July 10
This morning we drove to Kilen Woods State Park. The radar
showed that a storm was coming but should miss us. The gnats and mosquitos were
intolerable here. The spray didn’t really do any good, in fact I think they loved the stuff. We walked close to the
car as there was thunder and lightening around and we didn’t want to be caught
out in the woods if it did rain. It did rain a bit and we sat in the car and
watched the storm pass. We saw several deer this morning. One came running
right through the parking lot to get to the woods.
the park office which was closed
cabin
House Wrens
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
the storm passing by
After the storm passed we attempted
to do some birding in the woods. The bugs were so bad we couldn’t stop for a
second, so birding was not going to work. We did hear a ton of Sedge Wrens but
didn’t get a great look at them. We had to turn around a couple of times as the
trail would be flooded out. When we got to the campground area we just followed
the road back to the car and decided to break for lunch since the bugs made it
intolerable. (we read that because of the late thaw they weren’t able to spay
before they bred so there are way more than usual. Lucky us.
Des Moines River through the park
flooded trail - we had to turn around
cows across the river
We grabbed some fast food at Jackson. (small town with few
options)
Jackson County Court House
this park was flooded in town
this ball field was really flooded across the street from the park
Franklin's Gull in a flooded soy bean field
Our next area to check out was Spirit Lake which was just over the
border in Iowa. I have been to the other side of Spirit Lake years ago. Dad
used to have a seasonal Old Tyme Photos store at Lake Okoboji and the 2 lakes are
close together. It was flooded then too. The bugs were almost as bad here, but we did walk around for a
while.
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Peewee
Barn Swallows
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
We literally were right on the border between the two states
with the park at Spirit Lake on one side of the road and a biking trail on the
other side of the road.
We called it a day and drove home.
Tomorrow we are having an easy day checking out the Historic
Downtown of Fairmont and then coming back to prepare to move to our next stop in South
Dakota.
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