tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21394214975842485752024-03-12T18:53:24.554-05:00Penelopedia: Nature and Garden in Southern MinnesotaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.comBlogger682125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-24271657139472546252017-01-09T17:34:00.000-06:002017-01-10T08:54:20.463-06:00Opossum Tracks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfXp7VK9g1LXjy-wodhvb3RcsWxPZonUgyadOKTWbi9cNFajF3dEyQgC5quhcG6FTHydAD7qh_LBwlPsYGmUhXLkXg-evk_Rko_Qs9PHTSvGZL1_5jbHZwtILoLQM69MhXZnvzJIoqUQr/s1600/IMG_0903.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgfXp7VK9g1LXjy-wodhvb3RcsWxPZonUgyadOKTWbi9cNFajF3dEyQgC5quhcG6FTHydAD7qh_LBwlPsYGmUhXLkXg-evk_Rko_Qs9PHTSvGZL1_5jbHZwtILoLQM69MhXZnvzJIoqUQr/s400/IMG_0903.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I was intrigued by these tracks in fresh snow on our driveway recently -- they had a hand-like quality, with a hint of a thumb on the side, and the pairs of tracks nestled up against each other in an distinctive pattern. They clearly weren't the usual squirrel or rabbit, and I wondered if they were raccoon. However, after some knowledgeable input from folks in the Minnesota Naturalists Facebook group, I came to the excited conclusion that an opossum was responsible for the tracks. </div>
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I've rarely seen these secretive creatures, and more often seen them dead than alive, but I know they are around here -- in fact, one of my very early blog posts, nine years ago now, was about possums after I sighted one on the main street near my house: <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/2008/01/not-to-neglect-lowly-possum-on-woodley.html" target="_blank">read it here</a>. </div>
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Apparently the range of the Virginia opossum has been expanding northward into the state, whether due to a warming climate or human development patterns, with roads, bridges and culverts making it easier for animals to move around. A <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2011/03/09/climate-change-virginia-opossum" target="_blank">Minnesota Public Radio story</a> from 2011 notes that while possum have been known in southern Minnesota for 100 years, their appearance in the Twin Cities metro area and further north is a much more recent phenomenon.</div>
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You are welcome here, little buddy. Peace.</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-45556332309985517292016-12-18T20:15:00.000-06:002016-12-18T20:23:32.666-06:00Christmas Bird Count 2016I was worried about this year's Christmas Bird Count, which was held yesterday in our area (the "Faribault circle"), as the weather forecast was terrible: 6-9 inches of snow were predicted to fall by morning and then the temperature was expected to plummet, along with brisk winds and blowing snow causing more headaches as the day went on.<br />
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However, the snowfall wasn't as heavy as predicted; it had stopped by the time it was getting light, and Northfield-area snowplows did an excellent job of getting the roads clear enough for reasonable safety. So my frequent CBC companion Dan Kahl and I set out in his trusty Subaru (with emergency supplies in the back, just in case). Here's what it looked like on 110th Street southeast of town.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQF6AjDW5uti1Z990Qir8PxZIRdSVn3V9j6YbESQqglydpB8GHutnzUL3I4vzB-Nt6JpmNoaezLGQsyXRETSylQZXcuolutYARJz7BeEZKiVEMK9GdqxD0vCQLsAzdPY81lf8FDM6Ui-GO/s1600/IMG_0855.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQF6AjDW5uti1Z990Qir8PxZIRdSVn3V9j6YbESQqglydpB8GHutnzUL3I4vzB-Nt6JpmNoaezLGQsyXRETSylQZXcuolutYARJz7BeEZKiVEMK9GdqxD0vCQLsAzdPY81lf8FDM6Ui-GO/s400/IMG_0855.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Kind of bleak, eh? You might not expect to see much bird life, but in fact we came back with a higher species count than I've recorded <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas%20bird%20count" target="_blank">here</a> in the past: 25 species (see full list at the bottom of this post).</div>
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On that very road, we saw two pairs each of three ground-feeding birds that I've not often seen, though they are not uncommon: <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lapland_Longspur/id" target="_blank">lapland longspurs</a>, <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Bunting/id" target="_blank">snow buntings</a>, and <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Horned_Lark/id" target="_blank">horned larks</a>. Lapland longspurs and snow buntings breed in the Arctic and are only here in the winter, while horned larks can be found in most of the U.S. year-round. In the photos below you can see some corn kernels that no doubt attracted these seed-eaters to the side of the road.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgUVAJxzWXpvxgzJI4FfHUI8ufvLWXQkNJnGzESQ4faIvFloC4F3NkGDeE5FQvzh3LBBnt0ucQ6_aJuy6oRkplwGFCnPPV9951m7gqmwZxIEytjtr18t5-n_82S2xzzqnMWmggL4XDcoi/s1600/IMG_6375-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpgUVAJxzWXpvxgzJI4FfHUI8ufvLWXQkNJnGzESQ4faIvFloC4F3NkGDeE5FQvzh3LBBnt0ucQ6_aJuy6oRkplwGFCnPPV9951m7gqmwZxIEytjtr18t5-n_82S2xzzqnMWmggL4XDcoi/s400/IMG_6375-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lapland Longspurs</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdttW0j6bwnyF2aCjl0F3VPjOem8jVQ0Ivo3xViC6bHp6gGvaZWZ-irrfV_FVQU5WGX3-Ks85_0DS4ztkf_CERXRyL0ONYNeRP-UBJsrE1JNArfaCG5zC8_uEvm890khA0zJgnr1zWO-8/s1600/IMG_6378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtdttW0j6bwnyF2aCjl0F3VPjOem8jVQ0Ivo3xViC6bHp6gGvaZWZ-irrfV_FVQU5WGX3-Ks85_0DS4ztkf_CERXRyL0ONYNeRP-UBJsrE1JNArfaCG5zC8_uEvm890khA0zJgnr1zWO-8/s400/IMG_6378.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Horned Lark</td></tr>
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Here's another shot of the rural landscape. I love the patterns of bare hedgerow and grasses against the snow.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0wPkMPXu4dD0I1_e41N0b_HBQ8B1x8u5tI3uxfOk5Ka6AmtAUuOydP8H52FepFiYgdHiYjNDLkVu4Euyl_5xUw4KquAwuFgkyqOjAfN6zVQiKufHoY09nZEIVMPZrHsZcf5cAshte1hts/s1600/IMG_0857.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0wPkMPXu4dD0I1_e41N0b_HBQ8B1x8u5tI3uxfOk5Ka6AmtAUuOydP8H52FepFiYgdHiYjNDLkVu4Euyl_5xUw4KquAwuFgkyqOjAfN6zVQiKufHoY09nZEIVMPZrHsZcf5cAshte1hts/s400/IMG_0857.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Though we had a slow start to winter this year, strong cold in the past week caused ponds and streams to ice up quickly. The large pond south of Superior Drive in Northfield had just a few open areas of water left, and in one of them we saw two Canada geese, a mallard, and two <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Coot/id" target="_blank">American coots</a>. The coots were a surprise, as they don't generally winter here, but perhaps they were lulled by the extended fall we had until recently.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwc9H9rRhW75cmDje8FQdYLT-ZaVPQL_XZ8zhURpKdSdSELrgM8uDLZ1dpeXroXlVg897C7dw8Iste0tDNpk4Q705RJ0_8-YiXg7lABGx9ANorMIfm3hOIIEa806uQwMafw03nYldRfAFg/s1600/IMG_6385-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwc9H9rRhW75cmDje8FQdYLT-ZaVPQL_XZ8zhURpKdSdSELrgM8uDLZ1dpeXroXlVg897C7dw8Iste0tDNpk4Q705RJ0_8-YiXg7lABGx9ANorMIfm3hOIIEa806uQwMafw03nYldRfAFg/s400/IMG_6385-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">American Coots (rear and right) with Canada Geese</td></tr>
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I was also excited to identify a <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Rough-legged_Hawk/id" target="_blank">rough-legged hawk </a>-- another Arctic-breeding bird that winters in southern Canada and much of the U.S. The prominent black patches at the bend of the wings helped identify this rather pale hawk.</div>
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Here's our full list for the day:</div>
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<li>Canada Goose - 19</li>
<li>Mallard - 100+ - seen all at once, criss-crossing the sky in many skeins, wings beating fast</li>
<li>Rock Pigeon 5</li>
<li>Mourning Dove 3</li>
<li>Bald Eagle 6 - including a group of 5 circling together, 3 adults and two juveniles</li>
<li>Red-tailed Hawk - 1</li>
<li>Rough-legged Hawk - 1 </li>
<li>Red-bellied Woodpecker - 4</li>
