It only rained once during our tour today-only problem was it did it from 8 to 11.  Don, Ross and I went out and braved the elements today for a tour of Jackson County lakes.  We visited 7 locations and recorded 21 waterfowl species and a total of 42 taxa.  The traditional start was Watkins Lake, where we had the  most wind and rain. Visibility was not great but was productive including one Common Loon, and 150 Ring-necks.

Our next two stops with two views of Norvell lake yielded some Belted Kingfisher and Goldeneye. 

Little Wolf lake had a sizable raft of Less Scaup,  a group of very exited  Bufflehead, and some Redhead & Canvasback.

We found our only American Coot at Grass Lake where the rain picked up a bit.

Our view of Portage Lake from the county park yielded several large flocks of Lesser Scaup, Common Merganser, and Bufflehead.  Our portable blinds worked very well at this location.

(Steve Jerant)

The wetlands off Cutler & Dunn Rds. gave us a strong finish of 11 waterfowl.  We got our only Wood Duck of the morning on this very approachable wetland.  The water levels are back up to a good level and has been very productive the last two years.  This is a great spot to check out--after your visit to Haehnle Sanctuary, of course.

An eBird trip log is available HERE.