This post covers a bare hour or so in a 23-day birding trip. Much of the trip was intense, and very good bird-wise, but didn't get captured on film. This particular encounter was quite special for me though, and --miracle of miracles -- I got it with my own camera. The date was May 27; like nearly all the best birdwatching activity, the time was early in the morning.
Crex Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is a rather famous birding destination just outside Grantsburg, WI, along the upper western border of that state. It's about halfway between Minneapolis and Duluth. This tiny town is centered around birding tourism, and we stayed at a very nice hotel there, the Trail Inn. It had clerkless check-in with a magic unlock box for the key (a first for us). The NWR was barely 10 minutes out of town, a luxury that later resulted in us returning to the hotel for naps. This had its own adventurous consequences, which perhaps I shouldn't emphasize; let's just say we got lucky and the hotel's contractor-at-large rescued us from a potentially bad lockout situation, saving our bacon. I would still recommend that hotel, perfect for everything, except, perhaps, internet connectivity,...
At this point in our trip, 2 weeks in, we had seen Trumpeter Swans by the dozen, but only one cygnet (baby swan). I was getting desperate. Swans, swans, swans, lumps of white everywhere, in fields, in lakes and ponds; but cygnets?? The Canadas had goslings, but the tiny gray cygnets were missing. I was really starting to worry.
And then we pulled up alongside Crex Meadows first big lake and there they were.
I scrambled with my camera. I was shooting from the driver's seat. Forgive the slight tilts to some of these.
I was delighted to see six cygnets!! Yes, FINALLY at last!! There was just one problem,...
Mom and Dad were so busy eating I couldn't get anything but their tails. Now to be fair, these big birds, the largest Swan in the world, need to eat a lot. The weather had been so cold for half our trip, drizzly and rainy too. Spring was very late. It was a test of our own endurance; what must it have been for them? But I'd obsessed over those little guys. Anyone can see goslings and ducklings; I wanted cygnets, dang it!! I stuck to my guns, and here, at last, I was rewarded.
Over time, I zoomed in and shot better, and the swans moved gently away. They weren't afraid so much as seeking better grazing. Below, the right swan has a grass blade in its bill.
For the rest of the trip I never saw 6 cygnets together again.
Here are some shots of the larger Refuge. Later we would have incredible adventures here, culminating in our 198th bird of the trip (Nighthawk) and me hearing a wild Bittern calling for half an hour. Oh that was truly meaningful to me and magical, the crown and crest of a fantastic trip,..
For the record, we got home with 201 species. The 200th was the Prothonotary Warbler and the 201st was Ruddy Ducks; both of these were at Maple River, in MI. Below, Crex Meadows first lake again, showing the far shore.
Here's a patch of American Lotus, unusual in its number of blooms so early in the cold year.
These last 2 shots were taken with my cell phone, proving, I suppose, that I can take pictures when I really want to. It is so easy on a trip like this not bother with them,... but I know there will be times I would regret that. See all those little white dots on the water? Those are Trumpeter Swans.
This last sign explains the origin of the name. This is also about the only place where we touch horses on a bird trip; wire grass was used for stuffing cushions and making floor mats (amoung other things) in the horse-drawn vehicle era and up through the early 20th Century.
Thank you for your patience!
Future blog posts will attempt to cover visiting Corky & Ardith, Paula and Eleanor, Mink stuff [Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig], other people's tack collections and,... who knows!
