A Nice Day Trip

Have spent the last couple of weeks chasing my tail. Some days going clockwise, others, counterclockwise. An elderly parent with dementia/Alzheimers can keep you going sometimes....

Haven't been out birding for awhile...last night when I realized today might be a day to go do something, I checked the Squaw Creek NWR site. Their Waterfowl Survey page showed that there were Trumpeter and Tundra Swans there. I went hmmm to self.

So this morning the Mandy dawg and I headed off. She can no longer be left alone all day as she is on water pills...and though she doesn't travel as well as she did when she was younger, she does eventually settle in and down.

The tree damage from ice storms earlier in the winter season was evident throughout the refuge. Most of the wetlands was frozen and the area that was still open was quite far out. I've cropped some photos of the Canada and Snow Geese, Mallards, and Trumpeter Swans.




In the last photo, on the left hand side, there is a Sandhill Crane. I was absolutely dumbfounded when I saw two of them through the spotting scope.

Other highlights of the day were a Pileated Woodpecker and a flock of about six Tufted Titmice. No photos, unfortunately.