Biking and birding

On our way home from Iowa we stopped for a couple of days in Fulton, IL, to do some biking along the Mississippi River.

Sometimes we biked through the cornfields...

sometimes along the river...

and a lot of times through a National Wildlife Refuge and through wetland areas. This particular area was thick with giant lilypads and their beautiful yellow flowers.

Fulton is quite a Dutch community with Dutch days in May, an authentic Dutch windmill...

and a Dutch fisherman waving hello.

We saw lots of white pelicans--we're still not used to seeing them in the Midwest. Their soaring flight formations are a wonder!

It took us a few minutes to identify this female wood duck. We saw dozens of them with lots of adorable babies.