March Nature Walk

Isn‘t it crazy what one warm, sunny day can do for your psyche? Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous outside, so Boy #2 and I went for a nature hike. We'd typically take our puppy, Gordy, but we knew we wanted to scope out some wildlife, and we didn't want Gordy to spook anything.

We ventured to Purple Martin Lake, hoping to get some bird shots. Unfortunately, we didn't get great shots of birds, but we still have an enjoyable time. We hiked the entire mowed grass trail to the river, and even deviated from the trail a bit. It was muddy, but we were equipped with our rain boots. I was shooting with my Sony A7III Mirrorless camera with a Sony 28-70 lens. My lens choice was not ideal, as I needed a longer focal length to get closer shots of the birds in flight. Kiddo was using his Sony point and shoot camera. While we were walking, we were discussing getting him his down DSLR Camera in a few years, if he's still interested in photography.

I did get some action shots of these white birds over the lake, but because of the short focal length of my lens, I wasn't very happy with the outcome. When I asked kiddo what type of bird, he thought they were, he responded with, "Pelicans. Definitely pelicans." I'm a bit skeptical, so what do you think, Internet?

Although we didn't find much wildlife on this particular hike, we did find a lot of empty nests and dried milkweed pods. Last summer, we loved coming out this way and taking macro shots of the bees and butterflies feasting on the milkweed flower. We also saw some debris that was washed up along the shore, and kiddo was convinced it was a capsized boat. I'm thinking it's more like an old gas tank that just got dumped.

When we went off the trail, we heard rustling in the prairie and saw movement, likely a small mammal like a mouse, chipmunk, or vole. Our stomping rainboots scared him away before we caught a closer look at him. We also found a lot of holes in the ground. One particular was likely a fox den. It had two exits. Kiddo wanted to investigate further with a large stick, but I quickly shut that down. We did not need to perturb any mamas with young kits.

Further along, we came across this pawprint in the mud. I'm not good at identifying tracks. It could be a coyote, bobcat, or a larger dog breed. The tracks led down to the water, where this dam was built. Again, kiddo was positive that a beaver had made the dam. We didn't see any signs of a beaver though.

We hiked a bit further and saw a tree completely uprooted and across the creek bed that flows from the river to the lake. Kiddo was intent on going down to explore, despite my many warnings. Although the weather was in the high 50's, there was still snow on the ground, and parts of the trail were muddy and other parts were very slick with the slush from the melting snow. This particular part was both. Kiddo wiped out and went sliding on his bottom. I had to firmly plant my feet in place and pull him up. His camera knocked against the bank and came out pretty rough looking. We talked about cleaning his lens when we got home.

Once we made it to the river, we saw a gazillion geese. It was so loud! The photos really do not do the scene justice.

On our drive home, as we were driving to the exact spot in the road I saw a bob cat last fall, a hawk scooped down in front of our vehicle--only about ten feet away! This is what we were hoping to find all day! The hawk flew alongside of us for 100 meters or so before flying off into a tree. Sadly, my camera was already put away, and my camera settings would not have been correct. Kiddo assured me he got a good shot though. As we were pulling into our neighborhood, a hawk (unsure if it's the same one or a different one) landed on the telephone wires. I guess that just proves that you don't need to travel very far to see wildlife. This summer I'll try to scout out some coyotes or deer in the neighbor's horse pasture.

Although our wildlife photos were mostly a bust, we had a great time enjoying the sunshine, soaking up the vitamin D, getting some exercise, and just enjoying each other's company. What trails and parks should we hike next?

Disclosure: some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a small commission. Keep in mind that I link these companies and their products because of their quality and not because of the commission I receive from your purchases. The decision is yours, and whether or not you decide to buy something is completely up to you.