Honk

It had been a while since I last rode out to Ankeny Wildlife Refuge.  What a treasure for our community. It's only a few miles, and there's just enough of a climb leaving town to make it a workout getting there and back.

I wondered what critters I might get to see today, and I certainly wasn't disappointed when I got there. 

Over a dozen great egrets were acting as the greeting committee on Ankeny Hill Road. 

A few bald eagles sat perched in trees, and several ducks were basking in the ponds. 

Other birds were busy chattering, and you could hear some frogs chiming in occasionally. 

Most entertaining of all were the hundreds of geese, squawking and moving from place to place. When they took flight together, they became a low-flying cloud of flapping, honking mayhem.  If you click on the second picture, you can see them just above the tree line. Several hundreds at a time, they owned the sky, loud and proud.

None of the birds seemed willing to pose for “up close and personal” photo opportunities. I snapped a few landscape pics where the birds look like little specks...man, I need a telephoto lens. 

Still, it was special just being there, clearing the mind, looking at nature.

And some old tires.

I checked the entire internet from start to finish, and nowhere could I find a tire recycling center that was part of the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge.  

It’s as if somebody just...just dumped the tires there.  Could that be?

Naah.  

Nobody would be that thoughtless, right?