A nature drive...

First of all, as I type this (it's 6:50am on January 31) there is a red glow on the horizon that looks like fire. It's been a very long time since I've seen such a colorful sunrise. There is an old saying, "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning." Since we're going to be getting a HUGE winter storm in the next two days, the red sky seems appropriate.

Yesterday, my husband and two of our friends (Rich and Carolyn), went on an 'eagle hunt'. This time of year with the river frozen except for the channels and very cold temperatures north of us, the eagles are driven to small areas where they can fish. We have a route we take most years about this time. Just south of Bartonville, IL is a road to a boat launch called Mendenhall Road. It's not very long but it does lead to open water in the river. We saw 13 eagles on that tiny road. South through Banner, through Little America, on to Duck Creek Sand and Gravel where we were disappointed with only 1 eagle, past Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge and into Havana. Our total eagle count for the day was 66. If there were that many we could see, think how many more were out of sight. We also saw two flickers, four bluebirds, a small flock of song sparrows, a flock of Great Blue Heron (have you ever seen a flock of them? WE never have and there were at least 25), a herd of deer, more geese than we could possibly count, and twenty-five hawks (redtail, Coopers & Sharp Shinned). All in all, a very good day for wildlife in Central Illinois. If you live in our area, I highly recommend the drive (and the sky keeps getting more red - wowzer).