More From Eagle Lake

I made two trips to bird the west side of Eagle Lake last week. With Thomas' emailed directions I first went by myself. There's a freedom in exploring a new area for the first time by myself. Having no expectations, everything is new and it feels like every discovery belongs only to me.

Swamp sparrows (life bird) were plentiful.

I followed a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers through a stretch of woods, trying to get a good picture. They were foraging a lot on the ground
and it was hard to get a good look. I was so intent on catching up to them that I nearly got too close to a skunk. Luckily I smelled him before I got any closer. I was really excited to find this Marsh Wren (lifer). I've only ever seen House Wrens before so now I have a whopping TWO wrens on my life list!
I think I lost track of time watching a dozen or so Barn Swallows swooping over the cattails and under the foot bridge. After a while they didn't seem to mind my presence and I just stood there, turning slowly, watching them all around me. Speed and grace in a beautiful little package.
Eastern Wood Pewee? I'd heard it's call but don't think I can id it just by looking at it. Help please!
How about a snoozing Song Sparrow?

While walking through the woods Thomas and I could hear a White-breasted Nuthatch scolding nearby. The trees held many cavities and finally she shot out of this one.

Thomas, being very familiar with birding this area showed me a Cooper's Hawk's nest that he's been watching this spring. I could just make out a tail sticking over the edge. The hawk was sitting very low on the nest. Suddenly a Coop shot out of the woods chasing close after a Gray Catbird. They flew back and forth among the branches of a large flowering crab apple tree until the hawk gave up and flew back up to the nest. Thomas suggested we walk int to woods under the nest to see if we could spot the mate. Almost immediately we saw the mate in a tree with a red squirrel.

Thomas showed me that we could approach closer if we walked slowly with our heads down, not making eye contact and not walking in a straight line.

I must have taken fifty shots of this beautiful raptor. Finally after I got my fill watching, she gave a warning call and left- with her lunch!

Thanks again to Thomas for sharing this terrific birding location, along with his knowledge and tips!

Where Are You?

Here's a snapshot of where the last 20 visitors to Hasty Brook blog are from:

1
United States
Minneapolis, Minnesota
2
United States
Sacramento, California
3
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Gostar, Hamadan
4
United States
San Francisco, California
5
United States
Orlando, Florida
6
United States
Boston, Massachusetts
7
United States
Wilmington, Delaware
8
Norway
Lyse, Rogaland
9
Portugal
Carnaxide, Lisboa
10
United States
Minneapolis, Minnesota
11
United States
Minneapolis, Minnesota
12
Netherlands
Leiden, Zuid-Holland
13
United States
Aurora, Minnesota
14
United States
Saddle Brook, New Jersey
15
United States
Austin, Texas
16
Canada
Napanee, Ontario
17
United States
Minneapolis, Minnesota
18
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Iran, Chahar Mahall va Bakhtiari
19
United States
Waterford, Pennsylvania
20
United States
Glenwood City, Wisconsin

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I guess it really IS a small world after all...

Home and Hasty

A quick Sunday morning post here. Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Minnesota. Sunshine, and breezy. Except when it was gusty and raining. A little bit of everything ! Art and I spent most of the day outside watching Molly play her opening day softball games. I so enjoy watching girl's softball. We keep lawn chairs in the car all summer. We bring along jug of water or iced tea and a bag of "spitters" (sunflower seeds) and we're good to go. I always bring binoculars and a camera too.

Art is leaving this afternoon for a week in Nashville to get his A and P. He's been working on the testing to get his Airframe and Powerplant FAA license for the last two years. When he's finished he'll be certified to be a aircraft mechanic. He's been an actuary since I've known him but was a helicopter crew chief years ago in the Army and working toward his A&P is something he's always wanted to do. Because of all of the losses in my family this last year he's postponed this final step in the training until now. I'm so proud of him. GO ART!!

I have just a few thing to share from this last week before I forget about them.

I liked this picture of a Blackpoll Warbler twisting around to investigate the tip of an oak branch.

Hey lady! Can you spell Welch's?

A Lincoln's Sparrow has been hanging around under me back yard feeders all week.

A pretty Nashville Warbler spent the morning in my plum tree yesterday. He carefully examined the blossoms looking for insects. He seemed to be licking the centers. Do they eat nectar too or was he just getting bugs that way?

I drove up to Hasty Brook on Friday by myself for a day alone. The bear took my feeders apart from two weeks ago when Art and I went. Three of them were repairable and the rest were smashed. He bent the shepherd's hook feeder poles right over at the ground level. I straightened them and filled two feeders just for the day and took them down when I left. I don't think I want to encourage bears to make our campsite a regular stop on their shopping trips. The Black and White Warblers were singing up a storm. They nest up there and sing all summer.

