From the Contact Station October 2017

New Digs and New Birds

After spending several years in our second-hand, critter inhabited contact station, we will be getting a brand spanking new one. Frequent visitors to River ‘S’ may have noticed the old contact station was moved to the other side of the fee Kiosk mid-September and has a slight forward list to it.  We aren’t just rearranging the buildings. That’s our temporary site until the new Tuff Shed is delivered and installed.  Our relocation to the new station will happen in a couple of weeks.  It requires some painting and wiring to be fully functional.  It will be placed in the same area as the old station was with a slightly different configuration.  We are very excited about the new station.

 

Meanwhile, while we are doing our own migration, our winter birds are migrating back into the area.  Ah, the sounds of Fall.  Flocks of geese, Sandhill Cranes and White Pelicans have been seen circling and flying into the refuge.  Water is filling in the sloughs and ponds, inviting ducks in for their wintering grounds. With water ways filling, we have had a number of sightings of cavorting River Otters in the slough.  When seasons change, it is always an exciting time on the refuge.

Do come visit the River ‘S’ crew at BirdFest.  We will again have a scope station set up just beyond the hunt gate.  It’s an area you don’t get to view as a visitor.  We hope to enjoy dancing cranes again this year.  Last year we had a family of Red-shouldered Hawks which frequented the area.  There is always something exciting to see.  So do come join us as we enjoy the abundance that Fall has to offer us.

• Susan Setterberg, Board Treasurer and Contact Station Volunteer