Orientation Day

Now it's time to learn about this refuge.  Our fellow volunteers and friends, Kurt and Virginia gave us a tour of the area.

Here we are side by side, Kurt and Virginia on the left and us on the right.  You will notice, we both have Hitchhikers.  Isn't the sky beautiful?  

This is headquarters and it is in walking distance from our rigs.

Of course, we had to have lunch and this was our choice.  They just happened to have a reuben sandwich and it was delicious!!!

How about this Wilson's Phalarope in breeding plumage?  This I spotted at one of the wetlands.  

This is taken at one of the overlooks.  The refuge is in a valley with mountains all around us.  More about the refuge in a later post.

This is one of my favorite landscape shots.  This is the Illinois River that snakes around as seen from the overlook.

At this refuge, we have White-tailed Prairie Dogs.  The eye smudge is characteristic and since there is research going on in this town, they are painted in black...therefore no white tail on this guy.

This is the Moose/Goose Nature Trail with a nice boardwalk.

And how appropriate is this???

Big Daddy was just around the corner.


Until next time...