A Unique Refuge

If you leave the trail a little north of the Sycamore Apartments, following the mowed path east toward the wetlands, you’ll be treated to an ever-changing vista. Gleaming water teeming with migrating waterfowl in the early spring, giving way through the summer to a lush green vegetated sprawl when the water is low.

Many days you can hear the call of the resident family of Sandhill Cranes nearby or off in the distance, or see the Bald Eagle couple perched in a snag on the horizon. Dragonflies and swallows swoop and soar overhead, hunting for insects in the summer air. Occasionally Trumpeter Swans will stop by, paddling slowly, large and elegant among the Canada Geese.

On this day, a Great Blue Heron flies a short distance, its broad wings curving as it lands. Nearby a Sandhill Crane strides, deliberate steps against a backdrop of tall cattails. Then a second, and a third, walking together. One of the three lacks the scarlet mask on its forehead, perhaps the offspring of the other two. They pass behind the heron, which stays perfectly motionless as the much larger birds go by.

Nearer to the trail-side of the wetlands a snapping turtle of conspicuous stature rests, smooth, dark carapace glossy amid the jumbled green chaos of the leaves. Two other herons stand in the distance, one neck outstretched and the other tucked down.

These constructed wetlands, like the planted cells alongside the trail, are habitat and home to hundreds, if not thousands, of species.  The crane family has likely lived in the area longer than many human residents on the south side of town, and hopefully will be able to live there many years more. How many years has that snapping turtle been basking in the mud there?

As our neighborhood grows and develops, I hope that the city takes into consideration these long-term residents and their well-being, and works to minimize the disruption caused by enclosing the wetlands along the western border with housing and roads. It is a refuge for wildlife in an increasingly hostile world, and being able to share in a small part of their lives, it becomes a refuge for us as well.