I went out to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge on the morning of December 12 and saw some deer and birds enjoying the cold, cold day.

Here are some pics from then:

Two Whooping Cranes stopped over at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge on their way to Texas last week.

I took the opportunity Saturday afternoon to take my camera down and try to shoot some pictures of them.  Thanks to the help of a birdwatcher with a big sighting scope, I was directed to where they stood.

My 70-200mm lens did what it could, but I really could have used a longer piece of glass to take a better shot of these rare birds.

Maybe one of these days I’ll start taking up a collection for new camera gear.

After seeing the Whooping Cranes on the Little Salt Marsh, I went up to the Wildlife Drive at the Big Salt Marsh and took pictures of some great shore birds and beached carp.  Yes, beached carp.  It was quite the sight.

Little did I know that at that same time, 12 more Whooping Cranes were flying in.

Hmmm, might need to start collecting for that camera gear fund sooner than I thought.

Here are my pics from an afternoon at Quivira NWR:

I took my camera out to Cheyenne Bottoms Sunday afternoon.

I didn’t spend a long time out there, but you could already see the start of the migrating birds arriving.  More ducks and geese have taken up temporary residence.

Here are some of the pics I took:

I headed out to Cheyenne Bottoms again on a late September evening.

The weather was absolutely beautiful.  The mosquitoes were thick as paste.

I did find some nice pics of herons and pelicans still nesting there.  A few geese were around also.

The big migratory flocks are still far to the north.

Here’s some of the pics I took that evening: