During the fall color season we spent a morning hiking at Hoffman Hills. The hike started out in the prairie where the Big Blue Stem had turned a golden color.
We then started walking up the hill toward the tower. The morning light was shining through the trees.
The views from the tower showed that the colors were not at their peak but there was still some nice color.
On the way down I managed to capture some more nice color.
These are a few of the flowers now blooming at Hoffman Hills.
Spiderwort
Common Cinquefoil
Butterfly Weed
Beardtounge
There are a variety of flowers blooming this wee. The most prominent are the Wild Lupine and the Prairie Smoke. Orange Hawkweed, Goat’s Beard and Blue Flag Iris are also blooming. I used to see a lot of Blue Flag Iris around but most of it seems to have dissapeared.
I managed to photograph a few birds. I haven’t seen any Eastern Bluebirds nesting this year. Most of the nests seem to be occupied by Tree Swallows.
There were a pair of Canada Geese nesting this year. We were on a trip when they started sitting on the eggs. They were still on the nest until the end of this week. Most of the Canada Geese hatched their young two or three weeks ago and we were concerned that something was wrong. The first shot of the male was taken a couple of weeks ago. The second shot was taken of him earlier in the week when he was near the nest and looking depressed. When we went out yesterday both adult geese were gone and we couldn’t find any young. We concluded there was a problem and the young did not hatch.
Some additional wildlife around. This White-tailed Deer took of running. There were also a few butterflies around.
The grasses are also blooming in the prairie area.
Love to photograph the spring leaves.
The Prairie Smoke has just started blooming at Hoffman Hills. It is one of the first flowers to boom.
We spent the morning out at Hoffman Hills and The trees were in full spring color. I think the spring colors are almost as good as the fall colors.
The apple trees are in full bloom.
There are a pair of Canada Geese nesting on the first pond.
There are a variety of flowers in bloom. The Prairie Smoke are just about to start blooming.
The seeds on the maple trees are very colorful.
There were Painted Turtles everywhere.
Nice pond reflections on a beautiful sunny day.
A Vireo was flying around the second pond.
The Pussy Willows are in bloom around the area.
One of my favorite times of the year is the spring. I love photographing spring buds. When the trees are budding out the colors in the forest are almost as beautiful as the fall colors.
This past weekend after the Sandhill Crane Count we drove out to Hoffman Hills to look around. Not a lot happening. We did notice that the Tree Swallows have returned. We photographed this pair near a bird house.
There were some nice reflection shots in the two ponds.
My wife and I drove out to Hoffman Hills for our first look around this spring. We did hear some Sandhill Cranes and saw a couple of Mallard Ducks and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. This was the first Song Sparrow we have seen this spring.
The Pussy Willows are now in bloom although they seem to be much further along at Gilbert Creek Wildlife Area.
We encountered a Turkey Vulture flying over one of the lakes.
Pond Reflections of the Willow Trees.
Last years Flowers.
