About an hour north of Milwaukee is one of the country’s largest fresh water marshes. The northern two-thirds is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the southern portion by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The marsh, of course, is filled with waterbirds and shorebirds such as this Greater Yellow Legs.
And one of the most handsome ducks—the Northern Pintail.
Then there’s the amusing American Coot. These fellows often battle for territory. These two took a break in the fight for possession of the tiny floating log to pose for a picture and show off their marvelous feet.
This fellow is a mystery to me. Green-winged Teals are common larger ducks and Cinnamon Teals are rare smaller ducks. Of course, this time of year, they are not in breeding plumage which would make the ID easy. This tiny guy could be a young Green-Winged Teal, but it’s very late in the year to be this small. Is it a rare Cinnamon?
My favorite birds, Sandhill Cranes were throughout the marsh and some took flight practicing for their trip south very soon.
The star of the visit was seeing one of the rarest birds in the world. Once nearly extinct, the Whooping Crane is up to nearly 80. Most have been captive bred and released but are starting to breed in the wild. I’d seen one years ago a couple hundred yards away among a flock of Sandhills. It was easy to pick out the bright white, much larger bird among the gray-brown Sandhills.
There’s a floating boardwalk on the north end of the marsh, and a short walk out brought a view of this pair less than a hundred feet away. I donate to the International Crane Foundation which is a bit west of here near Baraboo, Wisconsin where the major breeding and releasing effort occurs. It was a marvelous surprise to find this pair in the marsh.
