March 18 -- A Windy Day for the Birds at Overton Wildlife Area

The wind during the early morning of March 18 had gusts up to 45mph (according to weather.com) and was supposed to return later in the day, so as the weather caused any hiking to be cancelled I opted for another spin through the Overton Wildlife Management Area. It was a good choice as there was a lot of activity going on. I passed by the tree used for nesting by Great Blue Herons and counted at least 15 at one point, flying around --

They're getting the nests ready...Then I drove to Honeybee Pond -- and managed to surprise 2 Hooded Mergansers on my side of the pond, who immediately took off to the other side, but I still managed to get some good photos --

The grain fields were pretty quiet for once, hardly any Canada Geese there and the recent Snow Goose was a no-show, but the Wild Turkeys were gobbling about -- 

Aren't the males spectacularly ugly? Then I went to what Norm and I call "Yellow-Rumped Warbler Lane", a pathway lined with trees frequented by Yellow-rumpeds. Broken branches were strewn everywhere, evidence of last night's wind -- and the wind was starting to pick up again by this time. Yet the swallows were EVERYwhere -- I must've counted at least 100 at one point. Tree, Rough-winged, and even a few Barn Swallows were zipping about, so as the wind was slowing them down a bit I took a landscape shot with the 500 f4 showing the swallows --

Savannah Sparrows were in the tall reeds -- 

Then I went down to Pintail and Wilson Ponds in the southern section of the wildlife area. The wind was causing the ducks to hunker down, but some still did try to fly -- 

And two Canada Geese came a-honking, flying down the pond --

By this time I'd had enough of the wind, so I headed back to the RV park where I did laundry, took a shower and started preparing Discovery for the next leg of the trip to Joshua Tree National Park on Sunday...