Ross Road and Muskrat Rver

 July 1, 2021

What could be a better way to celebrate Canada Day!

We drove up past Cobden, and turned onto Mountain Road.  We stopped to check the topo and Bill noticed 2 fledgling Eastern Kingbirds on the fence.  Then a parent flew in to feed them.

A little further along, we saw a family group of 3 or 4 Brown Thrashers and an Eastern Bluebird.

We made our way over to nearby Ross Road and drove slowly along. Bill Spotted a distant Wilson's Snipe at the top of a dead tree.

As we approached the extensive marsh, we could see a birder out on the road. We parked our car behind his nearly identical Rogue.  We got out and hiked along the road, Barbara up near the cars, and Bill down towards the marsh, where he spoke to the friendly local birder.

Barbara got a number of birds right near the cars, and also enjoyed the wildflowers.

Bill was feeling sensory overload from all the activity at the marsh.

He could scarcely believe it when a few Black Terns flew back and forth over the road.

We could have stayed much longer, but there were two other vantage points onto the marsh from other roads that we wanted check out.  At the first, there were lots of Barn Swallows, but we could not get a decent photo.  A Cedar Waxwing was more obliging.  On the wires, we saw both female and male Bobolinks.

It was lunchtime, so we headed for the boat launch and ate while it rained a bit.  Then we launched our canoe.

It was an easy paddle and we watched the Belted Kingfishers having their lunch too.

The banks of the river were choked with Flowering Rush, an invasive species.

Our target bird here was Common Gallinule, and we did see a few distant ones including a family.  They all scooted out of sight while we readied our cameras.  Many others were calling from behind the wall of rushes.  There were, of course, many herons and blackbirds.

We had to push through the weeds to get into Mud Lake.

The scenery was much the same, so we decided to head back.  It started to drizzle, so Bill opened his umbrella to protect his camera.

We were vey pleased to discover a new place to bird and go paddling.  We stopped at the Whitewater Brewery in Cobden to pick up a few cans of the local brew.