Camera Critters

Yesterday I went out to Branched Oak Lake to see what was going on. This is what I saw

Thousands and thousands of Snow geese

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My bonus for the day was an Opossum out and about foraging. I think they are so ugly that they're cute.

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Head on over to Camera Critters to see more critters (by clicking on the icon)

That's My World!---Squaw Creek NWR

Can you imagine 1.6 million Snow geese in one place, at one time?

I paid a visit to Squaw Creek NWR last Wednedsday, and that was the estimated count for the day.

Imagine if you can, driving for more than a mile and this is what you see.

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There were constantly geese in the air as well the geese in the water.

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The din from the geese was phenomenal. My dawg that normally snoozes in her bed in the back seat was sitting up and staring out the window. One really wishes at times like that you could read the doggy mind.

Take a tour around the world via you computer by visiting That's My World!

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.

Squaw Creek, Day Two

This is a belated post about the 2nd day at Squaw Creek. The day started out poorly. Took the dawg out for her morning constitutional and the door back into the motel wouldn't open. Had to put her in the car (she couldn't go in the lobby because the "continental breakfast" was there) and go to the front desk so they could open the back door. The rest of the day wasn't much better, and by the time we got home, both of us were very pleased to be there. In many ways it was a very forgettable day.

My last thought in the first post on Squaw Creek was that I had to do better taking more pictures. Well, I didn't. Don't remember ever taking so few pictures at a wildlife refuge.

Both days I heard and saw lots of Northern Cardinals. Most of them weren't interested in posing, but this guy did briefly


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These Great Egrets were sitting there so pretty until two cars went zooming past and they flew away. Fortunately, I had captured a couple of shots of them.


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The thing Squaw Creek is most well known for is the congregating Snow Geese in the latter part of November. They had already begun to congregate, though they certainly weren't there in the numbers they will be later in the month.


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All of the Squaw Creek photos are here.

Filling a Vacuum?

I have searched for a blog about Nebraska birding. To date, I’ve not found one. So I finally said, why not do it myself.

I love to be outside with my binoculars around my neck and the camera in hand. I will attempt to take pictures of anything that will stay still long enough for me to focus the camera. So if you return, you will see pictures of birds, flowers, insects, butterflies, and miscellaneous critters.

Yesterday I was at Branched Oak Lake and a Snow Goose that has been hanging around allowed me to photograph him. According to every birding book I have, he/she shouldn’t still be here, but he is. Here’s my favorite picture from the ones I took.