Walk to the River

I live very close to the Mississippi River. Right across the levee. Dave and I take walks down to the riverbank every now and then, and I always bring my camera with me. This walk wasn't too exciting...all we saw were butterflies and birds.

The picture above is a white heron. They love to hang out in shallow water where they can eat little bugs and fish. Since they see people often, I was able to get relatively close to this one.

While we were walking further in the woods, Dave spotted this monarch butterfly. I rushed to get my camera and focus on him before he flew away. I was able to snap the picture right before he flew away. I see alot of these butterflies around my garden. They love the purple coneflowers!

We've been getting a ton of rain lately, so the trail to the river is very muddy. If you take the time, you can find all sorts of animal prints in the mud. These prints were made by a raccoon. Judging by how deep the prints were, I'd say he's pretty fat! I'm sure he comes over the levee to my house at night and eats the leftover dog food.


This is a native hibiscus. You can find them growing in ditches or on a riverbank. They can get pretty tall, I'd say this one is almost 6 feet. The flowers are around 4 inches across.