Yellow-rumped Warblers were everywhere. My favorite bird watching spot up there is a place where you can look down about 25 feet to the creek level. It leaves me able to scan easily near the tree tops and also to see the woods floor from above, at least until the undergrowth leafs out. The butter-butts were zipping through the trees along the creek fast and furious, almost enough to make my eyes wiggle.

It was from my birding spot that I spied this Northern Waterthrush. Thomas pointed one out to me last week at Eagle Lake (that was a life bird for me) but I was thrilled to find and photograph this one on my own. This bird walked so slowly and was able to slip along on top of the submerged grasses and twigs so that it seemed it was walking on water. I watched this bird for a long time until he slipped from my sight.

Warblers in a Super-saturated Solution

I went birding this morning with a swell birder named Thomas. I have been reading his posts on the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union listserv and had emailed him last week to get directions to a birding spot that he'd posted about. We met this morning on the west side of Eagle Lake in Maple Grove (about five miles west of me in New Hope). What an amazing morning. Warblers have always frustrated me. They're flitty, often high in the trees, against bright sky, and often obscured by leaves. Well, today I think I moved up a bit on the learning curve. Experience has helped me to be able to spot the bird and get it into view in my binoculars more quickly. Reviewing my field guides and comparing common field marks has helped me at least narrow down my options. Today, thanks to Thomas' generous help, patience and tips I had a 17 warbler day!!

This Black-throated Green Warbler was actually the last bird we saw this morning.
A lifer for me and for Thomas.
Not a terrific picture but I've always liked capturing (accidentally) birds in motion.
This Golden-winged Warbler is one I found at the same Eagle Lake area last week. I was excited to find and identify it on my own. Lifer! Whoot!

Sweet Magnolia Warbler. Lifer!
Blackpoll Warbler. Lifer!
Chestnut-sided Warbler.
I think this Blackburnian Warbler is one of the prettiest birds I've ever seen. And it's a lifer!

American Redstarts were everywhere this morning. I couldn't get any nice perched pictures but these two were putting on such a great show.
They match the siding on this house.
Yellow Warbler from Cirque du Soleil.
Black and White Warbler- the only warbler song that I know.

At one point Thomas gave a yelp and said that a bird nearly flew into my legs. It landed in a nearby pine and look who it was- a Bay-breasted Warbler!! Lifer!"OUCH!!" Pine needles are tough on the toes.
I must have taken 50-60 pictures of this beautiful bird.

Just look at one more!

Why is it called a "Common" Yellowthroat? What's so common about this little beauty hopping along around the forest floor?

My list for today:

Canada Warbler (L)

Magnolia Warbler (L)

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler (L)

American Redstart

Yellow Warbler

Common Yellowthroat (L)

Black and White Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler (L)

Northern Waterthrush (L)

Blackburnian Warbler (L)

Palm Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler (L)

Ovenbird

Golden-winged Warbler (later in the day at another park)

Great Crested Flycatcher (L)

Wordless Wednesday

Neener neener!

A Perfect Day

Sunday was one of those days. Warm sun, cool in the shade, steady breezes. I hadn't been to my Hasty Brook since the middle of last October. To say I was happy to be there would be a huge understatement. The creek was running higher and faster than we've ever seen it.
Look who welcomed me! This shot is without zoom. A pair of them hung in the sky over me like kites on the wind, they dipped down below the tree tops, over our campsite. They seemed curious. And intelligent.
The creek is well above the banks. Recent heavy rains and the long, snowy winter brought the water level up.
This was the first winter that we left the camper up there. I had been nervous about vandalism but everything appeared to have survived safe and sound. Here's my husband Art soaking up some sun, fresh air and birdsong.
The only warblers around were Yellow-rumped Warblers and here's the way they looked to me 99.99% of the time! I did actually get a few pretty decent photos of these YRW's but I'll post them another day.
This tired looking Junco rested nearby all afternoon. The winds were from the northwest and quite steady so I wonder if this little fellow was waiting for better travelling weather. As soon as we arrived I filled all of the feeders and scattered lots of seed around on the ground.

We were welcomed by noisy screeching moving through the woods all around us. Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers were making such a ruckus! there were two pairs of them zooming around the trees, the truck and they even zipped around us as we stood. I don't know if they were male-female pairs or if they were males chasing each other. The vocalizations and drumming and flight behaviors seemed very territorial. There was one particular tall aspen that seemed to be a favorite for drumming. The drumming on that tree sounded different even to my ears.
The first photo is of a female and since all of my pix are taken over my head you can see the yellow bellies! The red throat on this male is striking.
And then they're off again!

