Wood Lake Nature Center

So last weekend we had the nicest weather so far this year. Starting on Thursday and running through Saturday we had mostly sunny skies, that got a bit cloudier through out each day, and temps up into the 50s. Thursday I went the the North Mississippi Regional Park to photograph the heron rookery, I have already posted those pics. Friday I decided to run over to Wood Lake Nature Center to see how much of the ice had melted. The lake was still pretty frozen but there were a lot of people out enjoying the warm weather.
There were also a few birds about like this house sparrow which I photographed near the part of the lake by the visitors center.
This tree sparrow was on one of the platform feeders behind the visitors center.
There are now quite a few red-winged blackbirds around. They are busy staking out their territory and singing their little territory warning to others that might get to close.
The Canadian geese have already begun to construct their nests. They are quite common here but when they have chicks later this spring they are very cute.
An unusual sight that I had on that Friday was a wooly bear caterpillar. Wooly bears hibernate over the winter. This one had woken up and was probably out looking for some fresh greens to eat. Soon, if he does not freeze since the weather has turned colder again, he will spin a cocoon and then will emerge an Isabella tiger moth. I also spotted a mourning cloak butterfly but was unable to get a pic as the butterfly flew off above the trees. As I hiked through the park dark clouds from our first spring storm rolled in. I was a bit wet by the time that I got back to the truck. I was disappointed that I did not get more time before the rain came but I did enjoy the time that I got to spend in the warm sun very much.