January Heat Wave in Pictures (Part One)

I spent plenty of time outside this past week enjoying a break in winter.  Temperatures were in the 40s and 50s most of the weekend.

Saturday morning my oldest niece invited me to join them to do some bird watching. We live near the Mississippi and this time of year the Bald Eagles are in town looking for a less frozen river.  There is also a large flock of Trumpeter Swans visiting our area. We only saw one eagle perched high in the trees above the swans.

There was quite a paparazzi presence...

The birds were too far way for me to get good pictures, until this little group flew right over our heads.

Love this guy squawking  in back

The rest of the time the birds were too far to view easily and identify. We went in search of more birds and ended up doing some tree identification instead. My niece is currently in an ornithology (bird study) class, but has also studied dendrology (trees). She has some fun guide books that walk you through the identification process.

It doesn't look like other oak leaves, but apparently this is a species of oak.  

This leaf trapped in the ice is the shape I think of when I think of oak leaves. 

Saturday afternoon I took our dogs out to my inlaws farm to strech their legs. Seriously, I need that kind of energy!

Don't worry the ice is on a swallow puddle. And even Millie couldn't break through.

Those ears!!!

That tongue!!

Headed home with some super dirty and tired pups. My husband gave Millie a bath and it looked like he was washing her in a mudslide.

Click here for part 2 of January Heat Wave in Pictures - including one of the highlights of the weekend - meeting up with a fellow blogger.