Day 6 - Turkeys on Turkey Day

We got an early start to find the dawn flight. The Sandhill Cranes and Snow Geese overnight in shallow ponds. It is thought they do this to avoid predators. We had been told that the geese were inside the refuge, but we found thousands of them intermingled with the thousands of cranes at the wetlands by the entrance where we watched the cranes fly in last evening. We obviously didn’t stay long enough since there were very few geese there when we left. 

As the sun rises, the birds leave the overnight spots and fly to daytime feeding grounds. The predawn sky was pretty spectacular with a deep red red sky and clouds, probably from the smoke from the California fires, but it gave way to a pretty flat cloudy sunrise with some blue sky to the west. That didn’t stop the birds...it just made it harder for the dozens of photographers lined up along the shore.

As we were having coffee in Speedy at the campground, we could see the cars streaming past in the dark as they tried to get to a promising spot for sunrise. We were a little more casual and drove to the crowded parking lot about a half hour before dawn.

As it got lighter, the birds started to lift off. Most of the cranes left first and departed much the way they arrived, in varying sized groups from a pair to dozens at once. About a half hour after the cranes started leaving, the geese decided it was time to go...all at once. They left in huge flocks, filling the air above us with birds. It seemed only minutes by the time virtually all of the geese were done. The cranes took more time and many were still there when we continued into the refuge to bird the tour road loop, about 18 miles worth of driving and stopping and getting out with binoculars and spotting scope. 

We saw lots of cranes in the dry fields and lots of dabbling duck in the flooded ponds, mostly Northern Shovelers, Northern Pintails and Mallards, with a few Wigeons and Teal. In deeper areas we found Buffleheads, Hooded Mergansers and Ruddy Ducks, with a few Canvasbacks, Redheads and a Ring-necked Duck mixed in. There were also a few shorebirds, mostly Killdeer, with a few Dowitchers, Yellowlegs and a single Sandpiper.

While waterbirds were the main feature, there was no lack of other birds. A Bald Eagle led Harriers and Red-tailed Hawk as raptors and we managed to tease out a few sparrows, wrens, flycatchers and meadowlarks, as well as a large flock of Red-winged Blackbirds flying around as a big cloud, flying up and down in a field.

The big surprise were the turkeys. We happened along a flock of more than 60 Wild Turkeys on the edge of a cornfield. eBird listed them as “infrequent”, but evidently not on Thanksgiving. They look significantly different from the turkeys at home. The brown color is different and the tails seem almost a tan rather than the deeper red of the New England birds.

We saw none of the Snow Geese until almost the end when we passed a wetland full of them, still mixed in with Sandhill Cranes.

We headed back to the campground at about noontime for lunch and showers. Ellen also wanted to upload the first photos from her new camera. The settings still need a little tweaking and more practice with the new controls. The gray day wasn’t the best time for the first outing, but I thought those I saw looked good.

The campground owners invited us and the other campers in for dinner in the gallery building, which also had a kitchen. They had smoked turkey and all the fixin’s, including a tasty red chile sauce. It was an interesting group of people and unexpected.

We will be off towards Tucson tomorrow, but don’t quite know how far we will get. We don’t want to get to the refuge before we get a chance to provision in Tucson, but the choice of good overnight spots is somewhat limited near the city. The weather looks good though.