A Saturday Trip to Necedah NWR

I'm getting way behind in my blogging (again!) so I'm going to try and get caught up in the next few days because my files are full of pictures that need to be shared and I need to do it soon while I still remember all the details.

I took my Sissy over to Wisconsin to visit the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge on the Saturday before Easter (since we were both lucky enough to have that day off). The weather was clear and sunny when we left Rochester, but by the time we got to the refuge the weather had gotten overcast with occasional rain showers (but at least we didn't see any snow flurries!)

Due to the over abundance of rain in recent weeks, most of the roads inside the refuge were closed due to high water, so without a four-wheel drive, we were limited in the areas we were able to visit. Fortunately, we were able to get to the viewing tower at the edge of the Rynearson Pool #1 where we were lucky enough to see WHOOPING CRANES! I had only gotten a brief glimpse of one on a previous visit to NNWR and this was my Sissy's first sighting. What beautiful birds! We actually saw 4 on this day and it was definitely worth getting wet & cold for.

After talking to another guy in the parking lot, he told me how far I'd be able to get with the car before the roads became impassable, so we took off down the road in search of other birds. We hadn't gone far when we spotted this single Sandhill Crane in the water-filled ditch to the right. We had been hearing them since our arrival and my Sissy was thrilled to see one so close.

While we were watching the crane off to the right, we heard more in flight and coming closer to us. On the left side of the road was a larger pond and that's where this pair of Sandhill Cranes was headed. Wow! We were so excited to see them in flight and so close!

They strolled around for a while and finally found this patch of higher, dry ground where they were able to spend some time resting, preening their feathers, and enjoying the few minutes of sunshine on this otherwise dreary day.

I hope all of you get the chance to visit Necedah National Wildlife Refuge some day. Their beautiful new visitor's center is now open and if you check their website, they have lots of great programs open to the public throughout the year. I hope to get another chance to visit later this summer -- I'm sure the water levels will have gone down by then!

It's Auction Time Again!

11-5-08 - Auction Results:

Meggie had the winning bid of $25 for her choice of neckwarmer "B." That leaves 5 other choices for anyone else who would like to contribute $25 for a neckwarmer of their own. Please be sure to leave a comment or send me an e-mail with the choice of neckwarmer you would like to purchase (anyone watching weather forecasts today have seen that winter is just around the corner--at least here in the midwest).

Thanks to everyone for participating in this auction fundraiser.

Are you ready for another auction? This month's recipient of auction funds raised here on my blog is "Operation Migration," those amazing folks who raise and fly with whooping crane chicks to their wintering grounds in Florida.

The migration trip started on October 18th from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge, and they hope to arrive in Florida sometime in January. Here's where we come in--with $$ to become MileMaker sponsors (quarter mile: $52, half mile: $104; mile: $208).

The items I'm auctioning off this month are neck warmers (just in time for winter). These neck warmers are hand-knitted (by me!) from 100% alpaca yarn (that was spun and hand dyed in Chile). Neck warmers are nice to keep your neck and chin warm--especially when you don't want to have the bulk of a scarf around your neck. My auction plan is this: whoever places the highest bid at the end of the auction may choose the neck warmer in the color of their choice. Then if anyone else is interested in purchasing a neck warmer, the rest of them will be sold at the same price as the original high bid. That way everyone gets a chance to purchase for themself or a gift and we also raise more $$. Does that make sense?

(you may click on the picture to enlarge it--on my monitor, the colors shown are identical to the actual neck warmers)

As in previous auctions, you can post your bids in the "Comments" section (be sure to indicate your color choice by listing the associated letter). If you don't want to leave your bid as a comment, you may also e-mail me (rjknits at msn dot com). My hope is that we get enough bids to sponsor at least a quarter mile, but a half mile would be even better! The auction starts tonight and ends on Wednesday, November 5th (I'll give you a little extra time on account of everybody being tuned in to election stuff on Tuesday)

Please be sure to click on the links above to find out more about Operation Migration. I think you'll be amazed at the stories and the dedication of the people who make this program possible.

Whooping Crane Festival

I pulled out of the driveway at 5:30 this morning on my way to Necedah, Wisconsin for the 8th Annual Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival. I got down to LaCrosse, Wisconsin around 6:30 and had the chance to capture this DWOO (driving while otherwise occupied) shot--out my speeding car window--of pre-sunrise over the Mississippi.

I arrived at the festival shortly before 8 AM.

Uh-oh, looks like there's already a pretty good crowd!

As I was walking to the entrance gate, I noticed that there was a variety of license plates (in addition to the Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois visitors you would expect).

I was able to hop aboard the 8:00 tour bus. Our trip leader was Caitlyn, who's been working at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NNWR) as an intern this summer. She's also been leading lots of other groups this year and was really knowledgeable about the whooping cranes and everything that goes into raising them here at NNWR, not to mention all the additional information she shared with us regarding the other plants and animals within the NNWR.

Hey, what's that bird over there?

That's no bird.....it's one of the ultralight aircraft that Operation Migration uses to help the whooping cranes make their migration trip to Florida. The pilots were just finishing up their early morning flight training sessions. If I had gotten an earlier start and made it on the 7:30 bus, I might have been able to see the whooping cranes flying along with this aircraft.

Could you imagine flying all the way to Florida in one of these? Caitlyn told us that the program will continue until approximately 100 whooping cranes have been raised and followed the ultralight aircraft during fall migration. She said they're currently at just over 60 whooping cranes that have been taught to migrate this way.

Here's one of the enclosures where the young whooping cranes are being raised this summer. It's in an area of the refuge where the general public isn't allowed to go, so this bus tour gave us a chance to see it when normally you wouldn't be able to. You can learn more about the whooping crane project by clicking on this link for the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.

I did manage to catch a fleeting glimpse of one whooping crane flying. They are a striking white color--especially when you compare them to the sandhill cranes which are quite common and in some fairly large flocks within the NNWR.

This is just another view within the refuge. On our bus tour through the refuge we were treated to the sight of many red-headed woodpeckers. I've never seen so many red-headed woodpeckers in one place!

The festival had several speakers lined up throughout the morning and afternoon, but since I was anxious to get back out to the NNWR, I only stayed to listen to Keith Kennedy give a talk about nature photography. I picked up a few pointers but came away with a longing for a new camera and longer lens (yes, size does matter!)

I then visited the big tent featuring informational booths on whooping cranes and also vendors selling a variety of goods. I resisted the urge to purchase another t-shirt or sweatshirt, but couldn't resist some new whooping crane "bling" for my binocular straps and my earlobes.

It was a fun day for me, but I realized after I got to the festival that it wasn't quite what I expected. It was a festival celebrating the whooping crane and I went expecting it to be more of a birding festival. I believe I was the only person there with a spotting scope and must have looked like a total dork walking around toting all my birding gear! Caitlyn did mention that NNWR has field trips geared more towards birders where we would actually be able to visit viewing blinds and see the cranes, so next time, I'll have to check out that possibility if I want more of a "birding" experience.

Stay tuned for my next post where I'll be taking you through the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and sharing some of the amazing things I saw there on my own.