Avian Pox

Last week a friend and I noticed a lone house finch staying quietly on the ground outside my front door when we walked outside. We stopped to watch it, and after a couple of attempts it managed to fly to a perch on the nearby tube feeder. I expected to see the crusted-over eyes of House Finch eye disease, mycoplasmal conjunctivitis, since we have occasionally seen birds with this debilitating condition, as I wrote about in 2010. However, this bird's eyes were not crusted-over or weepy, but one was greatly overshadowed by a warty-looking bump and there was another bump on its beak. (Now that I look at the 2010 photos, I can see a bump on that bird's beak too, which I didn't notice at the time.)

I consulted my ornithologist friend Dan Tallman, who pointed me to information about avian pox, sometimes abbreviated AVP. This is a disease that affects a wide range of both commercial poultry and wild birds. Warty growths appear on non-feathered areas of affected birds; there is also a variant that affects the mucous membranes and causes breathing problems. It's caused by a virus that can be spread by mosquitoes, by direct transmission between birds, and by contaminated surfaces like feeders. (More info: AVP and conjunctivitis in birds at feeders | Pox from a commercial fowl science perspective)

We've taken down the tube and hopper feeders the finches tend to use, to minimize the risk of transmission between birds at the feeders, and will sanitize them before putting them back up. It's a good practice to clean and sanitize (using a solution of nine parts water to one part bleach) bird feeders every couple of weeks, and if signs of illness are present, more often. Let them dry thoroughly before refilling. (More info: Tips on feeder maintenance)

Youngsters at the Feeders

This week has been marked by a delightful series of visits of young blue jays, orioles, downy woodpeckers and house finches to our feeders. Sometimes their first-year plumage identifies them (the palest orange tinge of the juvenile female oriole, or the red patch on top of the downy woodpecker's head), but for most there is also a clean, fresh look about them and sometimes a charming cluelessness. And sometimes their sheer numbers are the tip-off. The blue jays that used to come one or two at a time now often arrive as a family of five, and the house finches mob the hopper feeder in a constant battle for the best spots.

Young blue jay eating suet

Juvenile female Baltimore oriole on hummingbird feeder

Downy woodpecker - juvenile has red on top of head

Ground Mist

One morning last week, a thick fog enveloped the whole landscape. Today the morning mists stayed low, hanging softly over ponds and wet fields. As cold air moves in over warmer bodies of water or moist ground, water condenses and forms low ribbons of mist. Normally we wouldn't see much of this until the cooler weather of fall sets in, but we've had a fresh burst of cool air following Tuesday night's storms. The photo below was taken this morning looking north at the pond and wetland that lie between Prairie Street and Michigan Drive in Northfield.

Ground mist

Misty Morning Spiderweb

Click on photo to see it full size - wow!

I was out walking in the dense fog yesterday morning, with only my older-model iPhone for a camera. The spiderwebs were spectacularly outlined in tiny droplets everywhere I went, and I couldn't resist taking some photos. I didn't really notice the background on this shot as I leaned down with my phone to capture this low-to-the-ground web head-on, but it turned out better than I could have expected.

Prairie Flowers at St. Olaf Natural Lands

Today was such a gorgeous day -- downright chilly by normal July standards, but thoroughly refreshing and invigorating. I hadn't been over to the St. Olaf College natural lands for quite a while, and decided to visit the prairie restoration loop, which proved to be a sea of yellows and purples.

As has been typical this year, I hardly saw any butterflies and just a few bees. In the photo below, you can see orange pollen building up on the bee's "pollen basket" on its leg. The flower is purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea).

The tall yellow sunflower-like plant below is compass plant (Silphium laciniatum). The common name comes from the tendency of the lower leaves to align their edges in a north-south direction. The compass plant is said to be very long-lived, surviving as long as a century. Botanists use the term forb for herbs (non-woody plants) that are not grasses or grasslike, so the clover above and compass plant below would both be forbs.

I'm very much a beginner at dragonfly identification, but it looks to me as if the one below is a twelve-spotted skimmer (Libellula pulchella). I've been seeing these quite often in recent outings. Today they zigged and zagged along the path ahead of me, rarely landing or staying long in a good spot for me to get a photo, so I was pleased to be able to get this one.

The forecast in southeastern Minnesota is for quite a few more pleasant days ahead, with highs only in the 70s F. and nightly lows mostly in the 50s. That's great sleeping weather, and perfect for getting out and about. Enjoy!