It started like most, lately, up too early, so I came into the living room to fall back asleep in front of the TV. (Amazing how effective that is!) But after Steve got up for the day, he let me continue sleeping until he just couldn't help himself and ran a long series of clips of Bartlett speeches from "West Wing", presumably off you Tube, whereupon I had to wake enough to notice they were not sequential, since once Bartlett had been shot, Josh didn't have his own follow up shooting. It just didn't make sense, so the brain reluctantly began to surface.
At that point I finally got my stuff together and went out into the lawn and started getting rid of baby trees by clipping the tops and poisoning the stumps, regardless of how little they were. After all, the lawn mower can also cut off the tops, but the result is a many-trunked bush instead of a dead tree decomposing in the grass. It took about an hour before it got too hot, but I got quite a lot visibly accomplished. Now that that particular dam has been broken, so to speak, I'll be heading out to do some more real work on lots more mornings.
More was accomplished in checking out other alternatives to our first choice mobile home park. It may remain our top choice, but we might as well look around. There's one along South Lindstrom Lake which has the advangate of accessibility and a 55+ age minimum. Another on the other side of the same town is a cooperative, where one buys in on the land and becomes part owner/operator of the park. The advantage is no rich jerk can come in, take over, change all the rules and make lot rent sky high. Disadvantage in this case is it's full of speed bumps which first would hurt Steve's back when the car rolls even slowly over them, and second would hang up the bottom of his scooter trying to get over them, say to get to the storm shelter. We've made one appointment request online, and have a phone number for the other to call later because their website is just a little fubar.
Eventually, on finding out that we were not in fact going out to talk to management at either park, Steve declined my offer to drive him to get his license and some bait and take him to his favorite fishing hole. Instead he suggested I head over to Crex. One shower and clothing change later, both the dog and I were in the car heading out.
It was well past time.
My first stop was their office to vote for my favorites in their (renewed) annual photo contest. I must have missed the email where they didn't get the photos sent to them on time so voting hadn't begun yet. In that case, I inquired what new and wonderful things were to be seen these days and where should I look for them? They're very good at giving out that info. It's how I got directions to the latest wolf den next to the road one year, or exactly which field outside town three stray young whooping cranes had been seen in just an hour before (and still were at) after going astray before fall migration south, joining the growing numbers of sandhill cranes for a couple weeks as they also gathered near or at Crex, staging for their own migration. I have shots to prove it. Unfortunately it wasn't a very good camera, but the color differences stand out dramatically.
Today's revelation was where to find "maybe 10 to 14 great blue herons" along a certain road. I haven't seen any herons for a few years now, and my best viewing of them around Crex has at best been a pair. Usually half a mile away of course, but one tries to capture a shot anyway. Some cropping, enhancement of details.... It's not too big a disappointment usually. I headed over where directed, stopping to catch many of the currently flowering plants along the roadside. The lake was very low, as most of them were because of the lack of rain this year, so the usual supply of water lilies was pretty ratty and with few blooms.
I drove around the first large lake without seeing much of anything else. Usually there are dozens of trumpeter swans with cygnets, grey compared to their parents' white, and ducks, loons, Canada geese, even osprey as one crawls slowly around the lake, stopping for more shots about every hundred yards or so. Not today. I tried the next two roads to get to the one I was looking for. No Sandhills, no turtles, no harrier hawks, and very few red-winged blackbirds. There were a few Monarch butterflies, and while no mosquitoes, there were a bazillion starving biting flies forcing entry into the car every time the window was rolled down for a shot without stepping out. That was not just to avoid scaring the desired subject away in the process, but to keep the camera dry during any of the many spot showers of the afternoon, never enough to tamp down the road dust of course.
On my next connecting road to my destination I was startled by a flock of turkey vultures chasing a bald eagle out of their territory. Not enough time or an angle for a shot - again - of course, but I'd seen them. Their foe vanquished, they returned to their "home" and settled back in. I stopped to get a view of what they had been protecting. A nest with young? Some carrion? All I got was a view of a dried up black dirt bowl where once water had stood, with about ten turkey vultures, looking very fat and satisfied with themselves for their valor, clustered in the bottom. It was an other photo op, of course. I've only ever seen them soaring up high, riding thermals, so this was worth the trip already.
Another turn and there was water, enough for a pair of loons to splash and cavort like kids. No babies to care for, why not enjoy life?
A couple more turns and I was on the road I needed, looking for the supposed lake where the herons were clustered. One suddenly flew overhead, followed by another half dozen who'd seen me first and decided to skedaddle. While there was no remaining lake there was a small channel of water flowing through the area, and the airborne herons landed at the far end of my ability to see where that channel went. I stopped for some shots anyway, then got more of one, then a pair, who with my stillness ventured to land back in their original location closer to the road. Eventually I continued on, found another bunch of about ten, already over the estimate of the woman at the information desk, and got more shots, including several of this bunch flying off, just because I waited for it this time. A third smaller batch showed up later as well.
More wanderings, a few turns on roads with nothing interesting, and I started winding my way back out. I was disappointed to not have seen a single sandhill crane this visit, almost ready to wallow in self pity, when a pair of them appeared just off the road. I backed the car for a better view, got it just in focus, and off they flew. Of course they did. But I had seen them after all, including flying directly over the car. A few more turns to a different lake and this time it had plenty of water and most by far of the trumpeter swan population in the refuge. But still, all were white, no grey cygnets. Bad year for reproduction here. At least the system of dikes installed throughout do a pretty good job of making sure some places keep a good supply of water, as well as letting others dry out periodically.
Continuing onward, one corner tree had a couple suspiciously familiar shapes in its dead top, so I crawled carefully closer, window already down, radio silent. It was a pair of bald eagles, and I got them from three different directions, the last one with the angle of the sun hitting their heads from the front instead of silhouettes. An oncoming car, seeing me, had the courtesy to mimic my car's actions and got their own shots as well. The eagles barely turned an occasional head the whole time. While mature with their white heads, and presumably a pair, there was barely anything which could be called a nest in the top crotch of that tree, just a few extra sticks. They'll learn to build one, hopefully next year with better water to hold fish enough to feed the next generation and the next. Otherwise I have to wonder how far they'll have to fly for a real food supply. The St. Croix River is several miles away, straight west.
After the eagles there were two pairs of sandhills along the road, each pair about a hundred yards away from the next pair, heads sticking up through the tall grass by about 6 inches. With the seond pair I decided to stop and wait to see if another head popped up or it was just a single crane. It popped up. Smaller birds in abundance included goldfinches and red winged blackbirds today, plus one slightly larger bird with a darker head and the rest of the body a dark rust color, as far as I could see in the few seconds it stayed put. But with impeccable timing it flew off before I could get a shot, The redwings were doing a great job of stretching wings so more color showed until the camera came up to the window, then zip!
Heading home I reflected that I hadn't seen any babies of anything on this day. No turtles on a road or sunning on a log which would have been too high out of the water to climb on anyway. I also had missed turkeys until about 3 miles south of town, and any deer until the other end of the same field the turkeys were in. All in all, however, a great day at Crex. Now cleaning up the photos will be what makes or doesn't make a great tomorrow. Plus a little more yard work.
No comments:
Post a Comment