
On a nice cool fall day the outside benches are an ideal place to sit and enjoy the quiet at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley, Iowa, Friday, August 2, 2019. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)
Summertime in Siouxland is not always the best time to visit the DeSoto National Wildlife refuge. The migration of waterfowl and other birds has not yet begun and so they may not be a lot to see while visiting on a humid summer day. But maybe that’s the point and a person can spend more time checking out other displays at the welcome center and learning more about the area and the nature it contains. While there this summer I heard a few smaller birds sitting in trees and saw some turtles resting on logs in the water, but pickings were slim and the day much too hot and humid to spend much time enjoying the refuge’s trails.

A viewing gallery inside the Welcome Center at the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge allows visitors to look for and observe waterfowl during a visit, situated along the Missouri River and near Missouri Valley, Iowa, Friday, August 2, 2019. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

What looks like a momma or pappa turtle and a younger one bask on a log at DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley, Iowa, Friday, August 2, 2019. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

Informational displays help explain life along the Missouri River and wetlands that existed in the area around the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley, Iowa, Friday, August 2, 2019. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)
Checking out the displays inside the welcome center was something I had not completely finished on an earlier a visit a year or two ago. Then I was more interested in seeing the migrating birds and trying to photograph them from inside and outside the center. But some of the displays, while brief, give nice details about the history of the area and what life was like previously besides having a nice quiet moment, as they were no others there at the time and thinking about the upcoming migration of birds once again completing their life cycle on a yearly basis.
Jerry Mennenga
Sioux City, Iowa

Display signs showing various raptors help visitors identify what they may see along the water from inside a viewing gallery inside the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley, Iowa, Friday, August 2, 2019. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)

Native plants greet visitors entering the DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge Welcome Center near Missouri Valley, Iowa, Friday, August 2, 2019. (photo by Jerry L Mennenga©)
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Tags: DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, history, jerry l mennenga photographer, Lost in Siouxland, nature, photography, travel, waterfowl