Redheads and Woodcock (Post IS (Mostly) G-Rated, I Promise!)

 

This morning Travalon and I went to our garden plot and spent some time weeding. My little plants seem to be doing okay, but I still have half the garden to plant. Hopefully this coming week I can get some work done there... Getting my hands dirty made me very happy, and Travalon noted how chipper I was today. I think everyone needs to get out there and in touch with nature, especially the kids he works with who always have their eyes glued to their phones. Growing plants would give them so much more satisfaction than social media does.

Then we drove to Horicon Marsh, and on the way we stopped at the Token Creek Cemetery where some soldiers from the Civil War are buried - that seems fitting for this weekend - but I forgot to ask Travalon to send me those photos, so I'll post them later. Maybe Monday! 

The first place we stopped in Horicon was at was the overlook. From there we could see a swan.

Here is a view of the marsh from the overlook.

We also saw this really fluffed-up pelican.

Then we went to the place where we often see the white-headed goose, and he was back!

We had seen an egret from the road just before we got there, so we backtracked a tiny bit, and the egret was even closer, and on the other side of the road.

Then we went to the Dike Road Trail, and on the road to the trail we saw open water with all sorts of ducks on it. I believe the two ducks in the foreground are gadwalls, and they have just had some hot mating action so they are fluffed up with post-coital satisfaction. I think the one behind them is a female mallard.

We also saw a pair of redhead ducks.

On the trail itself we saw two pelicans flying.

We saw three cormorants in a tree.

As we got closer, two flew away, but one hung on until we were almost beside it.

And we saw an Eastern kingbird just like the ones that had been swooping around our dock last night.

This female killdeer was trying really hard to distract us, so she must have had a nest nearby. She would get very close to us, making a lot of noise, then she would pretend to be injured, hoping that we would follow her away from the nest.

Here is one of the pelicans we saw flying, now swimming.

Then it flew away again, circled around, and came back toward us.

We also saw three black birds that I thought at first were the three cormorants, but they had long legs. They weren't cranes, and they definitely weren't herons, since they held their long necks out straight. Travalon didn't get a photo of those, but when we came back on the path, he got lots of photos of Mama Killdeer doing her Oscar-worthy "I'm injured!" act.

This isn't the clearest photo, but you can see how the cormorants swim with only their necks sticking up above the water. Travalon said, "It looks like the Loch Ness Monster!"

Along the road we could see egrets. One was alone.

Except... it had its reflection to keep it company.

Not far from it, two were hanging out together.

Here is another photo of the solo egret and its reflection.

Along Highway 49, I hoped to see coots with babies. We did see a few coots, but no babies - they're probably hiding in the weeds. We did see this male blue-winged teal.

And lots more redhead ducks.

This is a pie-billed grebe, just like the ones we often see off our dock.

This duck's back looks more white than gray (compare him to the one behind him), so he might be a canvasback rather than a redhead. The two species look very similar.

As we drove along the car tour on the way to the floating boardwalk, the car in front of us was stopped right in the middle of the road. At first we thought that was very rude, since people usually pull off to the side if they see something interesting, but he couldn't have pulled off to the side, because this super cute little bird was there. Sorry these photos are so blurry. I googled "brown checkered bird with long beak," and immediately a picture of our bird popped up. It's an American woodcock.

I have never seen one in real life before! I have seen videos of their ridiculous walk, often set to club music. They do look like they have a boogie in their step. 

Of course I have seen male robins many times before.

This tree swallow is on the rope along the floating boardwalk. It's so shiny and blue.

This male blue-winged teal was doing a great job hiding in the marsh grass, but Travalon spotted him.

This male mallard was standing proudly in the open. The female was hiding in the weeds.

I did see a male wood duck, but he had ducked (ha!) out of sight before Travalon could get his camera ready. 

As we walked through the woods, we could see May apples in bloom.

We saw a red-winged blackbird in the exact spot where we saw a scarlet tanager almost exactly two years ago when we came to Horicon Marsh with Rich.

As we drove along the car tour, we saw another egret.

On the other side of the car, we saw a large goose family.

And a little sandpiper.

On the way home, we stopped at Patrick Marsh, and on the far side of the lake we saw a huge pelican convention. Too bad, they were on the near side of the lake when we passed by on our way to Horicon Marsh.

People keep posting photos of yellow-headed blackbirds they see at Horicon Marsh, so I was hoping to see one today. There are supposed to be a lot at Patrick Marsh too, but we didn't see one there either. Technically I have seen one, since I posted a photo of an immature one on this blog a couple of years ago, but I have never seen an adult male one. They are more common west of the Mississippi, while the red-winged ones are more common on our side of the river, but they are certainly around. I have my bucket list of birds I want to see, including baby coots, but then I'll see a bird I never even thought of, like the American woodcock today, so that makes up for not seeing the ones I was hoping for.

Famous Hat