Friday morning I took a sunrise bicycle ride in the Suomi Hills region of northern Minnesota. Boy am I glad I convinced myself to get out of bed early (sunrise is 5:15 am). The wildflowers are blooming like crazy, and the birds added a nice touch! If you have the opportunity to drive Mn Hwy #48 in the next week, make certain you slow way down and look deep into the roadside ditches about 8 miles from Mn Hwy #38. You will see thousands on Showy Ladyslippers. These flowers were just starting to bloom on Friday. Every one of these flowers was photographed within a two mile stretch on Hwy #48 (and the ducks).
Showy Ladyslippers
Suomi Hills Lutheran Church (and my bike)
Red Columbine
Wild Roses
Lupine
Tiger Swallowtail
Ring-Necked Duck and Wood Duck
Ring-Necked Duck and Blue-Winged Teal (a favorite perch, perhaps?!)
Thursday evening, a thunderstorm rocked our cabin on Northstar Lake, which cleared the skies for my sunrise bike ride the next morning.
Ha! Love those birds, Rich, but my gardener’s heart thanks you for the flowers.
The wildflowers are amazing right now along the back roads of northern Minnesota!
Absolutely beautiful pictures. Thank you! I didn’t know that a wood duck and ringed neck duck would be sitting next to each other on a log or any other place, for that matter.
It’s good to know that different ducks can and do hang out together. 😉
We all could learn something from these ducks!