On the road again,
Just can’t wait to get on the road again,
The life I love is making music with my friends … Willie Nelson (video)

Yup, Molly and I are heading back north to Duluth, and just like nine days ago it was time for “Highway Birding“. In my earlier post I commented on how I use Google Maps to find good habitat. Correctly so in the comments Roy had talked about using eBird. If you travel to more populated or popular birding locations, eBird is an excellent source of finding out quickly known good birding spots. However, if you’re like me your travels may bring you to locations not well documented via eBird, like Osceola, Iowa. Thus, I returned to my pond with wetlands again as we stayed in the same town last night heading back north.

Last week the migrants at the pond were Spotted Sandpipers and Catbirds. Yesterday evening it was Baltimore Orioles! After a very white winter, I enjoyed all the flashes of orange from many Orioles.

And one more scene from the Ozarks … a cascading stream down to the Buffalo River. Molly and I should never have found this beautiful location, but when I sent us off on the wrong trail for our hike, this beautiful mountain glen appeared shortly (video link for email subscribers).

Molly and I have reached the Ozark Mountains. While I hate the concrete deserts of our highway system, with a little research after a long day in the car, birding is quite possible. We were spending our night in transit in Osceola, Iowa which is a location where I have never been. Upon checking in at the motel I quickly got on the internet and pulled up Google Maps. A review yielded a nearby town park with a pond. Zooming in using satellite view showed me hoped for wetlands. Here are screenshots from my research.

The pond was fantastic with a huge number of migrating Catbirds and Spotted Sandpipers. While these birds are not able to use Google Maps, they know the locations of the water and food sources on their migration routes.

We did reach our small cabin on the top of a very large hill in the Ozarks. When a line of thunderstorms came through last night at midnight, I was ready!

For the past six days I have been on the road. Carl and Chelsea were married this past Saturday at Wartburg College, with a reception on the family farm in Maynard, Iowa. As is often the case with out of town weddings, one often finds available time early in the morning. For me this meant exploring the back roads by both bicycle and car.

A simple review of Google Maps indicated a nearby “green area” which turned out to be the Volga River State Recreation Area. Most people think Iowa means endless flat miles of corn and soy bean fields. While farming is Iowa’s forte, there are lots of beautiful, and often quite hilly areas. This was exactly the case with the Volga River State Recreation Area. Between the river, native prairie, and woods … the land was beautiful and the birding was excellent. The area made me wish I could experience the prairie areas during migration and mating.

I hope you enjoy my “birding” photo, and some wedding pics. It was a great time in NE Iowa.

• View this project’s Flickr photo stream. (click upon images to view at full size)

A Barn Swallow Announcing: Carl and Chelsea are getting married!

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An Iowa Wedding Limousine! (14 antique tractors decorated the reception)

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The Wedding Venue

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The Wedding Party