<li>Downy Woodpecker - 7</li>
<li>Blue Jay - 1</li>
<li>American Crow - 14</li>
<li>Horned Lark - 2</li>
<li>Black-capped Chickadee - 11</li>
<li>White-breasted Nuthatch - 4</li>
<li>American Robin - 1</li>
<li>Cedar Waxwing - 20</li>
<li>House Sparrow - 20</li>
<li>House Finch - 10 (I wonder if I captured them all -- it might have been a few more)</li>
<li>American Goldfinch - 2</li>
<li>Lapland Longspur - 2</li>
<li>Snow Bunting - 2</li>
<li>American Tree Sparrow - 4</li>
<li>Dark-eyed Junco 30</li>
<li>Northern Cardinal - 6</li>
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No starlings, pheasants or turkeys!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-78876521026642529372016-03-16T08:05:00.000-05:002016-03-16T08:05:35.128-05:00Mountain Bluebird - Rare in MinnesotaWe had seen reports of a way-out-of-its-range male <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mountain_Bluebird/id" target="_blank">Mountain Bluebird</a> at Schaar's Bluff near Hastings, Minnesota, and were fortunate to be able to get extended good views of it Monday evening after work. What a beauty!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiljK2gS5PIEyiws8_7kwLkoOizGwkEaL8LySWtlXZK17FNFr5KVGyzkF0X1U5xicPh3lUEEFjBisGN3VK2JP-mzOs50X4c5gf69CLw2NFES3V0R_8vToq1enWcEZS5zkqWYjodRu5Tnn/s1600/IMG_6105-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMiljK2gS5PIEyiws8_7kwLkoOizGwkEaL8LySWtlXZK17FNFr5KVGyzkF0X1U5xicPh3lUEEFjBisGN3VK2JP-mzOs50X4c5gf69CLw2NFES3V0R_8vToq1enWcEZS5zkqWYjodRu5Tnn/s400/IMG_6105-001.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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The overcast sky, fading light and rather diffuse color of the bird when seen from the front created some photographic challenges. At one point it flew to a perch within 15 feet of where I was standing, but with a network of high-contrast tree branches in the background, I could not get my camera to focus on the bird. The photos show here were all taken from many yards away with high zoom, and then cropped.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgItHKQj3ep5WpqVOtHdfTJywQMNFE1-Syw6Z_Cam8o50nQA_3DwUdRi0W6TIv_CPlVUnalFHu-JCrwxsJ_KScCILUmntYrvrcGuOIo6U7afRdjtcs7X2oTYGBC_Ijp_r-_4-nCc-b25Ii-/s1600/IMG_6097-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgItHKQj3ep5WpqVOtHdfTJywQMNFE1-Syw6Z_Cam8o50nQA_3DwUdRi0W6TIv_CPlVUnalFHu-JCrwxsJ_KScCILUmntYrvrcGuOIo6U7afRdjtcs7X2oTYGBC_Ijp_r-_4-nCc-b25Ii-/s400/IMG_6097-001.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>
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The normal range of the mountain bluebird is primarily the western mountain and plains states and up the western part of Canada into Alaska in the summer breeding season. Winters are spent in the southern part of that range and well south into Mexico. Normally it would not be closer to us than the western edge of the Dakotas.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LXPWvBaEzszBzXBw1AfgHlCZMThr6VpG0txdSNTWEH9c7OTjtOOkAQ4hB3fxZ_b1mX2W_P8w3rqaJOMmAlm7lyINaVPrKU8CGd1Ps9UeANigdqIN8C9r2ebKhkn9377n0FEI8DgHrWbe/s1600/IMG_6112-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9LXPWvBaEzszBzXBw1AfgHlCZMThr6VpG0txdSNTWEH9c7OTjtOOkAQ4hB3fxZ_b1mX2W_P8w3rqaJOMmAlm7lyINaVPrKU8CGd1Ps9UeANigdqIN8C9r2ebKhkn9377n0FEI8DgHrWbe/s400/IMG_6112-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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For comparison, here (below) is the male eastern bluebird, which is the bluebird we normally see in this part of the country.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbkv36P9bRkBCsRFBYwWTv-7cjxtnkl3q8W1ZlCQ6g8IlH0hi61NHRUANzRl8Lq_L27zYVk1SzW1chPhvMkLzwnKqMfFI_8iKE5xchWgvOL_tdZiR5OnrKICCAsy-X-h4U1slJnqP9N8P/s1600/Home-bluebird1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikbkv36P9bRkBCsRFBYwWTv-7cjxtnkl3q8W1ZlCQ6g8IlH0hi61NHRUANzRl8Lq_L27zYVk1SzW1chPhvMkLzwnKqMfFI_8iKE5xchWgvOL_tdZiR5OnrKICCAsy-X-h4U1slJnqP9N8P/s400/Home-bluebird1.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-18873140030864149622016-03-06T20:32:00.001-06:002016-03-06T20:32:21.073-06:00Spring Birding Begins! - Ducks and GeeseWith temperatures heading high into the 50s today, we headed down to the Wells Lake causeway west of Faribault and saw hundreds of greater white-fronted geese as well as many common mergansers and some redheads and coots (in addition to gulls and oodles of mallards and Canada geese). The large lake has already opened up enough that all of these were hundreds of yards away and a strain to see, even through binoculars and spotting scope, so there may have been other species that we couldn't identify.<br />
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In contrast, at the Superior Drive pond in Northfield, which now has a lot of open water as well, we got some lovely views of several <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Lesser_Scaup/id" target="_blank">lesser scaup</a>, a diving duck that is usually one of the first migrating ducks I've recorded over the past few springs (<a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/search?q=scaup" target="_blank">here are other posts I've written about scaup</a> -- in the exceptionally warm spring of 2012, on March 7 the ice was almost completely out on that pond and I counted 42 scaup). Lesser scaup moving through our area are on their way to summer breeding grounds in the northern plains of Canada after wintering in the southern states, along the Gulf Coast, or maybe in Mexico. <br />
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Look at that beautiful blue beak, golden eye, and dark head shining purple in the sun.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglhGQzlZXriwE6KAbu9fKdJ4ugD3n991F1HAp75sMnDTbLq-m-Us1gdIRqy8GlihcNlcVGjeDd8wRhKJiZB5os6FW0ilEEj2WkjX2LoWJUmQetneWoFYlSWkAi2oVEwpdmQaso4e4sts44/s1600/IMG_6080-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglhGQzlZXriwE6KAbu9fKdJ4ugD3n991F1HAp75sMnDTbLq-m-Us1gdIRqy8GlihcNlcVGjeDd8wRhKJiZB5os6FW0ilEEj2WkjX2LoWJUmQetneWoFYlSWkAi2oVEwpdmQaso4e4sts44/s400/IMG_6080-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsYQFiQkoBRG6quPMg_j_u0yLKjLW_fg-5nC9_MPe9CZcqZsUnE9qUXe_aPm3MP_ncs0R_PMjBGOJBk0w1A8hqL6JnoLMXMwJw1MdD1DBOAoM-3XtqKlN6ytzE_KTMhuf0EI4XQ0Ix6-XX/s1600/IMG_6077-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsYQFiQkoBRG6quPMg_j_u0yLKjLW_fg-5nC9_MPe9CZcqZsUnE9qUXe_aPm3MP_ncs0R_PMjBGOJBk0w1A8hqL6JnoLMXMwJw1MdD1DBOAoM-3XtqKlN6ytzE_KTMhuf0EI4XQ0Ix6-XX/s400/IMG_6077-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-55434006479216820282016-01-31T17:44:00.000-06:002016-01-31T17:48:36.865-06:00Dark Water in WinterI'm endlessly fascinated by the relatively rare (in Minnesota) sight of unfrozen water in wintertime. The contrast to the snow on the banks makes the water look so dark and mysterious, and the bare trees are beautiful when reflected. My friend Adele and I went for a walk on Saturday and I captured these scenes.<br />
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In the first photo, you may be able to see a group of mallards at the back.<br />
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As my friend Adele and I looked down at this next bit of the creek on Saturday, it almost looked like a summertime scene where skimming insects leave constant dimples and ripples on the water -- but this was late January, so insects weren't a possibility. We soon realized that there was very fine drizzle, which we hadn't noticed until then, making the drop marks on the water.</div>
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This next one is a crop of the photo above. Click the photo to see the larger version showing the many overlapping ripple marks.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-57331031630736071252016-01-17T21:32:00.000-06:002016-01-17T21:32:27.156-06:00Watching Birds on Winter's Coldest MorningIt was about -15 F. when I spent some time watching birds at our feeders and in nearby trees this morning. Our coldest days tend to be cloud-free, so the light was good. Since I take many of my feeder photos through my living room window, I do some color correcting afterward to take away the dullness that the window and its glare can impart.<br />
