For the last three weeks I have been shooting nothing but sports championships for the state. Spend a weekend shooting, cull and edit several thousand images and repeat. I truly enjoy shooting sports, especially with my friends Becky and Dave, but after the third or fourth week I’ve had enough for a while.
So it was great that Mel and I had a chance to get away for a couple of days together and decompress a little. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t have cameras in our hands!
We took a trip up to Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge just outside of Batavia. It’s 11,000 acres of prime wildlife habitat, especially waterfowl and wading birds. Click images to enlarge

A pair of juvenile Swans looking for breakfast

It was really nice to get away and spend the day wandering the refuge, but it looked like we were a bit early for the migration. The Swans are always one of the first to return to the refuge, and there were plenty of them there. Some will stay and nest right there, and others will continue their journey north. But the ducks were still not very plentiful. Ringnecks and Pintails were the most common, just not in sizeable numbers. Yet. But I’m guessing that in another week or so the place will be loaded with all kinds of waterfowl, including Great Egrets.
So on our way back, we went east on the thruway and stopped by Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge to see if there was anything different there. Unfortunately, the wildlife drive wasn’t open for the season yet but what we found behind the visitors center made up for it.
A decent size flock of Sandhill Cranes were there feeding. Now, that’s not unusual for them to feed behind the center, but I have never seen them that close to the center.
We were able to enjoy an hour or so of some great shooting being serenaded by the very unusual call of the cranes. I knew that this didn’t happen very often so I took plenty of images. I have added just a few of these beautiful birds to this post, and I hope you enjoy them as much as we did that day! And it always makes it more special when my wife is able to join me! What a great trip!