It was a pleasant mix of ornithological experts and novices that set forth from the visitors center on this warm and sunny, cool and breezy, everything but snowy Spring day. We began our ‘hike’ by sitting on the platform overlooking the beaver pond, lazily eating our lunches while watching the redwing blackbirds and swifts flitting overhead, eating their lunches. Later we walked along the old abandoned railroad bed, past meadows and swampy bogs. We saw many ducks, geese, and mallards, a muskrat, turtles, and a heron or two flying overhead. Highlight of the trip was listening to the comical OOONKA CHOONK, OONKA CHOONK of an American Bittern hiding in the brush.

Participants – Julie Nelson (and apparently nameless?) husband, Fiona and Luke (young bird lovers), Pete Saile, Karl Riemer, Linda Evans