Today my Nature Explorers and their moms did the loop around Spenser Island.
They were immediately captivated by the vocal buzzing of a Marsh wren but my
students rejected that name to call them Buzzy wrens (or buzzy friends for
one little girl). There were several times kids would stop and peer
intently into the cattails to try and see these little sprites, and it is a
measure of interest when 8 year old boys stop and stand still for more than
a couple of minutes. But the key point of the show was after we had story
time and as we sat in the sunshine a great blue heron, which stands taller
than most the kids, landed quite close. We hushed and snuck over and peered
through the screen of brush at this enormous bird, but buzzy was not about
to be upstaged. One of the little wrens (The kids were sure it was the same
one and was following us) popped out and gave such a fit of buzzing and
jumping about, the heron decided to find a quieter piece of estuary and
spread his pterodactyl wings and whooshed off. The kids nominated Buzzy the
wren the best bird ever (at least for today).



And if the person who was photographing the Sora is on the list, sorry for
the distraction. As we returned the sora made a short appearance along the
road.



Rob Sandelin

Naturalist, Writer, Teacher

Snohomish