Christmas At Salt Plains

A group of pelicans making lazy circles above me. You can see they are beginning to get their breeding plumage and the bump on the bill beginning to form.

On Christmas day, I took an afternoon drive on gravel roads. I headed southwest from Wellington, just wanting to see what there was to see. I kept taking one road and then another purely random, and after an hour I decided to see just where I was and looked at Google Maps.

Most shorebirds have long since left for warmer climate, but a few are still hanging around.

Without intending too, I had made my way only about 20 miles from Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge. This is a place I have been to quite a few times and really love it. Since I was that close, I decided the rest of the afternoon would be spent walking the nature trails and driving the auto tour.

This is taken from the observation deck on Sand Creek Bay. Not a massive number of gees, but there was a decent variety of waterfowl.

It had been just over a year since I was there last. You can tell that they have been working on the place and managing the ponds. It was a beautiful day, partly cloudy and 70 degrees with no wind. Can't ask for much nicer conditions in the winter.

Another view of Sand Creek Bay.

A flock of Sandhill Cranes arrives back at the refuge after a day of foraging in the fields.

Across one of the ponds, you could see an eagle nest.

I saw this adult bald eagle not far from the nest in the previous picture.

Northern Pintail ducks make their way across a pond.

The ducks were not at all thrilled with my presence, and took flight to land on the far side of the pond.

Shortly after the cranes came back, geese also started returning to the refuge in numbers.

I got a kick out of this flock of mallards. They were on a small pond, and then all marched single file across a small flat to another small pond behind this.

Another nice reflection.

There were a few deer hanging around.

They were keeping a sharp eye on me.