There are lots of white birds in our marsh. Whooping Cranes and pelicans have big white wings with black tips. Gulls and terns are mostly white birds. Great egrets, snowy egrets, and cattle egrets are white birds. Goldeneye, bufflehead, and common merganser ducks have mostly a white appearance. Snow geese are white birds. Hunters and birders identify and know these birds. The uncommon mistake of killing a Whooping Crane is not usually a failed identification but a bird in the sun or in a group of sandhill cranes that was unexpected. Young, over-eager hunters are prone to occasional errors in judgement or identification. Hunter safety courses and early association with birders makes for better hunters in these young folks. I have often wondered why birders aren’t affiliated with hunter safety or education courses. I am aware of the anti-hunting bent of a lot of birders, but if all hunters had the ability to identify species and sex of the birds they want to hunt, the game wardens job would be easier. Maybe KWEC would be interested in birding courses for hunters. My sophisticated duck hunting buddies know the birds by their flight pattern and formation before they are ever in range. That makes for safer and legal limits in our mind long before we ever take a shot. Some of my best photographs have been on hunting trips when the photographed bird was in range of my camera, but not legal for me to harvest. It is fun to get a perfect shot and watch them exit the premises. I call that double-dipping in the highest order. Ducks and geese in your decoys make for some beautiful photos when you are limited out and just enjoying the day. That is also a good time to practice calling and see what REALLY works.
You have to know all the above birds to recognize the unusual white bird in our marsh. We have some occasional visitors that are absolutely stunning. A couple of years ago we had a White Ibis that is common on the coast show up at the Bottoms. He was hanging out with a group of White-faced Ibis that are common migrants through our area. I got a few shots of him eating crawfish and enjoying the company of his beautiful brown/purple friends. He apparently migrated with the more common Ibis and gave us a visit.
Snowy owls show up almost every year. I hadn’t seen one this year until Jason Wagner gave me a heads up just this week. He was on the Ridge Road exit just east of KWEC. They are elegant birds, and sadly most of them don’t survive since they are poor hunters and are harassed by our hawks and harriers. I saw a northern harrier put a Snowy Owl on the ground last year. We found one that had been shot a few years ago — I just don’t understand that mentality. I can’t imagine confusing an owl with a goose.
We have a fairly rare Krider red-tailed hawk out by Liebenthal. Brian saw him while making rounds in that area and shared his location. Duane is still here, so he and I drove up there and found the bird sitting on an oil pump. He gave us a fairly decent shot and went to a tree in the middle of some private ground. I suspect he will hang out in that area for a while. Enjoy these shots of the owl and the hawk. The ice is coming off the marsh and geese are piling back into the Bottoms. There will be some mergansers and other beautiful ducks here pretty soon — don’t miss the show!

Doctor Dan Witt is a retired physician and nature enthusiast.