A menagerie:
Aquatic images complete, I gathered gear and headed back to the
sedge field where the Utricularia lurked. Again, I scared up more garter snakes on the beaver
dam. Walking across wobbly sedge fields, by the way, is not a trivial business. Remember my theory of moistened
body appendages? If you want to avoid a full-body dunking, or stains on your soul from sins
awarded by damaging fragile wetlands, you must keep in mind the following as you traverse such floating
habitats:
- Move slowly, because the ground is a soft and delicate muck of leaves and twigs; a bad choice in footing will plunge you to your waist in water.
- If the ground is too fragile, back off because you don't want to damage sensitive areas.
- Avoid stepping into beaver paths hidden under the coarse grasses. If you step into one of these aquatic runways, it is like dropping one foot into a swimming pool. You're going DOWN and could snap your leg in the bargain!
- Listen to the birds--squawking from them can alert you if you are getting too close to a nest? Who wants to step on chicks or eggs?
- Keep an eye open for interesting plants.
- Do all the above, while keeping camera bag, tripod, and other gear safe. And don't lose your car keys!
To perform all of the above simultaneously is entertaining to watch. I know because occasionally I
looked up and saw clusters of people watching me from the opposite short or the deck of a boat--slackjawed
and mystified as
to my intentions. This, of course, makes me feel terribly mysterious. Or dorky.
Anyway, the photograph
above is one of my favorite from the trip, and took a lot of work to capture. What you can't tell from here is that
while I worked my camera gear I was actually laying down in the muck on the edge of the sedge mat, with my feet
trailing behind me in open water. The
tripod's meter-long legs were completely submerged, and the camera was just a few cm above the water.) But it was worth it. You
can see all three Utricularia
species presnt in this image: U. macrorhiza and U. minor in flower, and
U. intermedia foliage in the background. Here and there in the image you can also see
U. minor and U. macrorhiza foliage exploring the water. I like how the emergent compound leaf echoes
the structure of the U. macrorhiza inflorescence, and how the individual U. macrorhiza flowers
appear to be looking around.
Notice the blue damselfly?
