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This Morning Outside

by Diane Porter

April 10 , 2011
Birdwatching Dot Com
Fairfield, Iowa

These are a few of about two hundred pelicans, making a brief stop at a wetland off the Cedar View Trail, west of Fairfield, Iowa. They're on their way to their breeding grounds in the Dakotas and Canada. They spent the winter in the Southeast or Central America.

American White Pelican
Photo copyright 2011 Michael and Diane Porter

Jefferson County Park naturalist Therese Cummiskey picked yesterday to organize a trip to see the pelicans by noting that local photos of pelicans in recent years were from the second week of April.

Birders Enjoying Pelicans

Birders observed the pelicans after a short hike into the wetland.

Birders Hike into the Wetland

—Diane Porter

Outside Grid

See more pictures
from This Morning Outside

  

 

For a closer look..

The first optics a birder needs is a good binocular. If you then want to see birds far away, such as pelicans at a wetland, you will really enjoy a spotting scope.

A small, lightweight spotting scope that we don't mind slogging through a marsh with is the Nikon Fieldscope 15-30x50. Sweet little scope!

Nikon Scope

It's the scope you also see in one of the photos at left.

When we tested it for a review, we found its optical quality excellent.

See price

Name that bird!

NGS Field GuideA field guide (bird book) will help you to recognize the birds that share your life.

One that we like a lot is the National Geographic Guide to Birds of North America, Fifth Edition. It covers all the birds in North America, and the illustrations are beautiful.