Freshwater Marsh
淡水水草濕地(Chinese)

There are several zones that one would encounter if you walked though a freshwater marsh.  First, you'd encounter the wet-meadow. Although this area is typically not flooded, it is almost always saturated (Hruby). It is typically dominated by grasses, sedges and smartweeds and may be adorned with colorful flowers such as purple loose-strife and swamp rose mallow.

Wet meadows are dominated by grasses, such as redtop grass and reed canary grass, and by forbs such as giant goldenrod, growing in the saturated soils. The grass family (Gramineae) and aster family (Compositae) are well represented in wet meadows (Poljar). The forbs and grasses of these meadows tend to be less competitive, more nutrient demanding, and often short-lived species.  Once established, the forbs and grasses of the wet meadow community may persist for extended periods of time

Beyond the wet-meadow there is a zone of persistent emergent. These are plants such as cattail and bulrush (Poljar) that remain standing above the water's surface throughout the year. Beyond this zone you'd encounter the non-persistent emergents. These are plants such as spatter-dock and American lotus which fall below the surface of the water at the end of each growing season.  Beyond this zone and just before entering deep-water lie the aquatic beds that are dominated by submergents such as Elodea (Creighton).

淡水水草濕地(Marsh)
最近自然歷史步行導覽活動
最近綠色文化生態旅遊活動

湖邊的淺灘則長滿許多水生植物，可說是草原濕地(Marsh)。這裡不僅為野鴨，如綠頭鴨(Mallard)、加拿大雁(Canada Geese)、央雞(Rail)、以及大藍鷺(Great Blue Heron)的覓食地，草叢間也常傳出鷦鷯(Wren)與歌雀(Sparrow)的歌聲。這些淺水植物常因都市有機物的排放，而大量繁殖。年復一年，生生不息，其腐化的物質累積積成新生地。幾十年以後，您將可以看見灌木與赤楊木 (Red Alder)的侵入，如此一來，湖面就逐年減少，最後難逃死亡消失的命運。

賞鳥的季節除了需要一份愛好大自然的心，還得有基本的準備。除了適當的禦寒衣物外，方便調整望遠鏡的手套，雨具或雨衣，背包以便雙手靈活運用，熱開水。當然最重要的是望遠鏡與鳥類圖鑑。建議購買 8至10倍乘 以25 (物鏡) 的小望遠鏡，才可以持久觀察大自然，Bushnell 10x25的望遠鏡(Binocular) ，可考慮先買8-10 x 25望遠鏡, 即目鏡放大8-10倍，物鏡25範圍大小適中。目鏡放大倍數愈大，可見範圍愈小，光線愈暗。物鏡愈大， 可見範圍愈大，相對較重，觀賞難以持久。至於鳥類圖鑑個人推薦Peterson Field Guides出版的美西野鳥(Western Birds)，可以在野鳥書店購買，或向生態保育團體詢問。