TRIPOLI, Iowa (AP) - When warm weather returns to Iowa, so do migrating birds. Some only stop by on their way further north.
Every year Barb and Ken Roberson of Oelwein go to the Sweet Marsh state wildlife area to watch for migrating water fowl. This year, the couple experienced a new perspective at the marsh. They took kayaks onto the water to get a glimpse of birds there.
“It’s a neat perspective from down on the water,” Barb Roberson told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (https://bit.ly/1pSWM0K).
The two had never been in kayaks on the water there before. Every spring, Darrin Siefken leads a series of excursions to Sweet Marsh to see the variety of waterfowl that come by there.
“Sweet Marsh is one of the top 10 bird watching places in the state,” Siefken said.
The Robersons decided to try the excursion. The best part of the trip?
“Making it out and coming back,” Barb joked.
The trip they took April 22 started with paddlers spotting a lone cattle egret - a first for Siefken in the area. Later, paddlers came across a flock of pelicans. From a distance, the birds were difficult to see against the low evening sun. As the group paddled closer, the pelicans took flight and landed nearby in a photogenic display.
Siefken, owner of CrawDaddy Outdoors, is a former Bremer County Conservation officer and used to observe the variety of wildlife that passes through the marsh each year.
“I thought, why not show other people,” he said.
With an inventory of kayaks, Siefken began leading marsh tours when he opened CrawDaddy Outdoors about nine years ago. For $5, people get a guided tour of the marsh for a chance to glimpse wildlife. People can rent a boat and get the tour for $10. Tours continue into mid-May before vegetation and insects make paddling the waterway difficult.
The 3,000-acre wildlife area contains multiple habitats ideal for a variety of species.
“You have the marsh, you have the woodlands, you have the streams and river,” he said.
Some of the paddlers who go on the tours are first-timers like the Robersons. Some, like Marge Shaffer and her friend Connie Schrupp, of Waverly, are regulars on the trips.
“We love the outdoors,” Shaffer said.
The Robersons said they were looking to try something new and will likely be back.
“We will be back out here - before the bugs come,” Ken Roberson said.
The number and type of fowl change through the spring. Some species that don’t normally call Iowa home - hooded mergansers and gadwalls, for example - are spotted each year at the marsh.
“There’s a different species there every week,” Siefken said.
The next marsh migration tours are May 6, 11 and 13. For more information or to reserve a spot on the tour, contact CrawDaddy Outdoors at (319) 352-9129.
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Information from: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, https://www.wcfcourier.com
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