Last summer I ordered a book called The Iowa Wildlife Viewing Guide, in hopes of finding some "ew and interesting places to explore. I really enjoy the wonderful diversity of Iowa's marshes, so I concentrated my efforts in finding a marsh to investigate. I found Cardinal Marsh near Cresco. What a delight! A good friend of mine and I walked those dikes for four hours! We will go back again soon because we didn't see all of it, by any means.

What we did see were Herons, Egrets, Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Dicksissels, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Monarch Butterflies, Swallowtail Butterflies, Buckeye Butterflies, Copper Butterflies, Bull Frogs, Leopard Frogs, Tree Frogs, and beautiful wildflowers and grasses! Oh, and did I mention the DRAGONFLIES?! All colors and varieties of Dragonflies! I don't know their names yet, but I will. It's always important for to me know what I am looking at. Anyway, I am sharing with you an image of a Green Dragonfly. It's so intricately amazing and wonderful!

He did not move as I was taking his picture, lucky for me! I believe he was just re-born from his morphed state. He was bright and shiny. So verry pretty. You can even see the reflections of the clouds in his wings! Anyway, this is a MUST SEE place in northeast Iowa. The only thing I regret is the fact we had no map of the area. Is there a map?

Anyway, go see Cardinal Marsh and don't forget your camera!