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I love female cardinals. This one's red eyebrow is illuminated, matching her beautiful red bill. She's accompanied at the feeder by a goldfinch and, barely visible, a house finch.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFt2Iy2VdSaD6TB-V4lpDWynZNOJeGSWsPH7qyhPXQrGJq_ZL7adbFnCSlmLzrQhXwkE2lZealnQ5ofl4X8yD7_OGgsKLvL0atxQqaUVTYpVKx8Du30Me2MqBl-ZUVMqzkNa-JwBEq007/s1600/IMG_6040-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxFt2Iy2VdSaD6TB-V4lpDWynZNOJeGSWsPH7qyhPXQrGJq_ZL7adbFnCSlmLzrQhXwkE2lZealnQ5ofl4X8yD7_OGgsKLvL0atxQqaUVTYpVKx8Du30Me2MqBl-ZUVMqzkNa-JwBEq007/s400/IMG_6040-001.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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This female white-breasted nuthatch caught my eye because, unusually, she was head-up on the trunk of our big maple tree, rather than upside down as one usually sees nuthatches. She's well-fluffed for maximum insulation from the cold.<br />
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This male house finch is also doing a puffball imitation to keep warm.<br />
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And this bright-eyed chickadee sat in the same position for quite a while. Was he or she miserable in the cold, or doing just fine? Our northern birds seem to handle the cold remarkably well, <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/how-birds-survive-the-cold-feathers-food-warmth/" target="_blank">Here is a good overview</a> from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology of some of the ways birds cope with severe cold, which include not only fluffing up those down feathers but eating as much as possible and sheltering from the wind.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-751392821301535962015-12-24T08:16:00.002-06:002015-12-24T08:21:43.201-06:00Peace, Joy, and the Christmas Bird Count<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSEv2quw8ywk7v6I-u71INA1wjOTZIJ5GdFCrEgSwNUsv0k6L_2dNspAVZI6pYtnv1Icc7VXlRrdPHgs2FmadtauUa7LfvTHylp2jTITWe9Qm6vTE05u0HLIvI4V_V2GddQ3g6R-86DVe/s1600/IMG_6024-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXSEv2quw8ywk7v6I-u71INA1wjOTZIJ5GdFCrEgSwNUsv0k6L_2dNspAVZI6pYtnv1Icc7VXlRrdPHgs2FmadtauUa7LfvTHylp2jTITWe9Qm6vTE05u0HLIvI4V_V2GddQ3g6R-86DVe/s400/IMG_6024-001.JPG" width="265" /></a></div>
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This lovely male house finch, high in a tree above Sibley Swale, was beautifully illuminated during the Christmas Bird Count last Saturday. The morning was cold, cold -- with not much wind, but enough so that walking west made the eyes water and the face go numb.<br />
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During the count it helps to put a highly visible notice on one's vehicle explaining why you're driving slowly and peering through binoculars at people's houses (but really, at their bird feeders, trees, shrubs, and lawns).<br />
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It was good to once again do the count in the company of Dan Kahl, the caretaker and naturalist at Mount Olivet Retreat Center in Farmington. My husband Dave joined us for part of the morning as well, but unfortunately his one good eye was bothering him and he wasn't seeing well, so he bowed out about halfway through.<br />
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Our territory, as usual, covered a rural area east and south of Northfield as well as much of the south side of Northfield itself. We drove most of it but walked a bit of Sibley Swale, the Sibley School nature area, and the marshy area just west of the south end of Archibald Street.<br />
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This was our count for the morning -- 20 species, which is two more than <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/2014/12/christmas-bird-count-2014-quiet.html" target="_blank">last year</a>:<br />
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<li>60 house sparrows</li>
<li>40 European starlings</li>
<li>32 American crows</li>
<li>26 dark-eyed juncos</li>
<li>14 blue jays</li>
<li>14 mallards</li>
<li>12 American goldfinches</li>
<li>9 house finches</li>
<li>7 pine siskins</li>
<li>6 downy woodpeckers</li>
<li>5 black-capped chickadees</li>
<li>5 rock pigeons</li>
<li>3 white-breasted nuthatches</li>
<li>2 American tree sparrows</li>
<li>2 mourning doves</li>
<li>2 northern cardinals</li>
<li>1 Canada goose</li>
<li>1 red-tailed hawk</li>
<li>1 ring-necked pheasant</li>
<li>1 red-bellied woodpecker</li>
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Gene Bauer always does a meticulous job of organizing our regional Count, and it's so much fun to breakfast with all the other CBCers at Gene and Susan's house and return to report in and warm up over soup at lunchtime. Many thanks to them, as always.<br />
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To all: Wishing you peace and joy in this season of darkness and lights, and the restorative and transformative blessings of nature in the year ahead.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-38425906487354645362015-12-23T06:30:00.000-06:002015-12-23T06:30:02.941-06:00Ever Seen the Top of a Red-bellied Woodpecker's Head?The <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-bellied_Woodpecker/id" target="_blank">red-bellied woodpecker</a> is always one of my favorite visitors -- so large and beautifully patterned. The dark eye in the pale, unstreaked cheek gives the bird a fresh-faced, approachable look.<br />
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This female comes to our feeders quite often these days.<br />
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The picture below shows how these birds use their tails for support, bracing themselves against a tree trunk or a bird feeder.<br />
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And here, below, is an unusual view -- at least for me. I've included this shot although it's otherwise not a good photograph, because it's interesting to see so clearly the straight line where the red cap meets gray in the female. The male's red cap extends all the way to the beak.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-80460868218944381802015-12-20T22:09:00.000-06:002015-12-20T22:13:03.812-06:00Ice Forming on a Frigid Morning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Saturday was the Christmas Bird Count in our area, and wouldn't you know it would be the most frigid morning we've had this whole mild December -- only about 10 F. as we set out around 8:00. One bright side was seeing some fascinating ice formations along the creek near Dennison, where we always stop in hopes of seeing birds, but rarely see any even when there is open water. This time we saw a couple of goldfinches. </div>
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Click on any of the photos below to see them larger. They were taken from quite some distance so they are not all crystal clear, but you can see what a variety of patterns and structures were to be seen.</div>
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I haven't studied ice formation much, but there is some basic background in <a href="http://www.britannica.com/science/lake-ice" target="_blank">this Britannica article</a>. </div>
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The only ducks we saw all morning were a group of 14 mallards splashing vigorously in a small area of open water in the middle of the pond south of Superior Drive. Man, that looks cold.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-35339871885528397332015-08-16T19:42:00.000-05:002015-08-16T19:42:32.037-05:00Monarch on the Joe-Pye WeedIt was a sweet sight to observe a monarch butterfly on some pollinator-friendly, native Joe-Pye Weed (<i>Eutrochium</i>)<i> </i>in our garden today -- the first confirmed monarch sighting here in several years. We have quite a few milkweed plants, although they are not growing where there is enough sun for them to produce flowers. These photos were taken through my living room window on an overcast day.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-52220526800446230802015-05-25T12:39:00.000-05:002015-05-25T12:40:45.578-05:00From the Archives: Dandelion Clocks Aglow<i>This post was originally published <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/2008/06/dandelion-clocks-aglow.html" target="_blank">June 6, 2008</a>, when my son was eight. I've been noticing again how dandelion seedheads catch the light and have a magical appeal -- if you're open to it!</i><br />
