Ruthie and Lynne Take on Wausau

Here we are!! Ruthie and I are having a blast in Wausau, Wisconsin. We birded two parks today including Rib Mountain State Park where we took this silly picture.

Scroll down to see my personal best Turkey Vulture photograph.

I'm thinking of submitting it to WildBird Magazine. Amy?

What do you think??

We haven't found Julie Z. or Debby Kaspari yet. We'll try again tomorrow.
I need to keep this post short-
Ruthie's teaching me to knit!!
This is Lynne, Hasty Knitter signing off!

Recent Hasty Brook Birds

There's not much time for text for this post as I'm leaving in a while for my road trip to Wausau with Ruthie. I've got a stack of bird photos from our trips up to Hasty this summer so I thought I'd just post them all together. This mature Bald Eagle is actually the last photo I took two weeks ago when we were there last. He cruised just at tree top level past the balcony.

I'm calling this little guy a Least Flycatcher. I am admittedly poor at identifying flycatchers so if I'm wrong, help me out.

When I took this picture of the Black and White Warbler I didn't even realize there were two birds in the view.

Here's an immature Bald Eagle flying over the yard.

The hummers liked the clover better than my feeder.

"Dueling finches!"

We have many Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers breeding at Hasty.

I finally got a picture of the Golden-winged Warblers breeding at Hasty. I've seen them for three summers but this is my first photo. It's not a great shot but I'm happy to have it. This bird spent a lot of time hanging upside down checking out clumps of dried leaves for insects. When I looked it up in my Peterson guide, that behavior was listed as characteristic of this warbler.

Chestnut-sided warblers are very common breeders at Hasty. They seem to be very curious birds and are easy to pish in for a closer look. In fact, this bird sat a long time letting me take pictures, then launched himself right at me landing only about two feet away checking me out!

These Sandhill Cranes were about a quarter mile from Hasty but last visit we had three Sandhills fly over the camper. I've heard them down by the creek several times but have never seen them. Maybe with our new view from the balcony I'll get a look.

White-throated Sparrows breed at Hasty but last visit the numbers were way up. Are they starting show up from the north? This one is shy.

It was only last summer that I was finally able to hear Red-eyed Vireos and identify them by sound. Now they seem to be everywhere up there. They are another bird that seems to be curious about pishing.

Well, that's it. Time to finish my packing for the ROAD TRIP! We'll have wifi at the hotel so I hope to post from there.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Pull Up a Chair

I worked all of Labor Day weekend but we were up at Hasty the weekend before. Most all of the siding was up as was the decking for the balcony. The weather was lovely- warm but not hot during the days but chilly at night. In fact it got down into the 30's every night we were up there. I got up early one morning, made a pot of coffee and brought it up to the balcony to watch the woods wake up. Mist was rising from the creek and the sun shining through it gave it life. The white spots in the bare birch branches on the photo are big spider webs coated in dew. The Wild Turkey Gang was chuckling on the ground below the balcony, a Pileated Woodpecker called from across the creek and several Turkey Vultures were floating toward the south. I wish you all could have joined me!

I've got a few more pictures to post tomorrow showing the progress on our building. It's really coming along! I also have to pack my bags tomorrow because Ruthie and I are going on a road trip! We're going to Wausau, Wisconsin for the weekend to see Julie Zickefoose and her wonderful artwork at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum. It's going to be a blast!

International Vulture Awareness Day

Tomorrow is International Vulture Awareness Day. I wish I had time to write a post beautifully singing the praises of vultures. Instead, here's a photo of a gorgeous Turkey Vulture floating past our balcony at Hasty Brook last weekend. All of you who know me even a little know of my passion for Turkey Vultures. I've taken more than a little heckling about my love for TUVUs. I don't care. They are simply magnificent. I love their physical form; crinkly red skin on their heads, large intelligent eyes, pearly white beak, silver lined wings. There is no other bird that can compare to them in flight as they hang effortlessly on thermals. While others watch for warblers to arrive in the spring, I am thrilled to see the the first Turkey Vultures return.

They draw my eyes to the sky and make my heart sing.