Not what I expected

Went up to Montezuma last week expecting to find a lot of shorebirds starting their fall migration.  They had missed the message, but I found an unexpected bit of beauty on the main pool.

The edges of the marsh were dotted with beautiful pink.

Lovely, isn't it?  Swamp Rose-Mallow.  Belongs in the Hibiscus family.  Take a close look.

The day wasn't a total miss.  Also saw this Great Blue Heron come up with a rather sizable Bullhead.

Looks like a pretty tenuous hold to me.  It must have a strong clamp.  I wanted to see how he could handle this catfish's barbs, but the heron retreated into the cattails. Seems close to the limit of what he can swallow.

Paul