Saturday March 14, the first hike of the year! It's the middle of March in Minnesota!!! What a gorgeous day! Nearly 70°. The perfect day for a hike. Word was out that eagles were returning to Minnesota and we were looking for them along with anything else that came into view.

Some of the critters we got the pleasure of seeing include Pheasants, Robins (first sighing of the year, always a good sign), Red-winged Blackbirds, Turkeys, Canadian Geese, Bald Eagles, Greater White-Fronted Geese (a first for us, how cool is that!!!), Ring-billed Gull, Mallards, Common Golden Eye, Hooded Mergansers, Barrow's Goldeneye (another first, yes!!!), Northern Pintails, Lesser Scaup, Snow Geese, Western Meadowlark, American Tree Sparrows, Shrike, and a Mink.

We walked down a refuge road that had ponds on both sides. One side was open and the other side was covered with ice. At some point during our walk the ice on the one side suddenly disappeared, just sank under the water. It was kinda eerie in a way. We continued to walk down the road. In the distance we could see eagles in a group of trees. There must have been about 50 eagles in those trees. We have never seen so many eagles in one place before. It was AWESOME!!! Just another incredible day in the great outdoors.