To complete our weekend at Horicon we began with an early morning to hear the wonderful sounds of the marsh. We were rewarded with an American Bittern “ooomm-ka-choooming”, a Virginia Rail and Soras. As it got lighter out we saw a Short-eared Owl and a ton of American White Pelicans. There were several hundred and some flew over the dike road (glad to have a moon roof!).
We continued down the road and found a really tall Canada Goose; well, actually a Sandhill Crane that thought he was a goose.
Blurry through the windshield
Suddenly the trio of birds took off and continued across the marsh, just like one big happy family.
Another great bird of Horicon Marsh is the Northern Harrier. We were lucky enough to find a pair that was on a nest and actively hunting. The male crossed the road right in front of our car. The bins won out over the camera.
Forster’s Terns were hovering above the road and plunging into the water.
We ended the trip with approximately 85 species and that great tired feeling of a fun birding trip.
Read about day one at Horicon Marsh.
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