Pheasant Hunting

Rich woke me up at 6:30 this morning and when I looked out the window on my side of the bed, this is what I saw. For those who are wondering...weird ones...NO, I do not sleep with my camera; Rich brought it to me...giggle!

We had planned to get an early start on our hunt for Ring-Necked Pheasants. As you know, when we hunt our only weapon is a camera. We had not driven a mile before seeing this rooster. When I first saw him, he was standing tall but by the time we got in range he had hunkered down in the grass as they do when threatened. It was so cool to see! Note the red ring around his eye.

Even though we would see lots of hens and chicks on our drive over the next several hours, we only saw a couple more roosters. The morning was breathtakingly beautiful so I'm just going to share a small sample of the 240 photos I just uploaded. This is the order in which they were taken. Our drive this morning took us around the far side of Lake Audubon and through the Lake Nettie Wildlife Refuge.

The sun streaming through holes in the clouds.

We quickly discovered that the pheasants gather near the wheat straw bales that are left along the road.

Pheasants in flight

A line of geese on Lake Audubon

Lake Audubon

American White Pelicans on Lake Audubon

Glorious early morning sun rays

Western Grebes

An old barn

The road was filled with hens & chicks here

See the two little heads in the grass?

Golden wheat and a lake in the background

Cattails

See how the chick is nearly hidden by his coloration?

Finally, another rooster!

An intensely blue sky over the golden field

A Ferruginous Hawk

The vivid colors of field crops

This rooster kinda sorta posed for us!

These pheasants were all perched on a straw bale and took flight toward the shelter of the corn as we approached.

Back around to Lake Audubon

Sun shining through clouds on a sunflower field

Breathtaking!

Out here I was able to walk to the field for closeups.

We drove country roads like this one all morning.

Wheat straw ready for baling

An alfalfa hay field in bloom

Lovin' Life ~~ On Such a Glorious Day