Wednesday marked the first day of Spring, and to celebrate, we decided to hit the road for a day trip around the area to look for wildlife.

After a relaxing morning with the dogs, we loaded them up in the Forester and headed west.

We figured since it was midday, we’d see a lot of birds and not much of anything else. And we were OK with that.

Our first encounter was with a lone Trumpeter swan.

Next up, we spotted an eagle’s nest a ways away, so we headed that direction, following some backroads until we got closer. I wasn’t sure if we’d see one in the nest, but we were hopeful since it’s nesting season.

And there was an eagle in it!

As we were leaving the eagle’s nest, we found a red-tailed hawk soaring overhead — a little closer to the nest than we thought it might want to be.

We soon stumbled upon more Trumpeter swans nearby. They looked like they were slipping across the ice a little.

And we found some domesticated geese — not wildlife, but still fun to watch.

The weather was beautiful — about 45 degrees and partly sunny. We were both a little tired, so the drive was better for us than going for a hike. And we ended up driving around areas of Minnesota that we don’t normally travel, looking at the small farm towns along the way as we searched for wildlife.

We weren’t sure what else we’d see out in the country in the middle of the afternoon, but we were lucky enough to spot quite a few deer.

All said, I think we saw about 10 deer in different areas. I’d call that a successful animal scouting day!

Since the dogs had been such good sports for our little journey, we stopped in at Dairy Queen to get them a little treat.

It was a great way to celebrate the beginning of a new season! Looking forward to more adventures (and some are hopefully coming soon)!