I had never been to Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area during the annual waterfowl migration. More than a couple people told me it was a sight to see and when I found out Rick Wiltraut from Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center was running a program there, I had to go. Most of the group drove down with Rick from Jacobsburg and some of us met them there. For me it was closer just to drive to Middle Creek. Above Rick is starting the program in Middle Creek's Education Center. He explained the importance of the Management Area and went over the species that we might come across while taking the tour. From the center it was down to the water!
Tundra Swans were the first thing I saw. There large size and numbers at the first stop drew me right to them even though there were other birds around. Much of the management area has restricted access, but there are a few places, like this roadside stop where you can get up close to the birds. In total just off the road I would estimate that there were over a hundred Tundras that could be seen.
These are shots of the group closest to the road. In the photo on the right you can clearly see the size difference between a Tundra Swan and a Canada Goose.
There were many good flybys throughout the day that started with this Great Blue Heron. Over the winter I do not get to see to many of these. Most migrate out of my area during the cold months.
A small group of American Coots were swimming and feeding close to the road. None of the birds seemed to mind all of the people standing on the side with cameras, scopes and binoculars.
The group from Jacobsburg taking in all of the birds. As you can see everyone is bundled up. Temperatures which had been unusually warm dropped sharply and it felt like we were thrown back into winter.
At a stop on the driving tour of the management area, we had our closest look at Northern Pintail flying over head.
At the same stop as the Pintail I got my favorite photo from the trip. Three Tundra Swans went right overhead!
The main flock of Snow Geese were on a smaller pond in a restricted area. Here the group is getting a very distant look at the birds that numbered in the tens of thousands.
The geese blanketed much of the pond and some of the surrounding fields. This was really the best look we had at them all day.
As a result of the cold snap we weren't seeing as many species as we had hoped so the group decided to start heading back and bird another location where recently a rare bird had been sighted. Tyler Sacks and I did one more walk to a point on the lake before leaving. I was happy I stayed. Going out to the point we found the main group of Tundra Swans! There had to have been around a thousand! After walking back, both Tyler and I decided to try to catch up with the group.
We did find them and although we did not see the rare bird we were looking for we did make a stop to see a common bird with a rare coloration. This is a wild leucistic Red-tailed Hawk. It is amazing that this almost entirely white bird survived into adulthood and seems to be doing well.
From this view you can see some red in the tail feathers. It was a cool bird to see and it was awesome that it flew towards us when we stopped. For such a cold day this was a great program. If you would like to see other programs Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center offers throughout the year you can visit: Jacobsburg's Calendar of Events.
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