The Prairie Loop

Lisa joined me on today's outing. After nearly nine hours of volleyball spectatoring and family, we took the dog and headed for a short hike around the big pond at the St Olaf Natural Lands. We've hiked this loop many times, out along the wooded south side of the pond then back through the wide open restored prairie. Today may well have been one of the colder visits, but the prairie colors in winter were rich and vibrant and worth the wind-bitten nose and cheeks.

As we walked out onto the prairie our dog ran some distance ahead then stopped. It appeared, at first, the two other big dogs were joining him. Only they weren't dogs. A pair of White-tailed Deer walked directly toward the dog and us, stopping at a distance of about thirty yards. The deer stretched their necks, raising their heads and focusing their ears until they suddenly realized what company they'd fallen in with. One bounded away and then the other, white-tailing it through the tallgrass prairie.

Driving home we crossed campus. And just as we were commenting that we'd seen not a single bird on this hike, Lisa spotted a Red-tailed Hawk. The hawk was perched low in a tree directly over a sidewalk. I took a few hurried photos out the car window, with the view cluttered by branches. Despite the obstructed, I was pleased and considered it a triumph since it was the first hawk I'd ever managed to photograph.

Posted on January 8, 2017 05:04 AM by