July 9
We started our day at a wildlife preserve at Walnut Lake. On
the way we saw a deer in a field. It was pretty far away, but it seemed quite
curious about us. It stood & watched us for a long time, turned to run and
then stopped again to look at us.
We saw a lot of large Carp at the dam and there were
Northern Leopard Frogs everywhere. We also saw 2 very small Catfish with tons of
babies. They were right near the shore and protecting their young. We also saw quite a few White Pelicans.
Eastern Kingbird
Common Yellow-throat
Tree Swallow
female Red-winged Blackbird
American Coot
Northern Leopard Frog
American Redstart
White Pelican
female - Red-winged Blackbird
Song Sparrow
2 Catfish with their young (the black ball in the middle are tons of little ones)
Our next stop was in the small town of Minnesota Lake. The Old Mill Park there was really nice. Lots of flowers and birds.
Canada Geese & Goslings
White Pelican
Pied-billed Grebe
Pied-billed Grebe - immature
White Pelican
immature Pied-billed Grebe
walk around the small pond
Forster's Tern
Chipmunk
Leopard Frog in the water
Purple Martin feeding its young
Savannah Sparrrow
We then went in search of food in the small town.
Jakes Pizza
We made one last birding stop at a small lake and a cemetery. The cemetery was amongst a lot of grassland which is good for birds. There were a lot of pretty old tombstones. Our favorite ones were the Fischer family that someone thought they might enjoy some Coors Light. I suspect they are waiting for someone to open them for them as the Fischer's have not had any. If only they had left an opener, perhaps the ghosts could open them.....
1827 to 1902
Coors Light on top
2 Coors Light - one on each side
the 3rd Fischer stone had one on top like the first one did
Eastern Wood-Peewee
American Goldfinch
On our way home we stopped at the Jolly Green Giant Park. Adding to the list of "odd things to see", we saw the huge statue of the Jolly Green Giant which is 55.5 feet tall. Sprout was there too, but only about 5 feet tall.
Surprisingly, the statue was not built by the Jolly Green
Giant Company, or even financed by it. The person responsible for the 8,000 pounds
of sculpted green fiberglass is Paul Hedberg, the former owner of the AM radio
station KBEW. Hedberg hosted a summertime radio show called “Welcome
Travelers,” in which he interviewed motorists who were passing through Blue
Earth on their way to the Black Hills and Yellowstone.
Interstate 90 was being built during this time, and Hedberg
was one of the citizens instrumental in ensuring that a section of the freeway
passed by Blue Earth. This section of the road was set to open in the late
1970s, and Hedberg came up with the idea of installing a Green Giant statue
nearby in hopes of luring even more motorists to pass through town. While he
received permission from the President of Green Giant to build the statue, he
was told that he had to raise the necessary funds himself. Luckily, the $50,000
needed for construction of the statue was raised by Hedberg and local
businesses within only a week.
Every winter, the Blue Earth Fire Department gives the Giant
an enormous red scarf to keep his neck warm in the Minnesota cold.
Sprout
Mallard Ducks in a pond on the drive home
Tomorrow, we are headed to another area for birding.
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