Saturday, November 9, 2013

Annual Pilgrimage to Crex Meadows

Last weekend, my sister, Holly the Pibble and I piled into the car for the annual visit to Crex Meadows in Grantsburg, Wisconsin to experience the Sandhill Crane migration.  I love Crex Meadows, it's one of my most favorite places in the world.  I could easily spend a couple days just driving around on all the roads through the wildlife area to see what's going on.  There are so many different types of habitat there, so you never know what you're going to see.  We were pretty excited to see these two adult Bald Eagles sitting on an Osprey nesting platform.

I did manage to get a photo of this pair in flight also.

There's a lot of water in the Crex Meadows wildlife area, from lakes to rivers and small streams and creeks.  This guarantees spectacular photo opportunities around almost every curve.....

The tamaracks were all displaying their golden fall colors.  It was neat to see them interspersed with the evergreens.  (Green & gold was appropriate for this adventure in Packer land!)

Holly is a very good traveler and loves any sort of new adventure.  She was happy the weather was warm enough to keep her head out the window.

Some parts of the wildlife area are quite boggy and this area of Wisconsin hadn't experienced a killing frost yet this fall, so I found these pretty fungi when Holly and I went off-road for a little walk.  Don't know what they are, but I thought they made a really pretty photo.

Pretty yellow leaves covered the roadway in this area sheltered from the strong winds.

And, of course we saw the sandhill cranes.  They are one of my favorite birds and I was thrilled to see this pair standing in an open field close to the road.

And there were plenty of flock flyovers also.  Such beautiful birds in flight.  I never get tired of watching them and even though this was a really quick and short trip, I'm glad we took the time to visit Crex Meadows again.



6 comments:

Gaelyn said...

Nice little journey and especially as Holly got to go along.

Jayne said...

So glad you and your sissy got to take the time to do this together and that Holly got to go along too. Sounds like a wonderful place.

troutbirder said...

What a fun place for fall birding. We used to visit Crex several times a year when Barbs sister lived in Siren Wisc. btw we have sandhills nesting regularly here now at the Iron Mine ponds....:)

Mollie said...

Glad to see a new post from you! Love it! You saw some great birds and took great photos. Love that the Pib got to come along for the ride! I lived in Wisconsin for many years but never heard of Crex. I have been to Sauk City along the Wisconsin River in winter where there is always open water and therefore bald eagles. Have you ever gone to the Intl. Crane Foundation in Baraboo? That's a pretty neat place to visit. Hug to you, Ruthie!

KathyW said...

Wonderful pictures of the trees changing. and the fungus, and the eagles. It is so nice to see the cranes, too. I said wonderful already didn't I!?

Kathy in Delray Beach

RuthieJ said...

Thanks Gaelyn. Yes, it wouldn't be much of a vacay if Holly had to stay home.

Thanks Jayne. Yes, it was a good time for all 3 of us girls!

Thanks Ray. Good to know about nesting in Fillmore County. I never made it down there last spring, but hopefully this year again.....

Glad you enjoyed it Mollie. The Int'l Crane Foundation is on my bucket list along with a tour of Horicon Marsh....maybe 2014 will be the year!

Thanks Kathy! Wonderful you could join us on the virtual trip. ;-)