BwBTC MN Hyland Lake Park Reserve

After Leaving Carver park we went to Victoria House for lunch, we all worked up an appetite after chatting…i mean…birding. :)

Everything was yummy. I would definitely go back there. From Carver we headed to Hyland Lake ParkSome sort of Bee? anyone? Hanging out in the parking lot.Our first bird here…Eastern Kingbird, Digiscoped by Jeff Interesting bug…Soldier beetle..Thanks Hap.

Soldier beetles are highly desired by gardeners as biological control agents of a number of pest insects. The larvae tend to be dark brown or gray, slender and wormlike with a rippled appearance due to pronounced segmentation. They consume grasshopper eggs, aphids, caterpillars and other soft bodied insects, most of which are pests.We walked past a small pond on our right and saw distant views of a large

Wood Duck gathering.

Further walking and chatting to a small pond on the left.Virginia and Lizette viewing otter, beaver? Richard and Lynne taking photos.Beautiful thistle and Tiger swallowtail ButterflyFor this shot I tried getting the butterfly in focus as well as everyone on the dock.

Thanks Mike for the help..Now if I can remember how I did that. Birding again! Wood ducks, Green Heron,Hooded mergansers,Kingfishers.

I had a hard time capturing bird photos so I settled on things that wouldn't fly away

Sicksta..what is this here?Jeff digiscoped this American goldfinch in the thistle. My photo of a Painted turtle Jeff's digiscoped photo..doesn't he look regal?More late summer flowers. The pond…… A dragonfly casing..thanks Virginia for finding this ..very cool. Green tree frog..this poor thing has just one eye.While sitting and chatting at the picnic table this butterfly captured my attention..so i had to go take a photo. Richard, Hap, Sharon parted from us after Hyland.

It was after this that we went to Merlins Rest to meet up with the Birds and Beers gang.

It was a bit disappointing, as there wasn't enough room for all of our gang and theirs to sit together..so we didn't mingle much.

Roger joined our table for dinner and we all had more great conversation.

It was sad to say goodbye ..but I was happy that this group will continue to meet for more bird outings in MN.