Inspirational Young People

Pelicans, Wood Ducks, a tree down, and much, much more...

The timber is ripe and bursting with life. There is so much to see and learn. Turkeys are gobbling like crazy, and in the last few days, I’m hearing my regular Cardinals, Nuthatches, Robins, Chickadees, Bluejays, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Crows. I also heard a Field Sparrow, Black-bellied Plover, a Winter Wren, and many more! I hear and see Killdeer everywhere but not at Cedar Bluffs for some reason. The habitat must not be right.

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The highlight of the week was when a group of William Penn students wanted to come out and help me and Mahaska County Conservation with a service project on Saturday morning. My daughter Johanna, who is at the UI, and her friend Jonah at William Penn coordinated it.

Chris Clingan, Director of Mahaska County Conservation gave it his thumbs up, and we decided to clean up the area around the geological formation known as the “Sugar Bowl.”

My friend Pete Eyeheralde, Professor of Biology at William Penn, helped lead our effort, and it was truly glorious! The students were eager to learn and get to work. IT WAS SO, SO FUN!!!!!!!

Pete and I tagged teamed lessons in the importance of building a conservation ethic, as well as lessons in local history, prehistory, biology, anthropology, and linguistics, and the young people weren’t bored! They were eager to learn and offered to help in the future if we needed their help. These are great kids.

Pete and I are so proud of them. Johanna ran a timelapse video of us clearing the brush. Check it out! It’s fun…

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Yesterday when Violet the Dog and I went for our walk, we found that the wind had brought down a tree across the path.

Luckily, I always carry a hand saw in the back of my orange vest, and we were able to clear the path in about an hour. I enjoy the exercise, and since long ago my grandpa Leonard taught me how to make the saw do most of the work, it’s not too bad. Lifting the truck of the tree off of the path took a bit of effort, I will admit.

This might sound strange, but years ago I told the ambulance crew from Tracy who would probably be first on scene should I have a heart attack on my way to the great blue yonder to not bother responding with a stretcher—to instead just bring a shovel and lay me to rest under the leaves. That’s a fact! I can’t think of a better place to be planted. Can you?

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Check out these seagulls on a nearby field!

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Above is a not-very-good video of some Wood Ducks on the Cedar.

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Check out these Pelicans flying up Cedar Creek yesterday! How many do you think there are? 150? 200?

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Here’s some Dutchman’s breeches.

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And some worm tracks in the parking lot!

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Last week I wrote about my visit to Eveland Access downstream from Cedar Bluffs. Turns out my friend Bruce Boertje made a film about the old Eveland Bridge. Click here to view it. Thanks Bruce! I very much enjoyed watching it and learned a lot. Great music too.

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If you enjoy Cedar Creek Nature Notes, I encourage you to subscribe to my friend Larry Stone’s “Listening to the Land.” It’s fantastic. Larry has forgotten more than I will ever know about our outdoor world.

For another glimpse of the wonders of the Iowa outdoors, Diane Porter’s My Gaia is another Substack I enjoy. It’s full of observations on nature and is ripe with wisdom.

And don’t miss Al Batt’s Substack at Al’s Substack. Al Batt of Hartland, Minnesota is a writer, speaker, storyteller, and humorist. Al writes humor and nature columns for many newspapers and does regular radio shows about nature. He writes several popular cartoon strips that are syndicated nationally and is the author of the book, "A Life Gone to the Birds." He is a columnist for "Bird Watcher’s Digest" and “Watching Backyard Birds,” and writes for several magazines and books.

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I’m a member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. Please sample the talents of my fellow collaborative members. If you can afford to be a paid subscriber, that would be great. If not, the vast majority of content is free. And here is a link to the Iowa Podcasters’ Collaborative, should you be interested. Check out my Substack Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture if you aren’t already a subscriber. My Iowa Revolution podcast with award-winning broadcaster Spencer Dirks can be found here.

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