Serene Setting

Iowa highway 330 went from two to four lane several years back. This marsh was one among several created during road construction. Increasing the number and quality of water bodies for our feathered friends has certainly helped them to stay around longer locally.

I usually pass by this marsh once a week and say to myself - "Now why didn't you bring the camera?" Well,today was the day,there are always birds of interest in or around the water. The weather was fantastic! So, I stopped to catch some varied waterfowl species.

I am not an expert in waterfowl identification. I have tried to locate information on a couple of the birds seen bobbing in the water,but at this writing I am unable to name them. My lack of foresight in bringing binoculars has left me without sharp definition of the two sitting mid-picture. I assume one is a male duck because of his bright colors. The other partially covered by upright vegetation, appears to be in the duck family, sitting on a nest?

This little goose was sitting away from the more populated island, in the company of a Red-Winged Blackbird, who was also enjoying the wetland experience.

It was interesting that for the most part life went on while I was there...My presence wasn't that disturbing. I suppose with cars and trucks going by at all hours they have developed a tolerance for outside stimulus.

I plan to keep an eye on things to see if baby ducks and goslings will become an addition to this serene setting in the future. ;)

Deer Generations

Posted April 7 ,2010 by CDGardens


My deer picture collection continues to expand.

Last year, I did a small study of deer home ranges, because of some behaviors that became apparent to me having seen it repeated over many years.

One reason I have made an effort to take pictures is to use the images to follow from year to year the passing along of some traits...Making me wonder if it could be the animal I caught years before that exists in my digital archive when they were just a fawn.

The picture above is a family group I observed frequently in my backyard the summer of 2007. It consisted of a mature doe to the left, her twins, and I believe the daughter from the previous year nuzzling with the little red buck.

Taking a picture November 3rd,2009, of the buck below, because of his unique coloration, brought back memories of the "KoffeeKlatch" and the question - "Is this the little buck whose family raided my Cosmos?"

What a handsome creature he has developed into if in fact he is one and the same. Others have seen him and commented on his color too. My hope is he survived the winter so I might see him once again. ;)