Category: Animals

  • Scoping Lake Palestine Texas

    Tyler, Texas, February 2026 John and I have been in search of wood ducks for at least a year. One of the campers said he went fishing at Lake Palestine the prior week and saw wood ducks. We left in hopes of seeing wood ducks, knowing that often we aren’t that lucky. This is one…

  • More Turtle Hunting

    Tyler State Park, TX, February 2026 It was sunny again after the bust of a day turtle hunting while overcast. We walked out to the dam, and the water fowl were out again. We got a decent look at them through the scope and camera, so we are pretty sure that these are Pie-billed Grebe.…

  • Turtle Hunting

    Tyler State Park, TX, February 2026 For photos, not soup. After seeing all the turtles on the first hike with only cellphone for pictures, we went looking for the turtles again to get better pictures. Since John was carrying camera gear, we decided to drive. At the floating fishing pier, we looked for the grebes,…

  • Scott Branch Bull Creek

    Hillsdale State Park, KS, November 2025 Hillsdale Resevoir looks a little like a chicken foot. It branches off in a bunch of directions away from the dam. The chicken toe that most of Hillsdale State Park borders is the Scott Branch Bull Creek. Do not ask us; we did not name it. I assume the…

  • Outlet (Melvern) Campground

    Melvern Lake, KS, November 2025 Today was a day of exploring. Whenever we see a new park or campground close to where we are staying we like to take a day trip to see if the location could be a future camping site. Today’s adventure was visiting a Corp of Engineer managed area that included…

  • Lakeside at the Campground

    Hillsdale State Park, Kansas, October 2025 There are no campsites next to the lake in the Sunflower Campground at Hillsdale State Park. There is a short, maybe 1/4 mile trail that goes to the lakeside from either corner of the campground. The area along the trail and the lake is mowed with a picnic table…

  • Birds at Bob’s

    Sparta, WI, August 2025 We stopped at Kate’s dad’s house to visit and look at his computer. Windows 10 support was ending, and his internet service was saying he was going to need a PIN to get to his email. After looking into it, we found out that his computer had the operating system upgraded…

  • Prairie Park Nature Center – boy it sucks to diet?

    Lawrence, KS, October 2025 We visited Prairie Park Nature Center in 2024 and saw the plumpest prairie dogs that were absolutely adorable. This year the nature center had the same 2 prairie dogs but they have been put on a diet. We were told they have lost 1 lb. This might not sound like a…

  • Pelicans, Egrets, and Herons, Oh My!

    Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 We did not have a lot planned today. We thought we would sit out at the 261st Street dirt road to we could find some new birds, look for the Belted Kingfisher, and mail postcards in Canistosta, SD. The first activity was to go to Canistosta Post…

  • Otter Stream Trail

    Lake Vermillion State Recreation Area, SD, August 2025 In the morning, John has been walking the, roughly, one mile hike from the RV around the Otter Stream trail trying to get pictures of new things. Kate has been staying home for these treks because they are about 1/3rd walking and 2/3rds picture taking. Today was…