King Crane at Theresa Marsh

 

This morning Mass wasn't until 10:30, so we had plenty of time to eat leftover pizza, walk to the coffee place, and go back to the boardwalk in Horicon Marsh. We heard all kinds of pileated woodpeckers calling to each other, but alas, we never saw one. By the parking lot for the boardwalk, we did see this enormous goose family. Did they really hatch all those eggs?? Or did they adopt some goslings?

There was a catbird hanging out with them.

From the boardwalk itself, we saw lots of red-winged blackbirds.

We also saw lots of blue-winged teals, like this one zipping along.

This might be his mate on top of a muskrat lodge.

And here's a sandpiper on top of a different muskrat lodge.

We also saw lots of these beautiful little swallows.

See you later! I'm going to church in this tree! Aren't these church doors?

As we drove along the auto route, we saw this egret looking all sexy with its breeding plumage.

I think this is an eared grebe. Anyway, it's adorable. At one point it was chasing a teal, even though they are the same size.

These are some type of mergansers. The black-and-white one is a hooded merganser, and the other ones might be females of the same breed.

Before noon today, we had seen all four large white birds; from the boardwalk we had seen a whooping crane flying, and along the auto route we saw pelicans flying, but Travalon didn't get pictures of those. After Mass, where the priest demanded congregational participation, we drove toward Theresa Marsh, and along the side of the road we saw two swans.

Also lots of ducks; here are a canvasback and a ruddy duck.

In Brownsville we saw one of the last Red Owl grocery stores in existence.

When we got to Theresa Marsh, the first thing I saw was a big white bird. I thought it was an egret, but when I looked through the binoculars, it was clearly not heron-shaped but crane-shaped. A whooping crane! It was very far away, but Travalon did get a few photos where you can make it out. Of course, we saw the turtles that are always at Theresa Marsh.

And here is a view of the marsh itself.

I thought this was a turkey vulture, but looking at this photo, I'm really not sure what it is.

And here are some photos of the whooping crane. It was with a bunch of sandhill cranes, and Travalon said it looked like a king with his harem. King Crane!

A train passed through the marsh while we were there. I made a video that is almost five minutes long, so I'll try to post it soon. Meanwhile, enjoy a couple of photos that Travalon took of the train.

A pair of the sandhill cranes flew over us.

You can see a bunch of the others hanging around King Crane.

Here is another shot of the marsh.

Then we had lunch at Subway, as usual, and we went to the part of Horicon Marsh where we always see the white-headed goose, but he wasn't there today. To be fair, there were hardly any geese there today, so maybe most of them get Sunday off. We did see more turtles.

And some very cute coots. (Say that five times fast!)

We drove past Lake Sinissipi, which is beautiful and has a large island in it that people live on. We always pass this thing on the way to Oconomowoc, and it looks like a shocked monster. Travalon says it is the "Ixonia Whatever the Hell."

In a field we saw a bunch of geese, and this swan hanging out with them.

Now we are back home and ready to return to the workaday world just in time for our actual anniversary, which is tomorrow. Seven years! I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday when I got to be princess for a day and vow my love to Travalon forever.

Famous Hat