Environmental Learning Center

Today we visited the Muscatine County Environmental Learning Center, Adessa. Kind of a long, fancy name for a place that's basically about the animals and plants found around this part of Iowa.


And, of course, since the place was jam-packed with animals both living and... um, non-living... you were fascinated. Here's a tankful of live indigenous fish...


...Bambi...


...Mr. Beaver...


...a badger...


...and a raccoon (hopefully not Rascal).


Best part of the place is that it is very hands-on. You like to touch, hold, poke, pet, and grab a hold of things like these pelts...


...and this table full of neat things like bee's hives, snake skins, skulls, teeth, feathers, and other animal items you could put your hands on.


It was a nice day so we went outside to visit the Center's three live birds -- two owls and a hawk, all rescued and rehabilitated from injury.


A hot day (they all seem to be these days) calls for a stop at the water fountain. The one here at Discovery Park is just your size.


Before we left, we stopped by Discovery Park's fishing pond to see if the fish were biting that morning.


Nope. Turns out they weren't -- the fishermen on hand hadn't even had a bite. Peering into the water, you couldn't even see the minnows! It seems the previous day's storm had scared all the fish deeper into the pond.

No problem -- I'm sure they'll be back by the weekend.

Daddy