Blue Goose ~ Day 9

June 9, 2014 ~ Mauston, Wisconsin to I35 west of Northfield, Minnesota

My destination for the day was Necedah NWR. I got there at 0700. The Visitor Centers usually don't open until 0900, but the trails and auto routes are available. The topography was much like northern Michigan but more diverse...with a greater variety of hardwoods and shrubs. 

I sat for an hour just off the road into the refuge near an open swamp, a wide canal / ditch and tall trees across. The coolest thing I saw this hour was quaking aspens in the wind and thinking good thoughts of Maria, who loved these trees. Their leaves are small and almost round; their stems are flat so they catch the wind. Perhaps I never really looked at them before, but then I never really sat in one place for an hour without a book or a friend or phone or computer. The wind would start at one spot and move through the trees, like wave motion, and then for a minute or so, there was all this green movement, sort of like a million excited large green pixels. It was very dynamic, highlighted by the eastern sun, a wild shivering of leaves. 

I ate some cereal while waiting for the Center to open and read kiosk information about all the Leadership and Energy and Design (LEED) stuff they do which was impressive. And noticed a list of birds that could be found in the woods nearby, including Boat-tailed Grackles which are in Texas. So, I had to point this out to the guy at the desk who had just graduated from college and was in his second week working here. Yup, he said, after he checked the BT grackle range on the computer, not here. But I was humbled later because I saw 6 or 8 Black-crowned Night-Herons, and pointed them out to another birder on the marsh overlook (one of those guys about 30-40 years old who are super-birders.) And he told me they were Great Blue Herons. The thing is, I was feeling pretty good about my birding skills and never questioned these birds so felt very foolish and embarrassed. In fact, at first, I said, "Are you sure?" and he said, "Yup" - nicely. Of course they weren't night-herons which are about half the size of Great Blues and have dark bills and a dark patch on their backs....only about three major field marks, BUT, they were far off in the mud flats seen through shimmering heat haze. Still......

Necedah is another large refuge, about the size and shape of Horicon in Wisconsin and it's water is also managed, and I am realizing is a main function of the refuges everywhere. When the water is drawn down, plants quickly grow, providing food for waterfowl. Necedah's two big attractions are the Whooping cranes which nest here and the endangered dainty Karner Blue Butterfly which is found here. It's wingspan is only an inch and it feeds only on wild lupine. I saw several but they would easily be overlooked if one wasn't specifically searching. They flit about looking vaguely whitish, nondescript and very small.  But when they briefly alight, their lovely colors are exquisite.

Karner Blue on the tiled bathroom floor at Necedah

And I saw nine Whooping cranes from the boardwalk near the Visitor Center, in the distance, but distinctive because of size, color and shape. I actually went back to the car and got my scope to see them better, but in situations like this, the scope isn't all that great. There is too much heat shimmer, and the distance is too far.  But I then drove some of the back roads of the refuge and found two more on a small island in Goose Pool. I saw these better as they very deliberately moved from the water's edge into the trees. It was a memorable birding moment. 

I spooked deer who were resting in the shade under the boardwalk and bounded up and away, in turn spooking me. I saw a Baltimore oriole fly to her nest with the male watching in a tree nearby and then a Yellow-throated Vireo and several Red-headed woodpeckers, always so boldly elegant. And somewhat surprisingly, I rounded a curve on a gravel road and came upon two very brown Sandhill cranes who didn't fly away but just moved gracefully into the underbrush although I could still see patches of brown through the green. 

The insects were numerous and huge, but a breeze helped. I found ticks at three different times on my clothes. Jeez. 

I drove west to the town of Trempealeau which is right on the Mississippi River and then to the Trempealeau NWR where I spent at least a couple of hours.

Trempealeau NWR on the Mississippi  (Wisconsin)

I was the only person there and drove the 4.5 mile auto loop, stopping to watch a marshy area of the Mississippi from an overlook across from the Visitor Center. Again, there was a variety of habitat: river, marsh, wet mucky bottomlands, open fields / prairie and hardwoods, so the potential for birds was abundant, although, once again, June is not a prime month. I did see a first summer female Orchard oriole which puzzled me for a few minutes and had me paging through the field guide...a Great-crested flycatcher, a couple of House wrens constantly and melodically singing, Chipping and Field Sparrows and Black terns far out in the marsh and, heard constantly, constantly everywhere I go, Common Yellowthroats, though I only see them once in awhile...

The "Gates close automatically at sunset" sign got me moving on. I drove another 90 minutes to some spot on I35, about 20 miles south of St. Paul. This was a Flying J truck stop, and I realized I need to get to these early enough to "assess" them, so to speak. This one seemed a bit marginal but after changing places three times, I felt comfortable, so got ice and a hot dog, read a little and slept well enough even though I was pretty grubby. 

A couple of young teenage girls came into the bathroom, turned all the hot and cold faucets on full blast and then giggled and screeched and were really so obnoxiously loud that it seemed about a dozen girls were in there. I had seen them walk into an RV with their parents earlier but they almost immediately walked out again. There were acting goofy and high. I thought the RV was settled in for the night but it was gone when I went out again with the girls, I hope.