You’ve heard it from me before, but I have to repeat it, that currently, we don’t have large numbers of birds, but there is REALLY COOL stuff out there!!  By the end of the day yesterday, two of the purple martins had hatched!  Woohoo!! I will include a picture I took with my phone of the screen at the Visitors’ Center.  So, for a few weeks from the comfort of the VC, you will be able to watch the “feeding frenzy” as the parents bring food to the growing baby martins!! On Monday morning about 8:15, I saw the sandhill crane family on the east side of Seneca Flats. They were difficult to see in the vegetation. It took a while but I finally got a couple of pics.  However, I didn’t need them because, yesterday morning around 11:20, the family walked out of the cattails at the north end Larue’s Lagoon, across the water towards Seneca Flats!  Sadly, they only had 1 chick with them. Just past Seneca Flats in the Main Pool I took some pictures of a great egret that was showing the “high breeding” green lores as identified by Richard Crossley in his, The Crossley ID Guide. He notes that they only display it briefly in spring. I had never seen it before, it was really cool to get a look at it! Toward the north end of Eaton Marsh, I saw two crows walking/stalking through the low vegetation. There was a killdeer fairly close by, calling. So, I stopped and watched for a while. All of a sudden one of them had an egg in its bill, then another!! Holy cow!! I grabbed my camera and you’ll see in the picture some of the egg contents smeared along its neck. It had quite a meal!! That rascal! Out along I-90 we saw a group of 7 adorable, unaccompanied ducklings. I struggle to identify ducklings without an adult around to give me a clue.  However, Jay McGowan identified them for me as wood duck ducklings. Thanks, Jay!! From the May’s Point Observation Deck, we saw a couple of adult American Coots and young coots.  I’m including a picture of a group of some adolescent coots up out of the water. We could also see younger coots, pied-billed grebes and chicks and common gallinules from the deck. In the Tschache Pool parking area, I got some pictures of an eastern kingbird perched in a tree.  We often see some along the Wildlife Drive. From the tower we saw LOTS of great blue herons and black terns.  Fairly close to the tower there was a pair of wood ducks.  We did see several wood ducks throughout the survey and some of the males are looking faded as they enter eclipse (non-breeding) plumage. The pied-billed grebe family seems to be intact in the Sandhill Crane Unit.  We saw 2 adults and 7 chicks at the east end of Van Dyne Spoor Road. Toward the west end of the road a female hooded merganser flew in but I couldn’t see any ducklings near her. I hadn’t seen a hoodie for quite a while. I also saw 2 female hooded mergansers later in the Main Pool, again, no ducklings. I understand hooded mergansers often leave a bunch of ducklings in the care of one mom.  I guess I saw the “off-duty” moms having a spa day!! It looks like some rain tomorrow with cooler temperatures, but moderating and maybe rain-free for Friday and the weekend.  Hopefully, you can get out soon to explore the REALLY COOL stuff at the Montezuma Wetlands Complex trails, towers and the Refuge Wildlife Drive.  Remember, the Refuge Wildlife Drive is now open to hikers and cyclists as well as cars.  Dogs on a leash are only allowed in and around the Visitors’ Center and on the Seneca Trail. ENJOY, be respectful and safe.