West Wilkie

Today I hiked the West Wilkie unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. It was a nice day in the middle twenties (Fahrenheit). It was warm enough, but I fell through the ice on my crossing from one side to the other. My solution was to keep moving to generate heat. Eventually, the strain of going through all of that new snow made my left knee ache. I was happy when I got to my car three hours later.

I saw some six to eight Bald Eagles, six swans, lots of ducks including Common Mergansers and Common Goldeneyes. I saw a lot of assorted woodpeckers, and seen the kill-site where one lost its life. Another interesting feature of this area is the hundreds of Robins that winter in the mud from the discharge of the Blue Lake Waste Treatment Plant.

Here are a few pictures.