The Birds Are On the Move
The birds are on the move: sandhill cranes, swans, geese, ducks going south. I have a theory about the behavior of cranes and geese when they stop over at a spot like the Crex Meadows State Wildlife Area. They seem to fly about aimlessly in groups. I think they are practicing—especially this year’s young—and doing team-building exercises. Family groups come together to form small flocks. Small flocks come together to form large flocks. Then, on to the southland. Maybe the flocks have to get to know one another before continuing on their journeys. Please take this theory with a large grain of salt. I’m not an ornithologist; not even much of a bird watcher.
Two highlights from my latest day at Crex Meadows. One was seeing a pond with with nothing in it but great egrets. The other was getting up close and personal with an immature but full-grown bald eagle.
Other shots from my day at Crex Meadows
If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.
— Ulysses S. Grant, 1875
After 150 years, still relevant.