Sunday, August 5, 2018

We Visit Seney National Wildlife Refuge On The U.P.

We woke up at the Soo Wally World and prepared for our drive to Seney NWR.  As we were leaving the parking lot we spotted something we don't see every day.

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Horse and buggy at Walmart.  He even had his own hitching post and trough.  Pretty neat.

On to Seney. 

We took a quick look around at the visitor center and then headed out in Annie to explore the seven mile wildlife drive.

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We really enjoyed this refuge drive.  Not only was plenty of it close to the water the whole time but it was scenic and has some unexpected hills.

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This Belted Kingfisher had caught a meal bigger than itself, not to mention its stomach!

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Common Loon mama and babes

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Pretty Scenery...

IMG_7182 Common Merganser Bird (1)
This Common Merganser mama had quite a brood with her.

IMG_7182 Common Merganser Bird (2)
They sure were cute.

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Half expected to see a moose in this scene but alas... none were spotted.

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Nice wildflowers bordered the road

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and hosted numerous butterflies like this Crescent

IMG_7201 Acadian Hairstreak (Satyrium acadica) Butterfly (6)
and this new-to-us butterfly (on the right) the Acadian Hairstreak (Satyrium acadica) who was hanging out with the Crescents.

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We also saw this cute little Skipper Butterfly that we have not yet been able to identify.

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At a couple of points along the drive we decided to park the van and walk back to look at flowers and insects.

IMG_7212 Common Wood Nymph Butterfly (3)
We got a nice shot of the Common Wood Nymph Butterfly

IMG_7219 Ctenucha virginica, Virginia ctenucha Moth (3)
and saw this (which, believe it or not, is a moth) Ctenucha virginica, Virginia Ctenucha Moth.

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This Geometrid Moth was hanging around.  It's super light colorings have made it hard to pin down and ID.

IMG_7250a Otter Mammal (3)
Out in the open water we spotted this Otter.

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In this pond we saw

IMG_7253 Hooded Merganser Bird (4)
this Hooded Merganser.

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At this pond we spotted

IMG_7271 Beaver Mammal (1)
this busy beaver.

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And, in our final pond we spotted

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two mama Ring-necked Ducks

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with their babies.

There were also plenty of sightings of very familiar birds and butterflies, as well.  We truly enjoyed our time at Seney and ranked it amongst our favorite wildlife drives. 

** A note for those we are not regularly in touch with.  We are not even close to Michigan in 'real time'.  But we are doing our best to sort through all of our photos and are playing a serious game of catch up when we do get some internet.  Given we are about to go web dark yet again for a period though... there really is no telling! 

So, stay tuned.....