More Henderson, Kentucky slough area photos....

The area down along the Ohio River is mostly farmed once the spring floods are over.  There is a huge tract of slough (the Sauerheber Slough) running through the area that is preserved for wildlife.  This is the area where we see the Snow Geese in the winter, when they close the gravel roads to traffic.  In the summer the gravel roads are open to drive along and you can find some interesting wildlife scattered throughout the area.

 One road that runs along a field that is always partly flooded is a favorite spot for us to check out. This day, we got a bonus we had never seen there before!  Up on the power line, a Kingfisher was sitting!  At first we were so far away we couldn't tell what it had......a rather large fish! 

It sat there for at least 10 minutes or more....just sitting.  So we kept creeping closer in the car.  We were curious as to why it just sat there.....waiting for the fish to die?  Resting from the fight?  Waiting for her date to show up?  LOL  I don't see many kingfishers, so I was thrilled.

 We headed down another gravel road that we were unable to travel in the past, but our new SUV sits higher and we could make it past the wet areas that usually stop us.  Even though we have had little rain lately, parts of the road were boggy and wet.  There are swamps nearby.  These Arrowhead plants lined the wet areas of the road.

While trying to get close-ups of the flowers we suddenly noticed in the road puddle.....

 ......a snake!  About 4 feet long.  I don't know snakes, but tried to look it up.  Could be some sort of water snake or a rat snake?  We get water snakes in our pond, but Mike says they look different than this snake. It was very plain and black.

As it left the puddle, it showed off a yellowish underside around the head.  There were little minnows in the puddle, so I wondered if that was what it was eating.

A view along part of the gravel road.  Lots of meadows that probably are too wet to farm.  The skies were gorgeous that day!

Another wire sitter....a Bluebird.

 One lotus flower in the swamp

 A Monarch butterfly.  I haven't seen very many butterflies this year so far, but saw several Monarchs along this road.

Part of the cypress swamp.

 Close to the Ohio River near the boat ramp, there was another "swallow tree" like I had seen at Blue Grass last week.

 I thought that one swallow looks "fluffy" and wondered if it was a young one.

A more distant shot of the tree with the clouds behind it. The swallows were swooping down over the river for bugs and then coming back to rest in the tree.
We saw lots more but sometimes I just can't get a photo.  We scared a raccoon family that was scrounging around the buildings at the slough management area, but they quickly disappeared into the brush.  We also chased away at least one hawk in the area.  It's an area rich with all sorts of wildlife!

I love this area and wish I could go there every day! 

Driving down to Henderson, KY......

I can't decide how to divide up this post....we saw so many diverse things.  We stopped at Henderson's riverfront because we had heard the American Queen riverboat was in town at the dock.  The Ohio River is high right now, so it is limited in where it can cruise at the moment. 

 I think it would be fun to take a riverboat cruise on the Ohio River or the Mississippi.....slow and relaxing.  

 I just snapped a few shots of different parts of the boat.

 Looking at the riverboat makes me think about Mark Twain and about the old TV show Maverick :-)  I can hear the Maverick theme song in my head:  

 "Riverboat ring your bell, fare thee well Annabelle!  

Luck is the lady that he loves the best. 

 Natchez to New Orleans, living on jacks and queens, 

Maverick is a legend of the west."

(That's off the top of my head....so hope I got it right! Amazing what our minds choose to remember after 50 years! LOL)

 The smokestacks were attractive

 The wheel seemed small to me for such a big boat.

 As we drove through town, I spotted this sculpture........I think it is taken from one of  Audubon's paintings.  He is associated with Henderson and Audubon State Park is located there with a museum devoted to him.

And a nice quilt square high up on a building!

Need to add at least one bird!  We saw this eagle near the old heron rookery and the old eagle nest.  Maybe he is staying there right now.  As far as I know none nested in it this year.

On down to the slough area in the next post!

A few more Blue Grass photos....

We never know for sure what we will see at Blue Grass, but there is always some bird activity of one kind or another.  Besides the Indigo Buntings and sunflowers, here are a few more things we enjoyed that day.

I never tire of seeing the Dickcissel sitting high and singing.  I hear them everywhere I go in the country right now along the gravel roads and high up on the wires.

"How many male Goldfinches does it take......."

 Right by the sunflower patch where we saw the Indigo Buntings, we saw a group of Goldfinches who had found a puddle along the edge of the road and were bathing.  Here we have 3 males watching/guarding/stalking this female:-)  

 Two of the males in the road

 A killdeer along the road....probably had a mate and nest somewhere nearby.

Red-winged Blackbird along the roadside.

 Way at the end of the road were two bunnies out in the gravel.

 Some Robins that had been bathing in a puddle and were all wet and fluffed up.

 And a tree full of Tree Swallows.

 They had a great location....this is right at the edge of one of the lakes and they would swoop out over the lake for bugs and them come back to the tree.

A good time was being had by all.....including us!

I plan to go back soon.  This was a Saturday and there were fishermen out on the lakes and in every parking lot along the edges of the lakes, so we will go early in the middle of the week next time and hope for fewer humans and even more birds.

Indigo Buntings and sunflowers at Blue Grass.....

We drove to Blue Grass yesterday to see what birds might be hanging around.  It turned out to be an Indigo Bunting day.  We saw several as we drove around the various strip pit lakes.

 This one was on top of a little tree and sat very still for his portrait.

 We were amazed at all the fields of sunflowers we found.  I knew they planted some there, but it seemed like more then usual.  We started searching the sunflowers for Goldfinches, but again, we found some Indigo Buntings...who also like the seeds.

 This field all had their backs turned to us :-)  I thought that sunflowers were suppose to "track the sun", but they were all facing east and the sun was in the west.

 I loved the nice blue sky, white clouds and lots of yellow sunflowers!

 On one gravel road we could get around on the side where the flowers were facing us better.

Blue on yellow....a very lovely mixture.

 Another one in a tree...but I liked how it looked.

.....and singing his little heart out!

We hope to go back in a few days when the sunflowers may be riper and the birds more plentiful.  We did see Goldfinches, but most were on the ground in the gravel....will post them next...and not on the sunflowers.  The thistle is ripe now, also, so they may prefer the thistle seeds until the sunflowers are riper.

Stalking dragons from all angles......

I went to Mouteau Park hoping to see birds and butterflies, but mostly just ended up stalking the different dragonflies they have there.  I saw 4 different kinds....sometimes all 4 sitting together on the same tall twigs along the water's edge.  Someone either cut most of the tall stuff, or it died and there aren't very many tall places for them to perch.

 I can always find Blue Dasher males at any pond this time of year.

 This Halloween Pennant male is one that I always find at this park each year, but very few other places I go.  I've only seen the female once or twice....she is not as orange....more yellow.

 I like all the different angles and views.  Each view seems to show some detail better.

 From the back with the wings up and different light.

 This is the Slaty Skimmer male.  Bigger then the other two dragonflies and very evenly colored slate blue.

 This view shows his color the best.

 One of my favorites and easy to spot with the black and white on the wings.....the Widow Skimmer male.

Have no idea what this bee/wasp is, but like its color.

 I still cannot figure out how to get the close-up setting on this camera to turn on....the little flower icon.  I spent a lot of time trying to take some photos of small butterflies and dragonflies against grass and never could get them to focus.  Don't know what I am doing wrong, but hope I figure it out eventually!  Even have read the manual without help....sigh.

 My only bird shot....a Goldfinch that was enjoying all the seeds on the thistles.

One moth down in the grass at my feet.