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On a recent evening walk, I found the glow of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dandelion">dandelion</a> seedheads, or "clocks," illuminated by the setting sun, quite magical. My son, like many children, loves to blow the dandelion clocks. Adults, on the other hand, tend to consider dandelion clocks an eyesore and shudder at the thought of those countless seed parachutes wafting over their lawns. I remember my mother teaching my brother and me to "tell the time" by counting the blows it took until the seeds were all blown away. There is still something compelling about those weightless, silky orbs, if we take the time to notice.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-51177406829297447282015-05-10T19:31:00.000-05:002015-05-10T19:31:23.082-05:00Bluebird in Soft Focus on a Gray DayI sometimes forget what a difference good light makes to the clarity of a photo. But the flip side of that can be the tender, even painterly, softness to shots taken on an overcast day. Here is a male bluebird perching on a marker post in the Upper Arb at Carleton College, with a stand of leafing-out trees some distance behind.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-86884226484427399102015-05-03T18:43:00.000-05:002015-05-03T18:43:06.848-05:002015 Bluebird TrailDave and I are a month or so into our fourth year of monitoring blueboxes in the Northfield area. This year, in addition to the two trails we've been <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/p/bluebird-trail.html" target="_blank">covering in previous years</a> (one currently with 12 boxes along rural roads south of Northfield and the other with five boxes near Randolph), we've taken on (at least for this year) another existing trail in the Carleton Arboretum that has 9 pairs of boxes over about a two-mile walking trail.<br />
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This trail uses a different type of nestbox than we're used to -- the modified Gilwood rather than the Gilbertson PVC style -- so that's been a learning curve. (<a href="http://www.sialis.org/nestboxproscons.htm" target="_blank">See a comparison of box styles</a>.) Both are mounted on conduit poles for good predator deterrence. (Please don't mount bluebird boxes on wooden fence posts and other areas where cats, raccoons, snakes and other predators can easily access a buffet of eggs and nestlings. If you have older-style boxes mounted in that way, you'd be doing a good deed by replacing them with newer pole-mounted boxes. If you're in our area and would like help replacing older boxes, message me and I'll be glad to help make that happen.)<br />
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The Gilwood has a front-opening door which is probably less alarming to a bird that happens to be sitting on eggs during a box check than the action of detaching the PVC box from its roof as you do to check inside the Gilbertson boxes. However, Dave and I aren't very tall, and even after lowering most of the boxes we find we need to use a small mirror on a wand (available at auto supply stores) to see the contents of the nests. Photography of box contents would be difficult indeed.<br />
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As of this week we have quite a few bluebird eggs, more nests that don't have eggs yet, and also much nesting activity by tree swallows. This morning as we walked the new trail I was able to get some nice photos of both bluebirds and tree swallows -- sometimes in the same shot.<br />
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Click any of the photos to see them larger.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-77200390399925710912015-04-06T18:00:00.000-05:002015-04-07T08:59:42.917-05:00Sandhill Cranes, Platte River - with video<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For millions of years, cranes have migrated through what is now south central Nebraska on their way to breeding grounds in the north. I was honored to witness the spectacle of sandhill cranes gathering on the Platte River in late March. At sunset the cranes fly in by the thousands from the fields to roost on the river overnight; at dawn they rise in groups both small and large, and disperse to glean grain from the late-winter fields. Some half a million cranes pass through there, in the vicinity of Kearney, Nebraska, from late February to early April each year. The sight and primordial sound of hundreds or thousands of cranes, with the backdrop of some of the most beautiful sunsets and sunrises I have ever seen, will long stay with me. So will the moment when a clamorous group we were watching, at some signal undetectable by us, went completely silent. A few breathless moments passed -- and then they lifted <i>en masse</i> into the sky.<br />
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Turn up the volume on the video to hear the cranes.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-27290961489475556722015-02-14T22:00:00.000-06:002015-02-19T08:40:04.417-06:00Why I'm a Birder: Loving the Places They've Brought MeI've finally been reading <i>The Big Year</i> by Mark Obmascik. It's the story of three obsessive birders and their race to see the most species in North America in a year. The book inspired the Steve Martin/Jack Black/Owen Wilson film of the same name.<br />
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Early in the book the author describes one of the competitors, wealthy businessman Al Levantin, who kicks off his Big Year spotting mountain birds from skis in his home base of Aspen:<br />
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"That was the thing with Levantin: he loved the birds, but he really loved the places they brought him. When you spend your career in the confines of a gray suit, the pipits at dawn above timberline are even more wondrous. He lived to be in the field."</blockquote>
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That rang so true for me that it practically leapt from the page, shimmering in gold.<br />
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<i>~~~ He loved the birds, but he really loved the places they brought him. ~~~</i></blockquote>
I don't mean exotic new locations, though maybe someday birding will take me to some of those. I mean that my growing interest in birds has gently led me into the natural world, as well as into places that might also be described as states of mind: <i>the wondrousness of the pipits at dawn</i>.<br />
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What are some places birding has taken me?<br />
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Outdoors.<br />
Woods. Prairie. Trails. Ponds. Riverbanks.<br />
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The frozen Missisippi in winter, looking for bald eagles.<br />
The first ice-free pond that hosts migrating ducks in the spring.<br />
The Christmas Bird Count, spent driving slowly along rural roads looking for every single bird we can spot.<br />
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Barely leafed-out woods in May, looking and listening for warblers.<br />
A driving trip up the Northern California coast: oystercatchers and thousands of marbled godwits.<br />
A hilly hike in a Bay Area wilderness area, in search of golden eagles.<br />
Sewage ponds. Yes, sewage ponds.<br />
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REI.<br />
Good hiking shoes. Caps that shade the eyes. Quick-dry trousers with zip-off legs.<br />
The idea that it's okay to invest modestly in some gear for what makes you happy.<br />
Tentative experimentation with snowshoes.<br />
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Photography.<br />
A better camera.<br />
A huge proportion of this blog.<br />
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The Carleton Arboretum and River Bend Nature Center in all seasons.<br />
The Minnesota Master Naturalist Class.<br />
The Pothole and Prairie Birding Festival in North Dakota.<br />
Plans to witness the sandhill crane migration in Nebraska this spring.<br />
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Listening. Looking. Scanning the sky or a body of water. Intently gazing into trees or shrubs.<br />
And, at last, a new comfort being alone in a natural area. A sense of freedom and empowerment.</div>
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Let me say more about that last thing, because it's one of the biggies.</div>
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I lived mostly in large cities until moving to Northfield almost 25 years ago. I knew people who went hiking and backpacking and camping, and in fact my high school was quite into such things, but I didn't ever get much experience with those activities outside of organized groups, and though I admired people who did them, they didn't really call to me.<br />
