Friday, May 13, 2016

Horicon National Wildlife Refuge

Our trip to Horicon NWR went well. We stopped at the visitor center, met some of the staff, then Steve, Project Leader, led us to our spot where we set up in the rain!!!

We are located on a ledge, looking down on part of a vast wetland.

The header picture was taken out our back window of the first nice sunset.

We don't officially start until Wednesday, but Erin, Park Ranger, asked if we would like to take some water samples to Madison...so off we went. 

We had no problem finding the place...straight down 151.

We got a peek at the Capitol Building. We will be touring that soon.

The first nice day since setting up, we were ready to see the area.

A 3 mile auto tour was in store. Notice the name: Ternpike.

There was a drawdown in an area where we stopped to see how many shorebirds we could spot. We were really enjoying it when a red tailed hawk scared everything off. We got a total of 12 birds.

Horicon NWR supports the largest nesting populations of redhead ducks east of the Mississippi. It is not just wetland habitat, but upland habitats, like prairie and woods, making a diverse habitat.

I opened my bedroom window to enjoy the cool weather and heard an explosion from an army of frogs...they serenaded us to sleep.

Yesterday, I heard the geese making a commotion, got my bins to see a coyote harassing the geese with all their goslings. He went away empty handed.


We will be sharing more about this area as we see and learn more about it.

We have a good feeling about this place and the people we have met.




The visitor center is VERY nice.

Click on the picture at the right in order to read it better.



Until next time...       





8 comments:

  1. Looks like a good place... love the "ternpike" sign! Are the mosquitoes bad at your rig being so close to the marsh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. So glad you are settled in. Will contact you in June for our visit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That looks like a great site and a nice refuge. We'll be eager to learn more about it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Years ago, in the mid 1980s, we lived in Wisconsin. One day we put our canoe into a stream or canal and enjoyed all the birds. We saw flocks and flocks of geese, looking like flights of B-15s during war time. Then we spotted a sign indicating we were in the Horicon Marsh and all boats were forbidden. Oops. We got out as soon as we could. It's a great place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How funny!!! The southern end of Horicon is the marsh which is run by the state. The refuge is the northern part which belongs to the refuge. The Rock River runs through here and I bet that is where you launched.

      Delete