Migration Class April 7

This Thursday, April 7, I am teaching a Migration class through the Columbia Heights Adult Enrichment/Education program. We will talk about types of movement (migration is just one that birds do), how they navigate when they migrate, how banding tells us things, and as much more as we can pack into the class! Optional field trip to see bird banding the following Saturday. You can sign up at the Columbia Heights Community Ed site here. Hope to see you there!

Bald eagles

A trip down to Wabasha then on to WI yielded some fantastic views of bald eagles. Conservatively we saw over a hundred on each side of the river. March is really a month of change - birds heading back to breeding grounds north of here -birds heading back to MN since they are the breeding grounds - and birds just using the state as a tranportation stop going either direction. I was a little tickled at the gutsy group of starlings who thought that ganging up on an eagle really was a good idea.

Couple of great articles

Couple of interesting articles - birds and power lines, and birds and multiple man-made objects.

And I just had to add this one - who doesn't love an attention-grabbing headline like, "Cuckoo in Egg Pattern Arms Race?" One in which egg forgery skills are elaborated upon?

Crane Cam

Since it is the first time in nine years I haven't made it out to NE to say hello to about 300,000 of my closest friends, the Crane Cam from Rowe Sanctuary will have to do. Check in mornings to see liftoffs, and evenings to see the roosts in the river.

Wild Turkeys

Spring is officially, finally here. I don't care about the upcoming snow. We had eastern Bluebirds, Turkey Vultures and Red-winged Blackbirds start to show up in the Twin Cities in the last few days (that I saw - haven't seen the Eastern Phoebes or Fox Sparrows for myself I have heard about). Geese and other waterfowl moving through. Flocks of American Robins are moving. Did some great traveling with friends to see Bald Eagles, Peregrines and some other tasty, sexy birds. But - in preparation - here are some Wild Turkeys!!!! I think I am going to entitle one of these shots "Color Me Unimpressed." Apparently those females are awfully fickle.

Overheard Recently

A recent converation overheard . . . .










Okay, squirrels. I know you're in there. If you don't come out, I'm coming in.












I warned you. It will only get worse if you stay in there.












When. I. Say. Get. OUT. I MEAN IT!












If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. Squirrels?













Yoo-hoo - Squirrels?













Okay, I can hear you breathing in there.

You'll be sorry when it's no more Mr. Nice Hawk.

Sax Zim in March

Spent a great weekend in the Bog with some good friends! Some nice specialties seen included Black-billed Magpie (carrying nesting material!), Northern Hawk-owl and Rough-legged Hawks. Also had some wonderful encounters with some of nature's real characters - Boreal Chickadees and Gray Jays, aka the Whiskey Jacks. Had such wonderful luck with great images that I just pulled a couple for this post.

Got a couple of great shots of Common Redpolls, and the more elusive Hoary Redpoll. We had a great birder with us who could point out some of the differences (that did not include just the ligher plumage). Look at how much shorter the bill is on the bottom photos (the Hoary) than the Common Redpoll (shown with more pink/red in the plumage).