26 Union Bay 



and tan ear tufts which have given the bird its name. Even 

 the blue heron, which daily fished for frogs from a log near 

 the canoehouse, added some long white plumes to its somber 

 gray suit, a striking concession to the importance of courtship 

 apparel. 



Certainly this spring migration and nesting ground period 

 was the most satisfying of the year's experiences for the 

 birds. Spring shooting was no longer a hazard now that pub- 

 lic opinion had banned it. The storms which came up, though 

 severe, were soon over. The days lengthened, the feeding 

 conditions improved, and the instinct that drove them toward 

 the nesting areas must have eliminated all sense of minor 

 discomforts. 



There was little opportunity to observe these restless 

 travelers. If the water was high the shorebirds did not stop 

 at all for there was no food available. Birds came and went. 

 Sometimes I would see them alight in some section of the 

 marsh and then rise in a few minutes and be on their way 

 again. If I flushed them at other times of the year, they 

 usually flew to a different portion of the marsh but, in spring, 

 if they went into the air, they generally left the marsh en- 

 tirely. And so the migration went on, not easily discernible 

 except to one who watched it closely, with the marsh play- 

 ing an apparently insignificant' part until one realized that it 

 was only the united contributions of thousands of such areas 

 that made this enormous transportation task possible. 



Rushes and cattails appeared and were now almost waist 

 high in the deeper water sections of the inlets. Yellow iris 

 bloomed, the carp began to spawn, the marsh colors sug- 

 gested the sweetness of late spring, and of the cottonwoods 

 and the growing herbs and shrubs. The elderberry bloomed. 

 Nest building had been completed by the tule wrens. The 

 migration tapered off in early June, the tree swallows having 

 led it and the nighthawks being the last arrivals. 



After the middle of June, the marsh register dipped again 



