Erie Marsh w/ the Volkers - 17 Jul 2026
Janet and Jack Volker and I took a quick drive to Erie Marsh this morning. It was Day 2 of the Air Quality Advisory as Canadian Wildfires have blanketed the Great Lakes Region in heavy, acrid smoke. Forecasts called for conditions to be worse than yesterday, but the air smelled less smokey and the Sun was too bright to look at. Still, we could smell and feel the smoke in our throats. We walked the dike between Ponds 1 and 2 and scoped Pond 2 mudflats for shorebirds. Though only a few shorebirds were present we did pick up a Black-necked Stilt with new hatchling, Stilt Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Short-billed Dowitcher, Lesser Yellowlegs and Semipalmated Sandpiper. Along the edge of Pond 1 a Marsh Wren was singing loudly from atop a cattail stand so we got a few quick photos before it disappeared into the vegetation. Walking back to the main dike we came across this Pearl Crescent Butterfly . The only problem photographing with the Sony 600/4 lens is the minimum focusing distance i...
