Busy couple of days

It's hard to believe that it's already Thursday this week! Tuesday dawned cold and with a wintry mix falling.. a little snow, a little sleet and little of everything. The weather prevented me from following through with plans to join some friends waterfowl hunting, but as the day progressed they skies cleared and became the deep blue that we only see in midwinter here in the Midwest. So I was able to get out to the woods for awhile during the afternoon hours. I had lovely walkabout in the Kaskaskia river bottoms near New Athens, IL with two of my favorite woods companions Bob and Adam and their great dogs Nesene and Piper. We were able to watch an eagle soar over the sloughs, although the fellows came up empty handed squirrel hunting. I was surprised to so many poison ivy berries still on the vines, as the birds tend to pick them clean, and with the bitter cold temps we have been having the birds are feeding heavily on just about any food source they can find.
Wednesday I was once again chasing waterfowl around the areas holding areas. The temps had risen to a comfortable 50 degrees or so in some of the southern regions, but the front was on it's way.. about 2pm the front moved in with a vengeance and the temps rapidly dropped to near zero. The waterfowl were few and far between and not particularly active. I was able to capture a few images of some mallards and canvasbacks.




This was shot as the front was rolling in.. the clouds and wind were terrific. The temperature dropped over twenty degrees inside of an hour.



After the front blew through the skies cleared and although the winds were fierce and temps frigid the sky at sunset was gorgeous!