H is for Hawks and Herons

My daily commute includes a three to six mile stretch of wetlands in the Root, Black and Mississippi River flood plains. Year round, this makes for a rather relaxing and life-affirming start and end to the business day, but especially this time of year.

I don't have any pictures of my own to share depicting the hawks gliding on the thermals above the highway or the blue or white heron wading in the tall grasses or stretching their long necks out to take off, and I was disappointed to learn that the Fish and Wildlife Fact Sheet series didn't include either species, and while the USGS says they have some interesting fact sheets, the links to get to the ones I was interested in were broken. I had some renewed hope on finding the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange Master Species File, but they don't appear to cover this area.

Fortunately, before becoming completely discouraged, I stumbled across the National Wildlife Foundation website which has field guides for the Great Blue Heron, the Little Blue Heron, the Red-tailed Hawk, and the Bald Eagle, all of which I've seen in the last couple weeks.

Whew!