I’ve seen Sandhill Cranes at Seney, but only for a moment and never long enough to get a photo, until now. We usually see them along the road to Seney and this trip was no different. In addition to the crane, we also saw loons and Trumpeter swans, completing the trifecta of Seney waterfowl. We can see the swans in Saint Louis come winter, but not as closely as we saw at Seney. We also saw a Great Blue heron, kingfisher and a small and black mystery duck. All-in-all it was a successful birding safari.

That was Seney, but the most spectacular bird sighting occurred the next day. Looking out the sleeping porch window I saw a fully mature Bald eagle skimming over the water, just off the beach. A moment later a gaggle of gulls came chasing after it. It was much too brief an event to photograph, but it was a vivid sight. A few years ago, I had witnessed a more successful eagle-gull encounter, at least for the eagle. I was on the beach when I saw the Bald eagle swoop down upon the unsuspecting gull that was floating on the water. The eagle thumped the gull on its head, circled around and thumped it again. On its third pass, the eagle snatched the now throughly stunned gull and flew off with it. I suspect that the eagle yesterday was trying to do the same thing.

Today is our last full day at the cabin. Tomorrow, we start heading home. We are taking a much longer time returning than with our rocket trip north. We might come back up here, after Jane’s visit. We’ll see.