It started off that I wanted to work at home today…but the network wasn’t cooperating, and my husband, who usually serves as my ‘help desk’ was trying to get some other things accomplished and so his first priority was NOT getting me hooked up to the network. Being that I’ve had my new work laptop for over 4 days and have been unable to connect from home thus far, I was just a tad perturbed, so I zoomed off in the pocket rocket.

Very soon after passing the mosque under construction on Bartlett Road, I came across a very unusual sight; someone in the basket of a REMAX Hot Air balloon.

Immediately the stress of not getting onto the network began to melt away as I started to wonder how much someone would get paid for going up in one of those things…or if the thrill of the moment was enough for the person inside; and if they might have even donated their time.

I know it would have been a-okay with me, LOL…although heights and me don’t always get along that well.

I’ve always marvelled at construction workers who could scale buildings under construction, or bridges, or people who wash windows, swinging off scaffolds.

I stopped briefly at the usual stomping ground to see if there were any herons or egrets, and managed to shoot a few more shots. Nothing that unusual.

Most of what I saw this morning were silhouettes of herons against the marshy background, the pictures didn’t turn out that well…although it’s always thrilling to try to get some pictures of them.

Then there was the work day, and then the trip home. Right away I noticed the dark colored birds had come in, which appeared to be cormorants, although they could have been grebes or even loons. I understand we have both grebes and loons in the area, but I wouldn’t know one if it bit me in the leg.

By the afternoon, though, things had livened up a little bit. There was a big bird on the rocks that sit in the sun…

The cormorants were lively, fishing, and moving about…

Fairly recently - I’m not sure why - I went over to youtube to see if I could find some Cedar Waxwing videos, because I was wondering if there are any in the area. I’ve never seen any, and I was wondering just where I should be looking, or what I should be looking for. The video showed a flock of Cedar Waxwings in a frenzy eating fruit; and I got the impression that they’re very quick little birds, probably smaller than a robin, and that they travel in flocks.

Being that the flocks of birds that I usually see around here seem to be dark-colored birds (like grackles or starlings), I thought - well, I don’t think we have any fruit trees around here, and I know damned well there aren’t any mulberry trees, so I guess I’m out of luck on that one.

I stopped at the area on Palatine Road where there are wetlands on either side, and thought I’d squeeze off a few more photographs before I came home. The nature in the area lured me in to stay longer than I had planned.

There was a great blue heron hunting, stalking along on his spindly long legs…and there were what appeared to be very large fish of some sort, which were very close to the surface among the duckweed.

There were some small birds darting in and out, which seemed to be yellow, but bigger than a goldfinch, and my focus began to turn to them, although there was an interesting animal near the large fish, which I was trying to identify.

That animal turned out to be a muskrat. He was a snarky little chap, too, splashing around, and swimming like he was an olympic swimmer. He seemed to take pleasure in splashing; he was a real clown and at first scared the crap out of me.

And the birds, to my surprise, turned out to be Cedar Waxwings.

I’m going to have to study up on them, because from what I was able to tell, they aren’t in there element hanging around a marsh area with other water-type foul.

They seemed to be rather curious about me; I wasn’t making much noise at all, and they seemed to forget I was there. And when they realized it was when they came flying rather close; but they’d quickly change their minds and fly up into a dead tree.

There are no shortage of dead trees sticking out of the muck there. These little birds are quick, but they’re also very striking and pretty, and they have a little mask over there eyes almost like a raccoon does; and a silhouette that looks somewhat like a cardinal’s.

And they were darting in and out, swooping along the surface of the water, apparently searching for some kind of insects to eat. As I walked along the brush, a lot of grasshoppers were getting out of my way, so it seemed to me that there are plenty of bugs of all different types and I started to get the creepy crawlies.

But that feelings passed, as I was taken in by the birds again.

I finally got a shot of the terns today, too, alongside a big dark looking heron-like bird.

We have no shortage of those around here.

What do you want? Marshland is what we live in..Chicago, in fact, was BUILT on a swamp. That haze that they complain about as being air pollution? It’s what you’d see over a swamp. No kidding.

Just call me “swamp thing”, LOL…

The pictures I’ve been taking are from the road, but the marshland is located in and around one of the most exclusive *and might I add expensive* suburban communities in the area…Inverness.