McCarthy Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa
We concluded the first weekend in July with a little excursion to a couple prairie and grassland areas here in Dubuque County. The first one, McCarthy Wildlife Area, located near Bernard IA, is a former cultivated row crop field and was planted with native grasses and flowers in 2023. Although quite new it had already developed a gorgeous habitat with lots of prairie flowers and we saw or heard Eastern Meadowlarks, Eastern Kingbirds, Dickcissels, of course a number of Red-winged Blackbirds, and others. A rain cloud moved eastwards south of the area and made for a nice background while I tried to capture the essence of this nature area.
Dickcissel, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa
Not far away is Whitewater Canyon Wildlife area, which we have visited many times before. This time we hiked only on the upper part between prairie and grassland and didn’t walk down into the woods and the canyon. It didn’t take very long to get a male Dickcissel, one of the beautiful grassland birds, in front of the lens. We came at the right time to enjoy big patches of Wild Bergamot in full bloom and at the end of the walk a Common Yellowthroat posed nicely on the metal cage that protects a young oak tree that had been planted near the parking area.
Wild Bergamot, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa
Common Yellowthroat, Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area, Dubuque County, Iowa