Serene Scenery Sunday

Hello, everyone.  It's me, Cammie.  Mom and Dad have been doing lots of exploring, kayaking, and birding in the afternoons lately.  It's too hot for Maggie and me to go with them, so we stay here and  take wonderful naps  guard the house while they're gone.  We love sniffing them all over when they get back and hearing about their adventures.  Mom was so stoked after one of them that I thought I'd tell you about it today:  they went to the Milford Nature Center.

The Milford Nature Center is located on the other side of Fort Riley from where we are, right by Milford Lake.  They have all kinds of wildlife exhibits there.  Mom and Dad's favorite was the raptor exhibit!!  Before I get to the photos, please understand that Mom had to shoot through a fence and wire "cages".  Mom's camera has a fixed lens, so she cannot override the point of focus that the control-freak camera choses.  (Her words, not mine.)  I'm sharing the best ones she took.

OK!  Let's look at some raptors!!  Here are some of the birds Mom and Dad saw:

Bald Eagle

Great Horned Owl

Barred Owl

Krider's Red-Tailed Hawks

The Krider's Red-Tailed Hawks is a sub-species of the Red-Tailed Hawk.  They also saw a Golden Eagle, an American Kestrel, an Eastern Screech Owl, and a Turkey Vulture.  And a Bobcat.  A Bobcat!!!  Mom needs to go back and get better photos!

There was a short trail by the Nature Center, so Mom and Dad hiked down it a bit.

Nature Center Trail

Here's the view from the trail:

Isn't that a pretty pond?

After their hike, they walked over to the Fish Hatchery!  It is one of only a few warm water, "intensive-culture" fish hatcheries in the country.

Fish Hatchery Raceways

Here are some fishies:

Colorful baby fishies

Just when Mom started wondering out loud to Dad about whether they have a problem with herons stealing the fishies from the raceways, this guy showed up!

"I wonder if they have a problem with herons stealing the fish...?"

A Green Heron!!!  She thought it was funny that he chose to pose on that sign!

"It's not stealing!"

Mom has only seen one other one in real life, and it sure didn't come this close to her.  She was thrilled to be able to watch him for a while.  He flew a couple times, but stayed close by.  Clearly, he wanted to do some fishing!

"Here, fishie, fishie, fishie!!!"

That was Mom and Dad's trip out to the Nature Center and Fish Hatchery. Mom is already planning to go back, so it had to have made her all kinds of serene! For more information, please click the links above and for more photos, please visit our album on Flick at this link.

Have a wonderfully serene Sunday!
Cammie!