When I see a disturbance of the water, I always try to decipher what is causing it. That has lead to spotting many creatures I probably would have missed if I hadn't been curious. This image was taken at the marsh the other day.
Although the disturbance in the water may appear to be wind-induced, it actually is being made by thousands - or at least hundreds - of small minnow-type fish like mummychogs. The amount of fish in this little pond is incredible. I have watched flocks of fifty to an hundred snowy egrets come in a feed for an hour, each downing one after another minnow, and then come back the next morning and do it all over again. I kept tabs on one egret a couple of years ago and counted eleven 4-5 inch mummychogs that it caught until I got bored with watching that one heron and focused on something else. Meanwhile, it went on eating.
The problem with the marsh pond, as I mentioned the other day, is that the mouth of the creek where it opens to the Bay fills in with sand brought in on the tide. The town occasionally reopens the mouth, but not nearly often enough. So, the minnows get trapped in the pond and the water stagnates. The water in this photo had the appearance of shimmering in the same way a distant mirage dances across a desert.
The water also reflects a house on the shore which is another problem with the location of the park for the photographer in trying to avoid the inclusion of man-made structures.
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