Early morning, the fog and mist hang low over my back prairie and a spider web becomes a work of art.

A large group of pelicans stayed on Buffalo Lake for a few weeks in April. They probably moved to Puckaway where they now nest in spring. They are grand birds and I saw several V’s in the sky flying low, their great wings, marked in black on the ends, sweeping the sky.

I don’t know if my perception is correct, but it seems there are more eagles in Marquette County than in the past.  I see them frequently through the year.  Sometimes they are eating carion in fields or the side of the road and other times I see them soaring overhead.  They allow me, when perched in a tree, to get fairly close to snap some photos.  This one was just north of Montello.

A walk on an early spring day in Marquette County shows skunk cabbage or Symplocarpus foetidus growing in wet areas.  This plant actually can generate heat to melt snow.  Down the road is fresh evidence of beavers hard at work. 

Spring shows itself

The streams and rivers have opened up.  Robins are flying about and the call of the sand hill crane can be heard.  Turkeys are fanning and crows are building nests.

Walking the dogs yesterday in the heat wave of 23 degrees, I spotted perfect turkey prints in the snow along the road and then saw evidence of them making a right turn and flying off to safer grounds, the woods across the field.  At first I thought the wing prints were of a hawk taking lunch, but then put the footprintsand the wing prints together and could tell the story. 

A sunny, beautiful January day in Marquette County.  Late Sunday afternoon and the Amish families head back to their homes after their Sunday meetings in another’s Amish home.  A good day to walk, snow shoe, ski, or just be out of doors enjoying nature.  Animal tracks tell the story that not everything is sleeping away winter.  Deer mice, fox, white tailed deer, squirrels, rabbits, and an occassional coyote track are all around if you look for them.  Turkeys cross the roads in large groups and juncos, cardinals, chickadees, and more flock to feeders.

A beautiful winter day in Montello in December.  The waterfalls in the granite quarry are partly frozen and sheath the rock with beauty.