10 young pheasants

When we drove down Pleasant Valley Road this morning there was a whole cluster of young pheasants wandering around. We slowed, then slowly creeped up on them, with Susan snapping photos out of the car window. An instant after this photo was taken they all disappeared over the side of the hill into the tall grasses of the Valley Prairie.

In years past we have often heard pheasants but have rarely seen them, but this year they seem to be all over. Perhaps they like the favorable lush prairie vegetation.

Many people plant "food plots" for wildlife such as pheasants, ten rows of corn, for instance. We have been content to design our prairies for high plant diversity, and let the wildlife forage for themselves. Obviously, the pheasants are happy.

We have also seen many young turkeys this year, as well as young red-headed woodpeckers, kestrels, and bluebirds. The sandhill cranes that normally nest on our wetland were flooded out twice, and have not been able to raise their young.