet in the marsh. The carp have begun their mating thing and the big fish root around in the shallows with a stirring of their back fins and frequent explosions of water. I visit many of my favorite spots just so that I can listen to them without the din of automobile. I go out of my way to get into and sit in the sedge meadow at the north end of the east marsh. It is a beautiful spot that receives the full blast of the highway noise but today is quiet except for a steady wind blow through the cattails. This beautiful spot has not long to live. Sometime in the next few years, the state will build a retarded bridge here and wipe it away. I try to record it in sound and image as often as possible.


I cut straight across the bay in a steady tailwind with the light sprinkle of rain moving almost horizontal but at my back. An eagle sits on the lunch counter. It has been a very long time since I saw an eagle there. The mate is at the edge of the north marsh watching the commotion that the carp are creating. It's rather cat like...the fish are way too big, but the eagle can't help but watch.