Swan Lake Nature Area, Great Basin, high desert, late autumn

today, i decided it was high time to drag my arse out of the house and into the sunshine... i decided to explore the swan lake nature study area*, a marshland in the midst of the barren and rolling hills of the western great basin... it's a bit unusual, being fed by "gray water" from a local treatment plant, so it isn't exposed to quite the same extreme cycles of wet and dry as other great basin wetlands... it's on the migratory route of a number of species and is a top audubon society birding area... it's also one of the wintering areas for the tundra swan, the namesake species of the preserve which arrives in early november from the arctic circle and leaves in mid to late march... there are many shorebird and waterfowl species as well as a number of reptiles - mostly lizards - and several species of frogs and toads... bald eagles are year-round residents as are coyotes, badgers and jackrabbits...

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Marsh cattails.......................................Cattails close-up

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Dead sagebrush...................................Coots in the marsh pond

i walked quite a bit, probably on the order of 5 or 6 miles, all the way to the end of the trail and back... as i was resting before turning back, i happened to put my hand up to shield my eyes from the sun and was amazed by what i saw... when i was walking, i had felt numerous spider-web strands land across my arms, head and face, and, while i couldn't see them, i was constantly brushing them away... what i saw all around the perimeter of my hand, highlighted by the sun, were thousands and thousands of spider-web strands floating through the air on the breeze, glistening and just barely visible against the brilliance of the sunlight behind them... quite an amazing sight...

* Securing reclaimed water from the nearby Reno-Stead Sewage Treatment Plant, the marshland was saved from being developed as housing, which has allowed for the continued use of this area as a layover stop on the Pacific Flyway for over 130 different species of birds traveling between Canada and Central and South America.

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