Then yesterday after our guests left we decided we needed to get outside and away from the house, so we decided to go to one of the Meeker County Parks near Darwin and Dassel. Without a lot of thought I chose to go to the south side along the wetlands. I was hoping to see some waterfowl and dragonflies. Well, with our wet and rainy spring, all we found was mud and mosquitoes. After about 15 minutes we admitted defeat and returned to the car. I don't like the north side as well because there is a rest stop and always at least one car there. We lucked out and no one was there when we arrived. It was a fantastic little hike. The north side is prairie-like and surrounded by woods. I say prairie like because it is mostly made up of brome grass. There are miles of trails wandering through. Plus there is a giant hill, which I think might be the tallest point in the county.
I think Memphis had the best time of all - in fact my tired puppy is still sleeping this morning!! He was chasing dragonflies and birds. Along one trail he even managed to upset a common yellowthroat. That tiny little black and yellow bird hopped along the branches following Memphis and scolding him (all the while he had a bug in his beak)! He was so feisty and fun to watch. Drew must have tried taking about 40 pictures of him and of course about 5 turned out!
There were a ton of dragonflies and damselflies out in the grass too! After last summer, I'm completely in love with dragonflies. I'm getting fairly good at IDing - if they are sitting still.
Damselflies are hard to ID!!
Then on our way back to the car, Memphis was running around like a crazed dog... like usual... when he went on point near a small pine. Some small song birds started freaking out so we figured there must be a nest. We called him off and I sent Drew in to take some pictures. He had his telephoto lens on so his pictures were not turning out well so he had me go in with my camera. I decided that the best pic of the adorable almost fledgelings would be in the hand, so I picked one up. Shockingly the other came with it and was dangling in the air. It took a split second for me to realize that they were attached by fishing wire in their mouths. I yelled for Drew to come help (2 squirming birds and an expensive camera in my hands was a bit much). Thankfully he always carries a knife on him so we cut the line and each took a bird. After a few minutes debate and a gentle, steady, forceful pull and we each got the line out of their throats. I have no idea if they will survive, the bugs/bait they had eaten were digested beyond recognition but not completely dissolved, so I don't think they were starving. But I don't know what the effect of pulling the line (and food contents) out of their bodies will do to them. I was completely shocked and disgusted that people still leave line laying around!
We felt so bad for babies and parents that we put them back in the nest and left without taking anymore pictures. Of course I was so preoccupied with freeing the babies that I didn't ID the parents. When we got back to the trail and tried to find them, they had already gone down to the nest.
Lesson of the day: Throw your line away!!
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