Thursday, October 7

Sunrise walk around the pond behind our camper.

One of three deer I saw on the boardwalk trail behind the Nature Center at Maumee Bay.

Ottawa has a beautiful new visitors center. The receptionist was feeding a baby finch while I was there.

A Great Egret at Crane Creek, where I walked to while at Ottawa.

Not sure if this was a Tundra or Trumpeter Swan. Guess I should have asked a real birder.

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise this a.m. We did get a little cold last night. Forgot to turn the propane tanks on so the furnace didn't come on. About 5 am we put the electric blanket on and finally warmed up. Yes, I know, you say, this is camping? Well, I like to call it camping in comfort. After a hardy breakfast, we drove down to the lodge and nature center. I did the 1.5 mile boardwalk trail behind the nature center and Mr. B walked to the lodge and out on the beach and then found a soft chair with a view of Lake Erie to wait for me. We had lunch at the lodge. After lunch I drove over to see the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge. I did another 3 miles but really didn't see too many birds. I was hoping to see the bald eagles that had nested there earlier this summer but I didn't. As I was leaving I did pass Ken Kaufman, who is one of the best birders in the country. I even have his field guide, and imagine this, he asked me what I had seen. I am sure had he been with me, he would have seen 20x the birds I saw. It was really neat to talk with him, he is a really nice guy. He also wrote a great book called The Kingbird Highway. I've been to several of his lectures and even got to go birding with him once. This chance meeting made my afternoon. On the way back to the campground, I stopped at a farm stand and bought some sweet corn. We cooked hamburgers out over the campfire to go with our corn before Mr. B retired for the evening. I just finished watching one of my favorite movies, "A League of Their Own". Now it's time to hit the sack. Maybe I'll be up early enough for another fantastic sunrise!