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Also, in the city or outside it, I was always aware that danger might lurk in the bushes. And, terribly, there were reports of murdered hikers reinforcing the point.<br />
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Even when I got to this safe small town, my city instincts followed me. Maybe I didn't still carry my keys pointing out between my fingers when walking to my car at night, but a woman (especially a small, not particularly athletic woman) alone in a park or the woods or on a hiking trail was vulnerable. You didn't put yourself into that situation. At least, that's how it continued to feel to me.<br />
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Until I had enough reason to want to. And that's what the birds gave me.</div>
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It's taken me a long time to realize what I'd missed -- that sense of freedom and empowerment that I mentioned above -- and birding is what finally got me there. But it's not all about the birds anymore. Being out in the natural world has become intrinsically rewarding in a way it really wasn't for me, before.<br />
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I still don't feel called to feats of solo distance hiking like Cheryl Strayed, or my sister-in-law <a href="http://marrymejohnmuir.com/" target="_blank">Bethany</a> who hiked the John Muir Trail solo in 2012. One of the things I've always said I like about birding is <i>it gets you outside without having to be too strenuous about it.</i><br />
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But an early morning hour or so wandering by myself in the Arb, River Bend, or other natural areas nearby, entirely at my own pace, choosing my route, camera and binoculars ready for whatever I may discover ... bliss.<br />
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Thank you, birds.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-58766834789818157742015-02-01T20:39:00.001-06:002015-02-01T20:39:28.420-06:00Adorable DownyYesterday Dave and I stopped by Big Woods State Park, where there was a lot of woodpecker and nuthatch action in the trees surrounding the park office. I was charmed by this little female <a href="http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/id/" target="_blank">downy woodpecker</a> working her way around the trunk of one of the trees, only a few feet from where we were standing. Isn't she pretty?<br />
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While we were there, we also saw a juvenile red-headed woodpecker, patchily transitioning to its full red head, which it should have by breeding season this year. I didn't get a good photo, but we were pleased to see young of this increasingly rare woodpecker. Big Woods State Park is one of the most reliable places to spot them.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-86779085887455878092015-01-10T16:11:00.000-06:002015-01-10T16:11:12.010-06:00Dawn Juncos Sitting on the Ground<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This morning I looked out of the window next to the front door before going out to get our newspaper, and saw three dark-eyed juncos on our front walk where I had scattered some seed the day before. The sun was just coming up, and I was a little surprised to see the juncos there before full light. I was even more surprised when I realized they were not eating, but just sitting still. </div>
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I don't think I've ever seen them just sitting on the ground like that before. The temperature was about 0 F, which is warmer than it has been for the past several mornings, but still exceedingly cold. The first two photos here were taken through the window and reflect the pinkish light of the rising sun.<br />
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Because I didn't want to disturb them if they were conserving energy by hunkering down, I waited a few minutes until seeing that two of them had left and the one remaining was eating. I then stepped out to get the paper and turned toward the pink eastern sky. It was a beautiful sunrise.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-91924371963195614282015-01-01T10:58:00.000-06:002015-01-01T10:58:06.337-06:00Happy New Year 2015<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is a downy woodpecker, taken last winter. I like the light and the seemingly heart-shaped red spot.<br />
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First birds of 2015 have included a red-bellied woodpecker and a chickadee singing its sweet spring song: Fee-bee, fee-bee. The heart lifts! The darkest days of the winter are behind us.<br />
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Happy new year to one and all.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-37155836928977966752014-12-21T09:04:00.000-06:002014-12-21T09:09:52.261-06:00Christmas Bird Count 2014: QuietParticipating in the annual Christmas Bird Count has become a tradition I look forward to eagerly. It's a chance to devote half a day, or more, to looking for birds and documenting the number of each species we see, as well as our time spent and mileage covered by car and on foot, to aid in interpreting the numbers reported. I've also written here about the Christmas Bird Counts of <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-bird-count.html" target="_blank">2009</a>, <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/2010/12/unofficial-turkeys.html" target="_blank">2010</a>, <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-bird-count-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a>, and <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas%20bird%20count" target="_blank">2013</a>. As in the past, we were assigned to a rural area east and south of Northfield, as well as a good portion of Northfield's east side.<br />
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Relatively mild at about 30-32 F. all morning, it was also gray and chillingly damp, though thankfully not windy. Ponds were frozen, while creeks were open. The mantra of the day for our group of four turned out to be, "Boy, it's really quiet out there." While we saw some decent action at a few homesteads that had well-stocked feeders, we came up dry at many others, including those at my own house. It wasn't always literally quiet, as we had an ample number of crows cawing raucously, but there were a lot of places that seemed unexpectedly bird-free.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Open water at the creek west of Dennison -- but no birds</td></tr>
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The photo above is taken from the highway bridge just west of Dennison. Every year I get my hopes up for this creek, which often offers open water and seems so inviting from a human perspective, but once again there was nothing to see.<br />
<br />
Here are our results for the morning. Occasionally birds (mostly chickadees and nuthatches) were identified by sound though not seen.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>2 Canada geese</li>
<li>55 mallards, seen in many small groups overhead, flying with their characteristic rapid wingbeats, and in a large congregation on the open creek in the golf course</li>
<li>1 ring-necked pheasant. Pheasant numbers are down so much in the last few years that this was now considered a lucky sighting.</li>
<li>1 sharp-shinned hawk seen flying through woods (I missed seeing this. Darn!)</li>
<li>1 red-tailed hawk</li>
<li>19 rock pigeons (your standard barnyard or urban pigeon) on silos</li>
<li>5 mourning doves</li>
<li>1 red-bellied woodpecker</li>
<li>5 downy woodpeckers</li>
<li>1 hairy woodpecker</li>
<li>12 blue jays</li>
<li>52 American crows</li>
<li>14 black-capped chickadees</li>
<li>7 white-breasted nuthatches</li>
<li>43 dark-eyed juncos, including a flock of 35 seen on the west edge of the Sibley School natural area</li>
<li>5 northern cardinals</li>
<li>39 house finches, the majority of them in one large group at a rural homestead with plenty of large trees and well-stocked feeders</li>
<li>22 house sparrows, mostly in one large group at the pond west of Archibald Street and just north of Jefferson Parkway; we first caught sight of a few of them on top of and going into a wood duck box. </li>
</ul>
<div>
