Followed the River Road along the Mississippi River. The bluffs and river are always an enjoyable route to travel. The red bud trees were in beautiful bloom throughout the forests.
What makes wildlife watching exciting is observing the unexpected i.e diurnal viewing of mammals.
Today at Crex Meadows we observed during the day - Beaver swimming in pond, a fisher crossing road in front of us and a gray wolf in an open field being harassed by a dive bombing sandhill crane. At 4 am the marsh was alive with a cacophony of marsh music cranes, barred and great horned owls, bugling trumpeter swans, drumming ruffed grouse and numerous American bittern "pumping".
Left Wisconsin to N. Minnesota and the Sax-Zim Bog where we watched Black-billed Magpies going in and out of their huge twig nests. Lots of warblers.
Into N. Dakota where we found migrating shorebirds that we missed in Wisconsin. Especially fine were the Am. Avocets. Now on to Montana!
Sounds great so far! Still 19 species of warlbers around the Sanctuary as of today. Jim and I had a Connecticut warbler this morning across from the Hussong trail head. Also, a Great Horned Owl with a snake in it's mouth perching in plain view.
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What a great start to your journey! Hope the weather is cooperating and that you have a pleasant journey. I can't wait to hear about the wildlife you'll see in Alaska!
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