Winter Wings in Klamath Falls

I finally made it to the Winter Wings Festival in Klamath Falls.  There is so much to tell you I will have to break it up day by day.

My friend and I were only 50 miles from home when we had a wonderful portend of what was to come ~ a Rough-legged Hawk!  It was early in the morning, dark, snowy and cold so we were lucky to have seen him.

The six-hour drive was easy with clear roads and mostly snow-free.  As we arrived at Upper Klamath Lake we could see hundreds of swans basking in the sun.

We were ahead of schedule so decided to explore the swans a little more before registration.

They were magnificent!  Sleeping, preening, swimming, eating and even chasing each other.

 It was a sunny day and the cacophony of swans made us feel that we were in our own nature show.

An eagle drew our attention when he landed on a post nearby.

Our first workshop was with Paul Bannick and we didn’t want to be late so headed over to the OIT to register….

…after we watched a Red-tailed Hawk fly over.

Paul’s class was fabulous.  He asked each of us to state one thing we wanted to learn from him, then proceeded to discuss every single question raised and more.  I couldn’t wait for our field trip the following day to put into practice everything I’d just learned……

Paul was also a captivating Keynote speaker that evening sharing experiences from his new book,  “Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls“.