Made first fall trip to Crex Meadows...my favorite wildlife refuge. Here's a few pics for anyone who enjoys wildlife.
No doubt Watcher had been in the area in February or March. Here's a young Eaglet he'd sired after taking a female eagle out for a fine dinner of fish and road kill. That gets the girls every time.
I've driven by this dead tree hundreds of times, and each time thought, "What a great place for a bird to perch. This is the first time I've seen a bird there. Not very high up.
Young Trumpeter Swan enjoying the mud...like any kid. The gray feathers and some orange on the beak show this is a cygnet. By spring the feathers will be all white and beak dark black.
Two adult Trumpeter Swans taking life easy.
A group of "prehistoric" Sandhill Cranes checking something out. Miss B likes Sandhills, maybe she was out and giving them a bit of a "flash".
Here's a family of Sandhills. The two in the center are juveniles. You can tell that because they still haven't developed the red crest on the top of their head. The red is skin, not feathers.
