Yesterday, hubby and I went to Wheeler Wildlife Refuge, which was an event with Joe Wheeler State Park.
There, we meet up with a group from Oak Mountain in Birmingham.
Groups were coming from several other places.
There were so many cars that the park ranger had to direct traffic. Many parked along the side of the road, and many parked across the highway. Next week is the big event for Wheeler Wildlife Refuge glad we went today.
Hubby and I walked to the new observation building, which is where we saw the five Whooping Cranes with my new scope.
We also saw thousands of Sandhill Cranes, Ducks, and geese.
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| Cypress Trees |
Next, we took the Cypress Tree Trail, which is a walkway across a wooden bridge and all around is filled with Cypress Trees.
We could loudly hear Blue Jay calling out to each other. We heard White-breasted Nuthatches (what we call upside-down birds). We heard Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, and Eastern Phoebe, and we saw and heard a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
We walked to another observation station and didn't see any cranes but saw several Robins hopping around looking for food.
Hubby went back to the car, and I walked to the two-story Observation building that offers a wonderful enclosed view of our winter surroundings.
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| View of Sandhill Cranes, Ducks, and Geese from the Observation building |
That is where I met several members of a photo club from Gatlinburg. They said that they would have a booth set up at Gatlinburg's Wildlife Week and said to look for them if I went that week.
I saw a small boy enjoying kicking and picking up gravel as his family walked to the Observation building.
Walked back to the car, and we rode across the road to see more cranes.
We only saw a few but met several women from the Birmingham Area.
They were taking pictures. We did see a couple of white egrets.
Our next stop was a target to pick up a couple boxes of Skinny Popcorn.
For lunch, we stopped at Whataburger, where I ordered a #1 Hamburger with tomatoes, lettuce, onions, mustard, and pickles with fries.
It was an overcast day with rain hanging in the air.
Later that night, hubby and I enjoyed dinner with my sisters and brother-in-law. After the meal, we girls played UNO and dominoes.
Had a wonderful day.
