Today at the TCAAP WVA, I Saw a Crane and some Swans

Crane D7K_5470, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Lots of new construction in the Arden Hills Army Training Site started in 2011. The US Army built a reserve center and the Minnesota National Guard built a new readiness center. I'm not sure what building is being built with this crane but it's now visible from the TCAAP Wildlife Viewing Area. I'm kind of disappointed that view will be obstructed by a building.

I stood around the TCAAP WVA for an hour and half this afternoon and only saw mallards. Thousands of them hang out in the pond at the bottom of the AHATS gravel pit and they fly out in the morning and evening. Not sure where they go. Sometimes they just circle around and go back to the pond.

As I was leaving tonight, I had to quickly put the tripod down to get a shot of these trumpeter swans. Had I waited another 2 minutes on the bridge, I might have made a better photograph.