The Arcata Bottoms

Sunday my middle sis and I walked the loop trail at the Arcata Bottoms to see what bird life we could find. The trail follows open agricultural fields, a marsh type setting...

There were plenty of song sparrows; this one looks immature...

Returning back to the path from a short side trail to the water passage's edge, we found this carving in the side of a fallen tree trunk...

A red dragon fly with orange wings...

Two reeeeeally large 'shrooms...the one in the foreground is at least 8" across...

A battered swallowtail...there's a large, jagged tear in the top left wing...

A long-billed marsh wren, a lifer for sure...it's the only wren found in marshes according to the field guide...

Anyone know what this is?? I think it's an immature green heron...if so it's a lifer...

This is what the landscape looks like at the Arcata Bottoms...

We saw several American goldfinches...

And great egrets, which are almost always too far away to get a decent photo of. This one is wading up to its wings in marsh water covered in plant life.