Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge

It was recently Morningside’s spring break, and some friends and I visited Kansas City together! I previously lived in the KC metro for six years while working at USM, but I’d somehow never knew about the Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge, which is about 90min north of KC (in between Sioux City and KC). In planning this visit, I spotted it on the map. After looking into it, I decided it was my one firm desire for the trip (though my friends were extremely accommodating and we accomplished all of my desires!).

The Loess Bluffs National Wildlife Refuge has a large wetlands area as well as the bluffs which host a number of short, moderate difficulty hiking trails. We first hiked the Munkres Homestead Trail and its overlook where we gazed out at the wetlands, and I particularly loved the latter part of that hike after it joins the Loess Bluff Trail and descending the steps - that end portion of meandering forest habitat trail was really enjoyable. We then did the auto tour, and we saw numerous trumpeter swans, a bald eagle, tens of thousands of snow geese, and a very large eagle of some sort as well as a swimming muskrat.

I really loved it, and highly recommend it to anyone in the vicinity. Now that I know about it, I plan to visit each time I’m en route to KC; it’s only a 9min detour away!

Birdwatching!

A still from the video - I’m the birdwatcher in the striped shirt!

I love spending time outdoors, and I enjoy opportunities to do so while learning, exercising, and having new experiences. On the first day of spring this year - March 20th - I joined some friends in a birding hike at the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center in Stone State Park. To our surprise, part of the way through a cameraman appeared to document the event for the local news!

In this ABC television affiliate KCAU 9 video clip, you’ll hear about what we were up to but also get a glimpse of me on the trail - I’m the birdwatcher in the striped shirt, black face mask, maroon hat, and grey backpack. On this hike, I learned how to focus binoculars and became a little more familiar with some of the more common birds in the region: the white-breasted nuthatch, the red-bellied woodpecker, and the downy and hairy woodpeckers (they look very similar but have different beak lengths). We also saw a couple of bald eagles and turkeys, though I had already been able to identify those!