Next few weeks will have peregrines interspersed with other banding. This past Friday I was granted permission to be able to see the peregrines at their nest box at one of our metro area locations! It has been a wet/cold year, so some nest boxes have failed and others are later this year than in past. The chicks here are between 2 and 3 weeks old.
Still catching up on posts! Last weekend at Ritter Farm, in between some pretty crazy rain/storms, we did get a couple of FABULOUS warblers! First two pics are of a Mourning Warbler. The last two are of a Magnolia Warbler.
My thoughts are out to anyone affected by the wave of storms that moved through the city over the weekend. My place didn't suffer much, but I know others might not have been so fortunate.
This past banding session at Ritter was fantastic - Tennessee Warblers with faces full of apple blossom pollen, other warblers dripping from tree branches. And this Rose-breasted Grosbeak who almost put us into apoplexy. At first glance, he appeared to be a second year male, and fairly classic at that - brown worn primaries, yellow and spotting on the sides. But he was already banded - and in 2009 no less! As a second year bird! So - what is his story? Just a late bloomer? Individual or environmental factors delaying the plumage, or is this the "final product?"
Great horned owls are one of the first birds in the calendar year here in MN to have young out. Which means - during some of our coldest, wettest weather, they are able to successfully incubate eggs and keep warm chicks who are hatched with no feathers to hold their body heat. This bird has taken over an old squirrel nest in a very well-traveled park in Minneapolis. The chicks in these shots are between 4-5 weeks old. 
Got to have the experience of a lifetime recently. I really am pretty blessed to have people in my life who are not only kind and wonderful humans, but they are willing to share their knowledge. A wonderful couple on Duluth opened their home and let me stay and take in the fantastic spectacle of spring hawk migration. For someone like me who has done fall hawks for so long - seeing these birds six months later was quite an eye-opener. Birds hatched in 2010 now look remarkably different in the spring of the following year. I tried to soak up as much as I could, but hope to do more of this.
So, I have this friend Kristin who is not only a great, sweet human being - she also has mad skillz at the sewing machine. AND - she knew that I am amassing all the tools of the trade I need now that I am an official sub-bander. Look at the AMAZING Bag of Bags - and the bird bag in stylish Steeler Black and Gold! What a great gift! 