Hermit Thrushes are one of my favorite birds at Hasty Brook. The first summer we were up there, I heard their songs long before I figured out what they were. In fact they were so hard for me to see, I id'd them by searching through forest bird songs until I found the match.
I find them easier to see in spring before things leaf out. I found these two by sitting quietly, and listening for them scratching along on the forest floor. These are my first pictures and I'm excited to have them. The most beautiful bird songs that I've ever heard belong to the Hermit Thrush and Veery. They are both nest at Hasty Brook and sing in the late afternoons and even into the evenings. It is the finest music. A lovey Purple Finch was the first to visit the filled feeders. Could he be any prettier sitting in the afternoon sun, in a budding maple?

It really was a perfect day.

Here We Come!

The truck is packed, I've filled two Thermos's with coffee, we'll stop at Fleet Farm for a big bag of oilers, and we're on our way up to Hasty Brook!!! Aside from a quick drive-by with Ruthie when we went to the Sax-Zim Birding Festival, I haven't been up to Hasty since last October.

See ya!

I Got Out Today

I took the morning for myself today. It was gorgeous out, breezy but nice- warm enough to peel off my sweatshirt in the sun. I checked out a small park in Golden Valley near home. This tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet was the first to announce herself. I must have taken 20 pictures to get this one.
I saw just a handful of Yellow-rumped Warblers, busy hunting along this pond edge. Crummy picture, but if you squint you can see his butter-butt. (maybe)
"HEY- you're in my spot!"
Another not-so-good photo of a Green Heron. Trying to focus through a tangle of branches, I wish you could tell how beautifully the sunlight was shining off his feathers.

"What do you mean- TOO MUCH EYE SHADOW?"
I finished my walk with this guy giving me the hairy eyeball!

His Eye is on the Sparrow

We buried my sister Phyllis on Friday. It seemed at times an eternity but she died only three months and ten days after her brain tumor diagnosis. Her son and I made all of the funeral arrangements together but he left the planning of her funeral mass to me. Choosing the readings were easy, as were picking out the flowers. Pink roses, baby's breath and white daisies were her favorites. No gladiolas please, let's use pussy willows instead. Music was a huge part of Phyllis's life. Growing up, our Mom always had a stack of records playing on her big stereo. I wanted the music to be old traditional hymns, ones we knew:

Nearer My God to Thee

Softly and Tenderly

O Lord I am Not Worthy

Beautiful Savior

I asked for "His Eye is on the Sparrow" but my friend who was helping with the music didn't think she had the sheet music for it. But after communion, soft piano notes, she played:

Why should I feel discouraged?

Why should the shadows come?

Why should my heart be lonely

and long for heaven and home,

When Jesus is my portion?

My constant friend is He:

His eye is on the sparrow,

and I know He watches me.

refrain:

I sing because I'm happy,

I sing because I'm free,

for His eye is on the sparrow,

and I know He watches me.

Mom and Phyllis

Home

My sister passed away gently Sunday evening surrounded by the love of her son, our two brothers and myself. Phyllis missed our Mom so very much and I know that our Mom and Dad helped sing her home. All of your kind words, phone calls, cards, and emails over these last three months have meant a lot to me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Missing My Blogging Friends

I had high hopes of finally getting a post put together tonight. Blogger and my infected, moving as slow as mud computer shot my plans. My lap top is gobbed up with something that has nearly stopped it. I can't download pictures from my camera as of today. Blogger won't let me post more than one photo at a time. Oh, well...

I have actually squeezed in a few hours of birding time in the last two weeks. My daughter and I made a road trip to Monticello (not too far from home) to see the Trumpeter Swans before they leave for the year. The swans were beautiful. These four reminded me of a group of good friends chatting. I'm so proud to say that Molly's pictures were better than mine. She has an eye for composition that amazes me. She told me I could post a few of her photos (with credit 0f course!), but that's not going to happen until I get my lap top fixed. We had such a nice afternoon together. Molly's not particularly interested in birds but is enthusiastic about nature photography. After freezing in the wind coming down the Mississippi River, we stopped for coffee. I love my girl.

Last week I spent a few hours at Mississippi River Regional Park checking out the heron rookery. I was thrilled to be able to walk up and down the river's edge watching these graceful birds and I even grabbed a few good pictures. I hope I can put a post together about that trip too. Sigh...

Update on my sister:

Many of you know that my sister is now in a nursing home. The brain tumor is growing quickly as the surgeon suspected it would so she has been admitted to a hospice program. They thankfully are very aggressive about pain and anxiety control. She seems to be comfortable most of the time and I am so very grateful that her mental illness has retreated quite a bit. I go every day and feed her her lunch and some days are good and some not so good. It's odd to be watching spring creep forward and my sister decline at the same time. The slow and steady progression of the seasons is a constant and I find that comforting.

There is hope in rebirth.

Happy Easter!

"I heard spring has come to some of you bloggers. Send it on up to Minnesnowta!"