This total of 18 species is the same as our total in 2011 (the last count I can find detailed notes for). Species seen then that we did not see yesterday included the European starling, wild turkey, American robin, American goldfinch, and northern shrike. Species seen yesterday that we did not see in <a href="http://penelopedia.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-bird-count-2011.html" target="_blank">2011</a> included Canada goose, ring-necked pheasant, sharp-shinned hawk, rock pigeon, and hairy woodpecker. I always hope to see snow buntings or horned larks for the CBC, but there were none to be seen yesterday, nor (ambitious hope) a snowy owl, for which there have been sightings in Rice County in the past week or so.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Non-avian sightings included plenty of squirrels and, notably, a mink that was being eyed warily by a pair of mallards on Spring Creek on the east edge of Northfield.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I was happy to see several new participants at our Northfield-based count, including my longtime friend <a href="http://mynortherngarden.com/" target="_blank">Mary</a>, who came along in our group, as well as the now-familiar friends who are faithful to this effort. Thanks as always to Gene Bauer for organizing the bird count for the Northfield area, Gene and his wife Susan for their hospitality for the pre-count breakfast and post-count lunch, and the other bird enthusiasts, both experienced and developing, who showed up and helped make it a fun day of comradery and citizen science.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0Northfield, MN 55057, USA44.4695372 -93.137817344.1068852 -93.7832643 44.832189199999995 -92.49237029999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-71597569219040954652014-11-02T20:57:00.000-06:002014-12-25T00:23:31.505-06:00Leaf-fall and Autumn BirdwatchingWe have a large, beautiful maple tree in front of our house, which makes a nice staging point for birds coming to our feeders. In the summer, we may hear the birds in the tree, but we don't see them until they leave the thick leafy cover. In the fall, for a week or two the tree is gloriously golden-pink, and then, of course, the leaves fall. My sadness at losing the color is never long-lived, because as the leaves drop, the birds become visible in the tree once more and I know we have entered one of our most satisfying birdwatching seasons. Our summer birds have departed, the goldfinches have put on their winter plumage, the dark-eyed juncos have arrived for the season, and we are ready to hunker down by the living room window, camera and binoculars at hand, to see what we will see.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2W4dON2Hy-Yz2Y9hXSGIWe685nAazSzCukBXZy5M7kYhz2YB-AOd45j94Zb3QvzE0cr0c_54MmVK8X38jiVu8fX3ur1dgYMW0RfFabY7V4RLELynCw1EAHoZ25Eyzdgv4AgX1Qg0zY7va/s1600/IMG_4381-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2W4dON2Hy-Yz2Y9hXSGIWe685nAazSzCukBXZy5M7kYhz2YB-AOd45j94Zb3QvzE0cr0c_54MmVK8X38jiVu8fX3ur1dgYMW0RfFabY7V4RLELynCw1EAHoZ25Eyzdgv4AgX1Qg0zY7va/s1600/IMG_4381-001.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our maple on October 17</td></tr>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbj3QUMLogArptYabcml95xdSTRT1aa8fL2vUj2wyYbH0EB0JkIi1Ci2cB4UTLVkPdUZ7ZOpdSBNshbZWbThnBttNWnl7Q1FRRLIQ8ht1-F40ChQCr4__qh4MmoYud6TZ9UdTX4O_aPt6V/s1600/IMG_4389.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbj3QUMLogArptYabcml95xdSTRT1aa8fL2vUj2wyYbH0EB0JkIi1Ci2cB4UTLVkPdUZ7ZOpdSBNshbZWbThnBttNWnl7Q1FRRLIQ8ht1-F40ChQCr4__qh4MmoYud6TZ9UdTX4O_aPt6V/s1600/IMG_4389.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downy Woodpecker with backdrop of golden leaves, October 17</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisv9IHE6ZaXyTFX5yhDk_cTRIPOHfOw2nNwq53h-vfAA9dLmY6WpZ3wswFCi3mr5S5_3Wwl6t0b3er1wVVAJ3WmiS2rIAmq9XvxHxgeQmxaNcEkh_yIx2b1o0qEDC6_yNIzEs09cXLgU4I/s1600/IMG_4398.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisv9IHE6ZaXyTFX5yhDk_cTRIPOHfOw2nNwq53h-vfAA9dLmY6WpZ3wswFCi3mr5S5_3Wwl6t0b3er1wVVAJ3WmiS2rIAmq9XvxHxgeQmxaNcEkh_yIx2b1o0qEDC6_yNIzEs09cXLgU4I/s1600/IMG_4398.JPG" height="640" width="358" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What we lose in leafy loveliness, we'll gain in bird visibility.<br />
October 24</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhG6OtOyqE9urC6v933jRUkvv3QpSvI6SVTe9An8eRHoc_nkxN1WdA-Qg7NhX1iC0XalUFMkXJXitCn0q1mMNf_fiCbwxxzPk2sUYkCSJ_DK80TZShimhxjNFgTYWhmFwqi2Ee4uNYY6r/s1600/IMG_4404.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuhG6OtOyqE9urC6v933jRUkvv3QpSvI6SVTe9An8eRHoc_nkxN1WdA-Qg7NhX1iC0XalUFMkXJXitCn0q1mMNf_fiCbwxxzPk2sUYkCSJ_DK80TZShimhxjNFgTYWhmFwqi2Ee4uNYY6r/s1600/IMG_4404.JPG" height="223" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winter-plumage American Goldfinch</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6TUpTpScRbzuzqRohyphenhyphen8RxsNcpp8Tvx3BXmBxu1qcXmZKOrMhX8gJT8uWmra4Z1rFmIbKP8c43iFWoS9Do-gM_BmBhocolFdRzkHKmQAVq3yX4ignrFxgNvVB9eTLgDOhxSqlqgLcVyBNo/s1600/IMG_4418-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6TUpTpScRbzuzqRohyphenhyphen8RxsNcpp8Tvx3BXmBxu1qcXmZKOrMhX8gJT8uWmra4Z1rFmIbKP8c43iFWoS9Do-gM_BmBhocolFdRzkHKmQAVq3yX4ignrFxgNvVB9eTLgDOhxSqlqgLcVyBNo/s1600/IMG_4418-001.JPG" height="398" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This female Red-bellied Woodpecker has become a regular visitor<br />
to the peanut feeder as the light starts to fade each recent evening. When she<br />
leaves the feeder, I can see her moving higher and higher in the maple tree.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINXcR3pSEj04sFwvih-EpwuDgSlGrwIGhJXF1VRepTFhoAT_Uc17rd06IlSW1lH4jVJcnV5yJzNXe29atW3kXjACC9ageD76p_BJQJI56Mb1b91KdVqiuqVP3ZA4Mg8g4kTUJziclXMHq/s1600/IMG_4400.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINXcR3pSEj04sFwvih-EpwuDgSlGrwIGhJXF1VRepTFhoAT_Uc17rd06IlSW1lH4jVJcnV5yJzNXe29atW3kXjACC9ageD76p_BJQJI56Mb1b91KdVqiuqVP3ZA4Mg8g4kTUJziclXMHq/s1600/IMG_4400.JPG" height="223" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The coiled whole-peanut feeder caught some falling leaves.</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-23783628984641006662014-10-12T15:26:00.000-05:002014-10-12T15:26:08.676-05:00October in the ArbI've been resting a troublesome foot and so it has been weeks since I've taken a good walk in the Arb (the Carleton College Cowling Arboretum). Today I could not stay away, and so I walked gently for two and half miles through the eastern side of the Lower Arb. While the trees are more spectacular in town, where there are many brilliant maples, autumn in the Arb has its own mellow beauty -- the beauty of dried grasses and hard or fluffy seed pods, of shimmering milkweed floss, of rusty oaks and burgundy sumac and the sparkle of low sun skimming across the prairie.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-64050467555407482442014-08-06T13:57:00.000-05:002014-08-07T08:39:46.766-05:00Birds and the Vikings Stadium<div class="tr_bq">
Below is the text of an email I sent today to the Chair, Executive Director and Director of Communications for the Metropolitan Sports Facility Authority regarding the proposed use of special glass that will greatly reduce the incidence of birds striking this glass-heavy, spectacular new stadium located along a key North American bird migration path, the Mississippi flyway. More information on this topic, and contact information for key decision-makers, is available here:</div>
<ul>
<li>Birdchick blog (Sharon Stiteler): <a href="https://sharon-stiteler.squarespace.com/blog/2014/8/3/one-step-closer-to-fixing-the-vikings-stadium" target="_blank">One step closer to fixing the Vikings stadium</a></li>
<li>MinnPost article: <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/political-agenda/2014/08/minneapolis-city-council-calls-bird-safe-vikings-stadium" target="_blank">Minneapolis City Council calls for bird-safe Vikings Stadium</a></li>
<li>Star Tribune columnist Jim Williams: <a href="http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/homegarden/blogs/269398651.html" target="_blank">New Vikings stadium -- bird-killing zone</a> (and other recent posts)</li>
<li>National Audubon Society: <a href="http://www.audubon.org/newsroom/press-releases/2014/new-minnesota-vikings-stadium-threatens-minnesota-s-birds" target="_blank">New Minnesota Vikings Stadium Threatens Minnesota's Birds</a></li>
<li>Official Audubon petition: <a href="http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/738/864/303/" target="_blank">Change Glass, Save Birds</a></li>
