Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Walnut Lake, Minnesota Lake & Jolly Green Giant – Blue Earth, Minnesota


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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