I was late walking the dog last night. By the time we headed out the door, the mist was rolling in. There are no streetlights or sidewalks on our road, and I love that, but it does make after-dark walks a little dangerous. We just went a little ways, down the gated dirt road that leads to the town pump house. There is a beautiful little marsh down there full of spring peepers still peeping their little hearts out. I stopped to enjoy the sights and sounds. Among the cattails, I noticed a pair of red-winged blackbirds flying from cattail stalk to cattail stalk, the mail on the top of the cattail, the female staying lower. Red-winged blackbird males are handsome creatures, all black, except for a stripe of yellow visible on his shoulder, like an epaulette on a uniform. When he spreads his wings, the large red patch under the yellow becomes visible. The female is streaked brown and white, all the better to be invisible when sitting on the nest. The deer also use the gravel road, I can see their tracks. I suspect there may be a mink, fox, or other medium sized mammal using the marsh, as Bandit is always very interested in the riprap around the culvert that allows the marsh to flow under the road rather than over it when the water is high. It isn't at all high right now, and that worries me. It has been a very dry spring this year, and I hope for rain soon.