</ul>
And I'd like to follow that last article's title with the comment that because such a major flyway is involved, this is decidedly NOT just a threat to Minnesota's birds. Birds that use the Mississippi flyway during migration may very well be coming from or returning to other states in the U.S., Canada, the Arctic, Mexico, Central America and/or South America. State boundaries have very little relevance here. These are the Western Hemisphere's birds.<br />
<br />
My email:<br />
<blockquote>
With great concern, as a birder, nature blogger, Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteer, conservationist and long-time Minnesota resident, I most strongly urge you to act to protect birds from the foreseeable effects of such a large glass structure located so close to the Mississippi flyway. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
As a strategic communications professional (at Neuger Communications Group, where I am a vice president and senior communications counselor), I also urge you to take this step. It will be truly a shame if this beautiful, world-class, publicly supported facility is forever tainted in the minds of many game and event attendees, and many more who will not be in a position to attend, as a bird-killer. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
The pledge to adjust lighting when possible during key migration periods is important, and to be applauded. The choice also to use bird-friendlier glass is one that can still be made, and now is the time to make it -- for good public relations, and because it is the right thing to do for the survival of the beings with whom we share this continent. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
Please, please, find the funds and make this happen.</blockquote>
<br />
(Note: This post was amended August 7 to add the link to the Audubon petition to the Vikings.)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-90370047433439391742014-07-28T07:56:00.002-05:002014-07-28T09:11:56.495-05:00Midsummer Prairie - But Where Are the Bees and Butterflies?Yesterday I took a long, leisurely walk through prairie and oak savanna habitats in Carleton College's Cowling Arboretum. It was a day that seemed to presage autumn, with moderate temperatures and a good breeze pushing clouds that occasionally looked stormy, though we got no rain.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CJbIw5Q_oVVofnnJ-7socom9IXc1H5PXWde-PkBNRrZvCME4UAdUdSkIMpXv_Fsoi2fygpRl8ZgRvS73hnKKoButX_SkZdLrkys3xB-Fs7v8WZlUS6RPQ1JMJa0PEqiy3Rb67lsE999F/s1600/IMG_4033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5CJbIw5Q_oVVofnnJ-7socom9IXc1H5PXWde-PkBNRrZvCME4UAdUdSkIMpXv_Fsoi2fygpRl8ZgRvS73hnKKoButX_SkZdLrkys3xB-Fs7v8WZlUS6RPQ1JMJa0PEqiy3Rb67lsE999F/s1600/IMG_4033.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Compass plant is the tallest flower on the scene, routinely reaching<br />
5-6' or more.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZ_2pp37U96Pp-WOk4cK26rs1QGRv0Y4KD04459inQddGPlNYdtX-7X9yCdZPWD_dwgv_YBCxyXfoEcBY63YO4MCScdfcIJc_D0gkSSMXmKUO2NxSJU7qpV_cVfaF-7oQLOfH3qtWPV1t/s1600/IMG_4046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZ_2pp37U96Pp-WOk4cK26rs1QGRv0Y4KD04459inQddGPlNYdtX-7X9yCdZPWD_dwgv_YBCxyXfoEcBY63YO4MCScdfcIJc_D0gkSSMXmKUO2NxSJU7qpV_cVfaF-7oQLOfH3qtWPV1t/s1600/IMG_4046.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lush mix of grasses and flowering plants</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaSgiqH15BxaBLCfF25nuPuUebKIts8J_rfThyv9jFybIeAlYALeyYTEuborbOfmNWpmv0hzDunriUoEa3eUWeb41dYehuOsy0IDR33PGAMuzojlZ3QWkMzMnFCPqLhJCmZdQrO0GRecd/s1600/IMG_4039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaSgiqH15BxaBLCfF25nuPuUebKIts8J_rfThyv9jFybIeAlYALeyYTEuborbOfmNWpmv0hzDunriUoEa3eUWeb41dYehuOsy0IDR33PGAMuzojlZ3QWkMzMnFCPqLhJCmZdQrO0GRecd/s1600/IMG_4039.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think this is hoary vervain (<i>Verbena<br />
stricta</i>). I'm sure someone will let me know if it's not.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Purple prairie clover (<i>Dalea purpurea</i>) and grasses blowing in the wind</td></tr>
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But where were the bees and butterflies? Granted, it was a windy day, which probably accounts for a good part of the quiet, but at least low down among the thick stems I would have expected to see the landscape busy with insect activity -- but I barely saw any.<br />
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In fact, I've seen very few butterflies or bees at all this year. At home, my flowering thyme, bee balm and Joe Pye weed should be humming with bees, but I've seen only a couple here and there, and a couple of butterflies. There are many factors at play, including our cold spring, but something certainly doesn't feel right.<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-16187015310783801432014-07-13T15:40:00.000-05:002014-07-14T09:21:13.277-05:00Rereading Laura Ingalls Wilder - as a BirderI happily read Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series at least a couple of times as a kid and again as my children got to suitable ages. Recently, having encouraged Dave to read them since he never had, I picked them up again myself.<br />
<br />
I find myself reading the story of this sturdy, closely knit pioneer family's travels and travails in the last quarter of the 19th century with new eyes -- the eyes of a birdwatcher, aspiring naturalist and conservationist who newly understands the role that grasslands have played in the North American circle of life and the sad fact that we have been plowing up more and more of them -- starting in the very times of which she wrote -- until native grasslands are almost gone from huge areas of the U.S. landscape.<br />
<br />
Though Wilder, with the help of her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, wrote these books decades after the times she describes, they are as close to a contemporary eyewitness perspective on the pioneer experience in those places and times as we have in our popular literature. While the focus of the stories is on family life, she captures a wonderful amount of detail of the world they inhabited.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">1939 edition of <i>By the Shores of Silver Lake,</i><br />
illustrations by Helen Sewell and Mildred Boyle<br />
Photo credit: <a href="http://www.bramblewoodfashion.com/2014/07/by-shores-of-silver-lake-into-archives.html" target="_blank">Bramblewood Fashion blog</a><br />
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Here is one passage, so evocative of the land and its wealth of bird life. Imagine yourself in Dakota Territory in about 1880, newly arrived in a railroad shanty town where your father has taken a temporary job as shopkeeper while your family looks for an ideal homesteading site. Almost 13 years old, you are exploring the lakeshore with your sisters on a summer afternoon:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Laura and Mary and Carrie walked slowly along on the green shore by the rippling silver-blue water, toward the wild Big Slough. The grasses were warm and soft to their feet. The wind blew their flapping skirts tight against their bare legs and ruffled Laura's hair. Mary's sunbonnet and Carrie's were tied firmly under their chins, but Laura swung hers by its strings. Millions of rustling grass-blades made one murmuring sound, and thousands of wild ducks and geese and herons and cranes and pelicans were talking sharply and brassily in the wind.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
All those birds were feeding among the grasses of the sloughs. They rose on flapping wings and settled again, crying news to each other and talking among themselves among the grasses, and eating busily of grass roots and tender water plants and little fishes. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The lake shore went lower and lower toward Big Slough, until really there was no shore. The lake melted into the slough, making small ponds surrounded by the harsh, rank slough grass that stood five and six feet tall. Little ponds glimmered between the grasses and on the water the wild birds were thick.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
