The Wild Life that is Iowa

Sometimes a blog post has a life of its own. I sit down to write, having an idea in mind, and suddenly I realize that I have veered off onto a tangent. That happened today.

Today's entry was intended to be about a few more things I've stitched up for live shows with a quick mention of some bad weather that Hawkeye Sarah had just experienced.

Well, it morphed into a post about eagles, owls, beavers, and wild horses. Go figure, and enjoy!

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As someone who loves history, I've learned a lot about the difficulties early pioneers had crossing the plains on the Oregon and Mormon Trails. The Mormon Trail cut through Iowa, and there are lots of historical accounts and records about how challenging the weather was when the pioneers passed through. 

When Hawkeye Sarah and her family moved to Iowa, I learned just how true those accounts were.

A tornadic thunderstorm came through Iowa City Tuesday evening, and like any Midwesterner worth her salt, Sarah was outside filming it.

The shelf cloud approaching her neighborhood.

Video taken from inside her home. Pretty intense, right? 

Fortunately no tornado dropped down on them. This time.

I've written about the weather she experiences in Iowa several times - just do a search for Iowa weather. It doesn't matter what season it is, Iowa gets some really tough weather year-round and those pioneer journal entries absolutely were not exaggerating.

But Iowa has other amazing and beautiful things in nature beside the weather. For example, there is far more wildlife than most people realize.

Hawkeye Sarah is a wildlife photographer and she is doing some work for the Department of Natural Resources by documenting several eagles' nests around the state.

Like me, she is an early riser and has often traveled to a nest and is filming by 6:00 AM.

Which means she gets some really beautiful photos as the sun rises.

This is one of my favorites.

As she photographs the eagles' nests that she is monitoring for the DNR, she finds other wildlife to photograph, too. I would have missed the Great Horned Owl nest in this tree, but keen eyed Sarah did not.

She sent me this picture with an arrow pointing to what she suspected was a second owlet in that nest.

Later I got another text with this photo attached. "I was right! There are two!" she crowed. (Haha, get my little joke?)

Pony Pal Susie asked her Aunt Sarah to please send her pictures of beavers. Challenge accepted, and off Aunt Sarah went. It did not take her long to find a colony of beavers.

Despite being bombarded by a barred owl (who probably had a nest close by) Sarah got a video of two beavers and their den the (background hump in the water) for Susie.

I've had a request or two myself. Sarah was traveling for work and stopped in Missouri to see if she could find the Shawnee Creek herd of wild horses.

She sure did!

I didn't even know about this herd!

Thanks, Sarah! And by the way, could you find me some turtles? Some snappers or red eared sliders would be great...