Gone Fishin’…by Brad Marks

Welcome to May everybody! I mentioned this in my last post, but this year is sailing by. Good news, Brad has successfully returned home from his field assignment. Sounds like our quest for the incredibly elusive Ptarmigan will continue on. I wanted to start getting a few of the pending posts popped off his growing queue – word is there might be another batch coming soon. The weather took a turn for the cold this weekend and decided to go with one that fit the chilly temps. Put your mittens and hats on folks and brace yourselves for the cold Mighty Mississippi winds.

…take it away Brad…

I think most people remember the first time they saw a bald eagle in the wild.  I know I certainly do.  The story was featured right here on Wildlife Intrigued in an article called Yellowstone Feathers and Fur.  At the time I thought I would probably never see another bald eagle in the wild so I absorbed as much of that opportunity as I could.  Little did I know I’d be able to fill a couple of memory cards the next time I saw a bald eagle.  Or see dozens of them in the same place. There have been a few stories about bald eagles on Wildlife Intrigued over the years.  I suppose this one was also influenced by Brian in a way.  He tells me that the photos are important, but the story about them is often more important.  Even if a photo is worth a thousand words, it’s still nice to read the words.  That’s why I thought I’d try this one on for size.  By the way, I like to have music playing in the background when I write stories.  Guess which song was shuffled while I was writing?  The answer is at the end. (No peeking ahead of time)

Eagle Fishing in Iowa by Brad Marks

Hit the jump to read more about Brad and Terry’s fishin’ adventure!

Continue reading Gone Fishin’…by Brad Marks

One for the Ladies

Welcome to day 2,667 of the Illinois lockdown! If there is any plus side to all this, the downtime is giving my body a chance to finally get healed from the wear and tear brought on by last season’s race circuit. Not sure if it is just the heavier trail course runs or my hatred for Father Time, but injuries are taking longer to heal. I upped my off-season workouts to better prepare for the pending toll, but that has come at a cost of stressing the supporting cast of muscles and joints. Blew my back out last Monday and trying to get that repaired so I can get back on the trails – downtime just makes this whole situation even worse. Already prepping for the race schedule to be nearly back to back when this all lifts which means everything has to be functioning at peak performance. Lemonade out of lemons, have plenty of time to focus on reducing my backlog!

Common Goldeneye found at at LeClaire Iowa locks in January 2017

While going through the newly discovered images, found this interesting duck staring at me, piercing my soul with a finely focused golden ray. When the pain became too much to bear, called for Linda to help free myself from its deadly gaze. What could this strange creature be – to the reference books! The duller color palette indicated a strong likelihood our specimen was a female which causes some additional work as many of the female ducks tend to start looking alike as they often have mixtures of brown feathering.

Common Goldeneye found at the LeClaire Iowa locks in January 2017

Hit the jump to read and see a bit more about this golden one.

Continue reading One for the Ladies