Part one - Turkey and Swans

We traveled to Minnesota for Thanksgiving with my brother and his family and had a great visit. After stuffing ourselves one day we were happy to take off on an expedition the next. We looped around a section of the Upper Mississippi River crossing the river between WI and MN several times. River towns are steeped in history and natural delights. Our first stop was to see the tundra or whistling swans resting on their migration journey. They winter in Virginia and North Carolina. Birders have huge telescopes trained on the swans and they were happy to share the view, even teaching me how to snap my lowly digital camera over the scope for a close up view. It was incredible. They were so beautiful preening their feathers and feeding in the shallow waters. Part two tomorrow.