Bird Watching in the Fox Valley---not very Sustainable

The word was in a local paper that thousands of birds commonly associated with water had assembled in what amounts to down town Appleton. There was banter of performing Golden-eye Ducks, clouds of Eagles, huge Mergansers and other assorted divers not to mention the spotting of rarely seen gulls.

So in a fit, of bird fever (sounds like a disease) my brother, Crow, and I  binoculars and camera in hand, headed for a junket of sustainable bird watching. I suspect, I was thinking sustainable (which is important now) because we didn't plan on killing any birds nor consuming anything that could not be replaced.

We took off in my diesel Gulf, the one that gets close to 50m/gal,(oh ya, that fuel can't be replaced in my life time) and headed out for the 50 mile drive thinking we were going to be over-whelmed in bird life. We made it to town in good form all revved up on bird adrenaline but found that the bulk of our time was spent rambling around town trying to find the damn spot where they were supposed to be stacked up like cord wood. At the yacht club there were a few stragglers pushing up against the far shore some 80 yards off, some Golden-eyes, maybe a couple of Redheads but nothing to create a froth.

Off to the next park and again nothing of great note. I was beginning to look like the newspaper article was a propaganda item put in the paper to attract high dollar watchers like us---you know the upper middle class jack-asses who come over, oooh and aaah, snap a few shots of favorites and then repair to the local establishments that serve the kacki clad, bino wielding, herbal-kerbal, intellectuals who look at birds. We could suck a couple of artisan beers and pine endlessly of our outing. Ya, ya, we looked like scum in salvation army sweats and dirty shirts, unshaven and babbling incoherently so as to disguise or trendy selves

We did walk out on the trestle and managed to get a good look, oh not a real good look because the damn ducks don't fancy humans and they tend to split as soon as a couple of Neanderthal-type dudes get within a 100 yards. We were delighted to see some posturing by the males Golden Eyes and the sight of a huge very white gull but the high point was the penguin that was sitting on the edge of a small island. Really looked like a penguin. However, once home with the photo chip in the computer it turned out to be large Merganser  or is it a Cormorant? ( turned out it is a Great Cormorant) Damn big in any case. Maybe he was eating ducks?

All of this was cool and the local food establishment did get their cut. We concluded it still worth it as the Golden Eye is not a common duck but the trip was not sustainable because only driving a horse would make that possible. We could have eaten venison jerky that might have helped---but then there is the economy that needs support. Damn, those birds are beautiful. Liked the Baldies too.