I love October, and I love Robin’s Walktober. I’ve been joining in for many years and I always look forward to posting about some adventure that I’ve done especially for this post.

If I’m totally transparent, this was actually a drive rather than a walk. But all is fair in love and Walktobers.

For this year’s Walktober I visited the Shiawasee National Wildlife Refuge, which is about an hour north of me and just 5 miles north of Frankenmuth Michigan. There’s hiking trails along the dikes that manage the water and a motor drive around the perimeter of the portion of the park that’s public.

The drive is only open from June 1 to September 30 every year. So, being totally transparent, this Drivetober was actually done on September 30. Not even in October!

Still I think Robin will stretch the rules for me this one time. I hope.

On the drive you’re not allowed to just stop wherever you want. But people do, for the fleeting moment it takes to grab a photo, especially if no one is behind you.

There are a couple of spots designed to pull off the road, but rarely is there anything you want to see from those spots. The drive is mainly on the top of the dykes, with water on either side, so you don’t have a lot of options.

I’ve been known to drive the 6 mile loop twice during a visit. I haven’t been up there for the last couple years so I was excited to see what I’d find.

I was specifically looking for pelicans.

Mostly I saw egrets (big white birds) and blue herons (big grey blue birds) and lots of little unidentified birds.

If I’m honest it was mostly egrets. I’ve always had trouble photographing egrets because they’re all white and so often end up blown out in a photograph where the camera sets the shutter speed for the rest of the image.

I shot 1800 images. As you can imagine, some are not so good.

But I weeded it down to 130 images that I’m mostly pleased about.

And no, I’m not going to subject you to 130 pictures of egrets. I’ll try to pick the best or most interesting, but sometimes I might slip one in that has a soft focus because it was the best I could get. I hope you’ll understand.

I can say most of these birds were a really really long way from the car.

I think I want a 600m lens for a photo shoot like this. Especially if I’m in a car and not lugging it four miles through the woods. Which, if I’m honest, isn’t very often.

Maybe I should rent one on the few occasions I got back up to the drive. Anyway…as I said I was mostly looking for pelicans.

Bet most of you don’t know that Michigan even has pelicans. I didn’t either until I started seeing photographs of them out at this magical place. And I don’t always find them at all.

But I found them, far off in the middle of the water, mere specks with my naked eye. And of course, like most of the rest of the birds I’d seen that day, they took off as soon as I stopped the car.

It was a thrill to see them, and once I had, I felt the trip was worthwhile. Even though I didn’t see one bald eagle.

I headed toward the exit smiling…when suddenly….

…wood ducks! The side of the drive was tall with grasses, so it was hard to get a shot. I thought I’d maybe just step out of the car to get above the grass…

…but of course they flew instantly. That’s OK, I found these 3 guys just up the road.

So….herons, egrets, swans, pelicans and wood ducks. I can’t wait until the drive opens again next June. There will be babies to photograph by then. And you just never know what else. If I time it with migration there will be hundreds of sand hill cranes, or lots of little bouncy warblers.

Meanwhile I’m sure I’ll be up there a time or two to hike the trails. It’s harder to see birds in the woods, and no matter how quietly I try to walk they always hear me coming, but it’s a beautiful place on foot too.

If you’re ever over in my part of the world, let me know…I’ll go back up with you to see what we can see!

Thank you, Robin, for hosting Walktober again this year. I wouldn’t miss it, and I’m looking forward to seeing where everybody went on their own adventures!