Sunday was a gorgeous start to the week. When we walked our 3ish mile loop, we had a breeze and 69 degrees, and a lot less mosquitoes.
We saw lots of cool stuff on our 2 hour stroll. Including our first Wisconsin Dekay's Brownsnake.
Monday, we met the International Crane Foundation folks at Williams Gate at 4:30 a.m. in the hopes of capturing a Whooping Crane for transmitter replacement. This is the first time since we have been Wisconsinites that we saw the sunrise.
It was so peaceful when we got out of the truck to the capture site. It was 46 degrees, hearing the birds calling, and the water flowing. I can see why the cranes would love this spot.
The trap was meticulously set by the capture team, then Hillary and Niki waited in the blind while the rest of us moved our vehicles out of sight.
Not long after we were parked, the wildlife started moving. A deer with a blackbird on her back walked right in front of us.
Not long after we parked a couple of Whoopers did a fly by. One of them was the target Whooping Crane. Unfortunately, they kept flying past the trapping area.
We saw lots more deer, a snipe, and a lot of other cool birds while we waited. We were on a group text with the capture team that kept us all entertained.
The Whooping Cranes never came to the corn, but a couple of Sandhill Cranes did. After about 4 hours, the trapping session was called. Oh well, maybe next time.
I rode around with Angie afterwards spraying Soapwort while Lauren went to Mauston to get a check engine light on our truck checked out. We rode all over the refuge in just a few hours, stopping occasionally for a photo shoot. It was a long but fulfilling day. One of the first days that I took more pictures than Lauren.
Tuesday, we spent a couple of hours changing the camera cards on the wolf game cams and checking our emails. While we were out, we saw a couple of whoopers across from the triangle. The first whooper sighting in this area for us.
After we finished work, we worked on the camper, then took a 2-hour ride nature chasing. We saw a few cool critters while we were out and about. By the time we got home, the rain set in and we are in for the day.
Wednesday, we got a few hours of work while stopping occasionally for a photo op. During this time, we saw 6 Whooping Cranes and lots of other cool critters, including the secretive American Bittern.
As we were nearing the end of Williams Road, we found an active badger hole. Lauren tried to get a picture. He saw it in the dark hole, throwing out dirt, but never got a photo op.
Thursday was a Happy 4th of July. We got our stroll in taking pictures along the way. We took a short ride then came back and grilled some ribs.
As usual, we had another great day of critter sightings. One of our favorites was watching a Juvy Eagle being harassed by Red-winged blackbirds.
Friday we slowly got started. We finally went to work at 10 am. We rode around and recorded water levels. And of course, while we were out and about, we took a few photos.
The rain set in for a bit, then the skies cleared this afternoon.
After getting a nice stroll in Saturday morning, we had an afternoon of wind therapy. It was way past due. We rode to Mauston then through Wildcat Mountain State Park. It was some gorgeous, hilly curvy terrain, from Mauston through the state park, seeing a few deer and several sandhill cranes in the pastures. We were told that this is a part of Wisconsin that was not leveled by glaciers many years ago. It took over 7 weeks to get good riding weather, but it was worth the wait. No pictures today of the ride, just memories.
We got back and had another relaxing day at Camp bird watching. We checked and found 2 very young baby hummys are in the nest.
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