As Laura and Carrie pushed into the slough grasses, suddenly harsh wings ripped upward and round eyes glittered; the whole air exploded in a noise of squawking, quacking, quonking. Flattening their webbed feet under their tails, ducks and geese sped over the grass-tops and curved down to the next pond. ...</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The soft, cool mud sucked around her ankles as she stood, and before her the little ponds glimmered among the tall grasses. She wanted to go on and on, into the slough among the wild birds, but she could not leave Mary and Carrie. So she turned back with them to the hard, higher prairie where waist-high grasses were nodding and bending in the wind, and the short, curly buffalo grass grew in patches.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Along the edge of the slough they picked flaming red tiger lilies, and on higher ground they gathered long branching stems of purple buffalo bean pods. Grasshoppers flew up like spray before their feet in the grasses. All kinds of little birds fluttered and flew and twittered balancing in the wind on the tall, bending grass stems, and prairie hens scuttled everywhere. </blockquote>
A few weeks later, it's autumn:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The weather grew colder and the sky was full of wings and great birds flying. From East to West, from North to South, and as far up into the blue sky as eyes could see, were birds and birds and birds sailing on beating wings. </blockquote>
<blockquote>
At evening down they came endlessly from the sky, sliding down long slopes of air to rest on the water of Silver Lake.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
There were great, gray geese. There were smaller, snow-white brant that looked like snow at the water's edge. There were ducks of many kinds, the large mallards with a shimmering of purple and green on their wings, the redheads, the bluebills, the canvasbacks, and teals and many others whose names Pa did not know. There were herons, and pelicans, and cranes. There were little mud-hens, and the small hell-divers [grebes -- I had to look that one up!] that peppered the water thickly with their little black bodies. When a shot cracked, hell-divers up-ended and vanished quicker than winking. They went far down in the water and stayed there a long time.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
At sunset the whole large lake was covered with birds speaking in every kind of bird's voice to each other before they went to sleep for a night of rest on their long journey from north to south. The winter was driving them; the winter was coming behind them from the north.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
-- <i>By the Shores of Silver Lake, by </i>Laura Ingalls Wilder (c) 1939, renewed 1967.</blockquote>
Wilder's writing puts you right there -- hearing the sounds of thousands of birds, and feeling the wind against your bare legs and the warm grass and soft mud under your bare feet. I'll leave you with those passages, for now, but I may be back with more. Though the books reflect some historical views on Native Americans by European settlers (held noticeably less by the main character, Laura, than by certain others around her) that can be disturbing from a modern perspective, they are well worth reading at any age.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifgD3Qa36zF6B9h056sYDdgvbUVv5fA6WGyGq7Q0Y8IOTDpkxQO4tDJAHTNlQSwdVOxyKyZHHGpCRlhrHz0nDRx4oAf_64ABMutDgxeXQ2LjxRxa0bmQAIdCh64fdJtvRJSOo25UkhThI/s1600/Western+Grebe+nesting+colony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifgD3Qa36zF6B9h056sYDdgvbUVv5fA6WGyGq7Q0Y8IOTDpkxQO4tDJAHTNlQSwdVOxyKyZHHGpCRlhrHz0nDRx4oAf_64ABMutDgxeXQ2LjxRxa0bmQAIdCh64fdJtvRJSOo25UkhThI/s1600/Western+Grebe+nesting+colony.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Western Grebes, North Dakota 2014</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11830553767527010173noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2139421497584248575.post-57171057455050353222014-07-06T21:57:00.001-05:002014-07-06T21:57:29.677-05:00On the Fence: Birds on Fences and Fence PostsAn upland sandpiper standing tall atop a fence post became one of my favorite recurring sights on our June trip to North and South Dakota.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMHi4JHOqhR9Fem4LV43n7E5xV8t0BiTsCu4xC8_MeQ46XMetCWk6MwHFbh6W_pe2wYqNKtF7nabtUNMwpwsbgT4dIn0SmGOucPzkiOBqQKvG-d7w2-M1yASX_W94ehHKpRfycLVyZfiG_/s1600/IMG_3771-001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMHi4JHOqhR9Fem4LV43n7E5xV8t0BiTsCu4xC8_MeQ46XMetCWk6MwHFbh6W_pe2wYqNKtF7nabtUNMwpwsbgT4dIn0SmGOucPzkiOBqQKvG-d7w2-M1yASX_W94ehHKpRfycLVyZfiG_/s1600/IMG_3771-001.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upland Sandpiper, South Dakota</td></tr>
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Fences and their posts are good resting, singing, observing, grooming and hunting perches for a whole range of birds. Here are some more birds on fences in South Dakota, where we had the photographic luxury of ample time, empty roads, lots of fences, plenty of birds, and some spectacular backgrounds.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEBN-5XbbtjGyW9t6m_A9-zqUsaoyLF0dC0K03f_ZIXx9AJuKJ4K2qiazj2Q4W_PQeaSOyyROWny8fZHI-BGiVYiH3OlQkwNTVFXurCfr-0VS9NfH81-i5xoPevWVAJOlVc3raa7wSbnp/s1600/IMG_3812.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEEBN-5XbbtjGyW9t6m_A9-zqUsaoyLF0dC0K03f_ZIXx9AJuKJ4K2qiazj2Q4W_PQeaSOyyROWny8fZHI-BGiVYiH3OlQkwNTVFXurCfr-0VS9NfH81-i5xoPevWVAJOlVc3raa7wSbnp/s1600/IMG_3812.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Western Meadowlark, South Dakota</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGCGlIi9OZ3uddjaeKIeroYiOUArQj9Mq4P9p2qAfe-lAItogGwdM5lmC_gfSTOWlXRe5g6Mm2A7Ph8pxDaaGcP1NWAezdQShEFrjvB-7nFP4gML8oCTjDeA021uVtfC-BzB4IHWV3AJY/s1600/IMG_3744.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGCGlIi9OZ3uddjaeKIeroYiOUArQj9Mq4P9p2qAfe-lAItogGwdM5lmC_gfSTOWlXRe5g6Mm2A7Ph8pxDaaGcP1NWAezdQShEFrjvB-7nFP4gML8oCTjDeA021uVtfC-BzB4IHWV3AJY/s1600/IMG_3744.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Northern Flicker, South Dakota</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5V22d_jHMpgHj9AwjKBpo8vt1tyLkYMXN8cg-wGUEJTPjlp-Kr-uPIc8orFLhS-gS8jbyrXksTLsGn0KRWaeM-bWhlQ3zZ8aB05ryDNkt0ibgZiV2V_1xBRftLblbwTlIf14ZFkB1c0F/s1600/IMG_3839.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd5V22d_jHMpgHj9AwjKBpo8vt1tyLkYMXN8cg-wGUEJTPjlp-Kr-uPIc8orFLhS-gS8jbyrXksTLsGn0KRWaeM-bWhlQ3zZ8aB05ryDNkt0ibgZiV2V_1xBRftLblbwTlIf14ZFkB1c0F/s1600/IMG_3839.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Swainson's Hawk, South Dakota</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqEkNYCbnEsvo3tYl_eQFbdNdvo2rAEyF-gzdbMwCJEK56C8AaujMrzIsJz64cUiFmqQsI3YYDZvhUvKJATcFVdsfPYV0tnFXX1W1YtZujl7xl8Wo6bN6B3uA2QriyGpJnGSHE6slWX7x/s1600/IMG_3758.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoqEkNYCbnEsvo3tYl_eQFbdNdvo2rAEyF-gzdbMwCJEK56C8AaujMrzIsJz64cUiFmqQsI3YYDZvhUvKJATcFVdsfPYV0tnFXX1W1YtZujl7xl8Wo6bN6B3uA2QriyGpJnGSHE6slWX7x/s1600/IMG_3758.JPG" height="400" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Western Kingbird, South Dakota</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCALNEJTmoThhz6_UnyMol4OSjaKakco0TIdoO2gM6QDFJCLBJhTS-L8UgCe4VV4ovKcIxrOevrWfceWLdKPVGsCSmUG8LdeoLrWzvHGh6om-_QbZsfdTssN11Ivw-_Dz0iL3nrLRChVM/s1600/IMG_3789.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxCALNEJTmoThhz6_UnyMol4OSjaKakco0TIdoO2gM6QDFJCLBJhTS-L8UgCe4VV4ovKcIxrOevrWfceWLdKPVGsCSmUG8LdeoLrWzvHGh6om-_QbZsfdTssN11Ivw-_Dz0iL3nrLRChVM/s1600/IMG_3789.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Western Meadowlark, South Dakota</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6ltebAEt6Dvv6Mmt30jywRUyDdbe0R5P-qeSAV4KD8ZDnqvM9_FIzSGP7kul-TD5eiCTPMvdBDxtGyw_JAP62DXMampN-wnrpSaRSEDysbdjzlauJR2lboLZeFNz0ese_acBxI-0ZCDS/s1600/IMG_3816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-6ltebAEt6Dvv6Mmt30jywRUyDdbe0R5P-qeSAV4KD8ZDnqvM9_FIzSGP7kul-TD5eiCTPMvdBDxtGyw_JAP62DXMampN-wnrpSaRSEDysbdjzlauJR2lboLZeFNz0ese_acBxI-0ZCDS/s1600/IMG_3816.JPG" height="298" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lark Bunting, South Dakota</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lVlthSr1zpNoZ60yPLIEvf8e80JlJS3DLz2c6dCpFlQmlH0zyaGJ76jUhvIsEwcdkm8_fbIq5Y7nO-PhPLYOmHa1SkcEjbgo9RxLqjVtecPwwfEf1NKAX48arPZNQnwdPFQxgPaabO0U/s1600/IMG_3800.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5lVlthSr1zpNoZ60yPLIEvf8e80JlJS3DLz2c6dCpFlQmlH0zyaGJ76jUhvIsEwcdkm8_fbIq5Y7nO-PhPLYOmHa1SkcEjbgo9RxLqjVtecPwwfEf1NKAX48arPZNQnwdPFQxgPaabO0U/s1600/IMG_3800.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">And one more Upland Sandpiper, South Dakota<br /></td></tr>
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