the Way of the Turtle

A Brief Visit to Montezuma NWR
Sunday, January 1, 2012

I had hoped to go for a run this afternoon, but grumbling guts and some very uncertain weather made me reconsider. Instead I swung by Montezuma to see what critters were welcoming in the new year. Not much out of the ordinary to see - geese and ducks mostly, with the geese in the majority - despite the wind blasting across the wetlands, flocks of geese flew in while I drove through. Spotted a couple of raptors off in the distance, low over the main part of the preserve, but they were too far off for me to identify what they were.

When I drove out to the spot where we watched the eagles on Wednesday, the "snow geese" were still up on the hillside overlooking the barn, in exactly the same spot - I'm now certain they are actually decoys, probably to lure geese in so the farmer can hunt them. No eagles today, but I did see a number of tundra swans, and located another of the four eagle nests when I stopped along Rte 31 to photograph some swans and possibly some geese. Not an easy day for shooting pictures - the wind was so strong that it was tough to hold the camera steady.

So no run today, but there are definitely worse ways to welcome in 2012 than wandering around Montezuma...

JMH