A Glorious Morning

Mom, Candy and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather on Saturday before Mom & Candy headed back to the coast. We drove to the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge near my home and saw a variety of things that brought us joy and satisfaction!

The first thing we encountered was this Bald Eagle in the top of a tree on the side of the road. We expected it to take flight as soon as we got out of the car, but it stayed in the tree and posed for us.

It looked like a young eagle because of some of the darker markings on its head.

I have an application on my phone that allows me to look up birds and their songs. I played an eagle call and this bird perked right up!


Look at these aerodynamics!




Pretty magnificent!














Of course the fields were full of Canada Geese...
and the ponds were full of ducks.


A female and male Shoveler...


Male Ruddy Duck...





Red-tailed Hawk












We stopped near a beautiful Weeping Willow...one of Mom's favorite trees.


Candy was very intently photographing something on the ground.














I had to go over and see what she was looking at. It was some thistles, for heaven's sake! However, look at the beautiful markings...



Mom and Candy were examining a tree that was beginning to bud. You can see where we learned to take such an interest in nature!










These little Fox Sparrows were enjoying their blackberry perch...not for me!


We saw several Yellow-Rumped Warblers.

















Lambing season! Is that sweet, or what?






Awwwwwwwwwww...




Some trees were in full bloom...spring really is just around the corner!















High above our heads an Osprey soared.














If you could see this up close, you would know the Romans did not invent public baths! The water was really flying. Our morning was truly a "gift." Is doesn't get any better than this...does it?