By Daryl Bauer, Fisheries Outreach Program Manager
It has been a beautiful fall, great weather, great colors. My family and I have been spending every minute we can in the outdoors enjoying it.
We have been doing that in a number of ways, the typical squares on our fall bingo cards. Of course that includes fall colors and some hunting. A fall walleye or two have hit the net as well. What has made this autumn unique is some of the seldom-marked corners of our bingo card that have been checked off in the past couple of weeks.
If you are the astronomy type, you know we are in a maximum of the solar cycle right now. What that means is some opportunities to view the northern lights in places as far south as dear ole Nebraska. In different corners of the state, my kids, wife, and I all experienced a spectacular show one recent evening.
Nighttime fishing excursions have afforded the opportunity to observe another celestial phenomenon recently–a comet!
Snapped a few photos of the comet with my cell phone. Really did not expect any of them to be useful, but cell phones can do everything now!
The last corner of the fall bingo card that my wife and I recently marked was on an afternoon walk. We had just started when I looked ahead and spotted a bobcat walking out of cover. Of course it spotted us as soon as we saw it, but we stared at each other long enough for my wife to snap a photo with her cell phone.
OK, the photo was not great. It was taken quickly. I was busy staring at the ‘cat through my binoculars and can tell you it was a good-looking bobcat! I was hoping it would sit and stare at us for a bit, but it soon slunk back into cover.
The best part is there is more to come! Autumn is not over by a long shot! Who knows what else we might see and experience? Hope you get a chance to get in the field and on the water this weekend to fill in some squares on your bingo card too!