Last weekend my father and I visited Horicon Marsh and National Wildlife Refuge where we went on an early evening, two-hour boat tour.

A few times we were fortunate to get some great views of birds close up, like this sandhill crane.

We saw quite a few ducks (above was my best duck shot) and even some geese with goslings (below).

It was a bit windy and cool that evening, but the ride along the channels of the marsh was real nice, and provided us with some great bird watching.

A couple of times, flocks of pelicans gave us an aerial show.

I even caught one of the pelicans flying right over the boat.

We wouldn’t have seen nearly as many birds as we did, without our expert guide pointing them out (like this killdeer on the ground).

Another lucky shot. This one of the killdeer flying away.

As the sun set, the swallows that had been flying just above the water to feed on insects decided to find a spot to rest for the night.