We had a couple of hot, humid and smoky/hazy days but today looks and feels much improved. The Main Pool continues to have oodles of baby coots, gallinules and grebes.  I got a picture of a fairly young brood of common gallinules with a parent next to the Wildlife Drive. Near the spillway and pretty close to the Drive, I found a group of baby pied-billed grebes. I was able to get a couple of pictures of them.  Sooo cute!!  Yesterday, we saw our first juvenile black terns foraging over the Main Pool!! They have white on their heads and breasts. They looked much lighter in color compared to the adults as they flew by. Our babies have grown so quickly!! Black crowned night herons have been amazingly active and visible in the Main Pool this year. Just past the spillway, we found three black crowned night herons. HOLY COW!!  I was able to get pictures of all three! Linda has been allowing water to drain out of Seneca Flats for a while to create some shorebird habitat.  We found two greater and two lesser yellowlegs there yesterday.  YAY!! Shorebirds, FINALLY!! As we approached the end of Eaton Marsh, we saw two first-year bald eagles soaring in the area above the nest, east of Benning Marsh. They appeared healthy and it sure was great to see them still hanging around!! Over at Tschache Pool the numbers of great egrets had increased since our last survey. The great blue heron nests in the rookery were almost all empty! There were many great blues down in the marsh with the egrets.  Our trumpeter swan family was visible yesterday.  They have two gray cygnets. We found some swamp rose mallow and blue vervain blossoming in several places around the Wildlife Drive.  Both are native plants. The pickerel weed in Seneca Flats is SPECTACULAR!!

 Hopefully, you can get out soon to explore and experience all the amazing things at the Montezuma Wetlands Complex trails, towers and the Refuge Wildlife Drive. 

Pic #1: common gallinule family Main Pool, #2: pied-billed grebe Main Pool, #3: pied-billed grebe Main Pool, #4: black crowned night heron Main Pool, #5: black crowned night heron Main Pool, #6: black crowned night heron Main Pool, #7: Caspian terns, ring-billed gulls and Canada geese Wildlife Drive, #8: great blue heron in pickerel weed Seneca Flats, #9: great blue heron Main Pool, #10: great egret Benning Marsh, #11: trumpeter swan family Tschache Pool, #12: greater yellowlegs Seneca Flats, #13: swamp rose mallow Wildlife Drive, #14: blue vervain Wildlife Drive.

ENJOY, be respectful and safe.