Magnus in the Swamp, Day 8

Thursday, December 11. 

It was quite chilly in the morning--52 degrees at 9 am. But also very sunny and calm. I saw lots of gulls and avocets clustered on the shore but after an hour they'd scattered out on the water.

Snow Geese
 For our day trip, we went across the Cameron Ferry, which was free going east, and headed to the Cameron Prairie NWR.  Awesome place—highly recommended; I could have spend all day there.  There were millions of Snow Geese, and I also saw a small flock of Greater White-fronted Goose. There were Northern Shoveler and Blue-winged Teal and probably lots of other ducks. There were both white and dark Ibis, probably Glossy Ibis and White Ibis.

 More snow geese

 Ibis, probably Glossy Ibis

 Northern Shoveler

 Savannah Sparrows

 

 

And as we drove around the circle, I got lots of pictures of this Limpkin!   I thought it was a rail until I went back to see what kind of rail it was.  Cool!!!!

Funny things about the place—for one, there was a lovely little boardwalk but Molly wasn’t allowed on it.  An annoying woman quick-walked the boardwalk in front of us, thereby scaring away all the birds before we could get to them.  And there is a rather long wildlife drive around the pool where the Snow Geese congregated, but there were strict prohibitions about getting out of your car.  Some people did, but we followed the rules.

So as great as it was, it wasn’t nearly as great as it could have been. I’d still go back again in a minute. But I guess I’d leave Molly behind.

By the way, on the return trip the Cameron Ferry charged us a dollar. Horrid.

 But we saw pelicans (Brown Pelican)