This morning Travalon did not feel at all well, but we did go to Mass, and he made it all the way through. After relaxing at home for a bit, he felt he could go look for birds at Patrick Marsh. Guess what the first thing was we saw when we got there? A loon! And then we saw like five more!
We also saw some ring-necked ducks.
I love their mating dance of stretching their necks waaaaay up.
Then a loon came up right by them, and they flew away. We walked further along and saw two common mergansers who flew away as Travalon was trying to take their photo.
I suggested that we go to the Union Terrace, since on cold, rainy days like today there would be no people out there but possibly lots of loons. We found a free space right in front of the Union, and our good luck just continued from there, because we saw loons, and a cute little horned grebe, as well as tons of mallards.
This loon was close to the shore, so I was talking to it: "Welcome back up north. We're glad you're here! You're a very pretty bird." It appeared to be listening to me. It didn't dive under the water until I stopped talking to it.
It did come back up again.
Finally we went into the Union and warmed up at Peet's with hot drinks and little chicken sandwiches on herb biscuits. We drove through campus to Picnic Point, but we didn't see anything going on there, so we drove around the lake and stopped at Mendota County Park. All we saw there were a handful of mallards, but we did take a short walk along the canal.
On the way to Cherokee Marsh we saw a blond squirrel.
We had one just like this in our neighborhood for years, but it's been a few years since I've seen him (I say that because he appeared to be chasing females) so I assume he either reached his natural lifespan or got picked off by something. Then we drove to the part of Cherokee Marsh where you can see the small, nameless island, and we found a path that goes to a really good spot to see it.
The pelicans were hanging out around the island.
Here's a better view of the pelicans hanging out on the north side of the island.
So it was an excellent birdwatching day, especially if you're loony for loons like we are.
Famous Hat
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