Thirty-two Degrees

How many balls do you see?

DANG!!

Desert Botanical Garden

We spent one morning at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix and saw an amazing array of cacti, shrubs and trees. If we go back next year, and I sure hope we do, I'll need to find a field guide to help identify all of these wonderful plants. I saw several cactus wrens in this area- a life bird, but no pictures of them.
Such unusual blooms.
Again, wonderful, strange flowers.

This cactus actually looked dead, brown and dried, but was in bloom!

One of my favorites- wish I knew this cactus' name.

I think this is a Phainopepla without its crest showing. If I'm wrong, please correct me. I did see several Phainopepla later in the week with a good positive id so I do get to add it to my life list! Hoorah!

This was the only day that the heat (95) got to me. My fault as I didn't wear a hat. We stopped at the little outdoor restaurant in the garden for lunch and drinks. Art and I had a fabulous southwestern chicken wrap with fresh guacamole, sweet corn and black beans with lime juice. Yummm. We washed it down with prickly pear iced tea. The tea was refreshing but tasted a little like bananas.

Off to Phoenix!

My family flew to Phoenix over Easter break. My in-laws have a winter home there and they kindly invited the four of us to stay with them. First off, I have to say that my in-laws are the most generous and gracious people that a daughter-in-laws could ask for. They made their home ours. We had planned day trips and activities every day and they had supper waiting for us every evening! The weather was gorgeous- highs in the low 90s and night time lows around 60 degrees. I had never been in a desert climate before and was amazed at how comfortable the heat was without the high humidity that I'm used to with Minnesota summers.

One of my first birds of the trip was this killdeer panting over her eggs in a sandy lot.

These great-tailed grackles were everywhere. We could always find them gathered around the landscaped fountains and waterfalls. I heard an astounding array of sounds coming from these comical birds. They seem to be first class mimics. It seems the locals don't like them- they're loud and there are lots of them, but I enjoyed watching and listening to them chatter, squeal and squawk.

Every pond had coots- as common as Canada geese on a golf course in Minnesota. I had never seen them on the ground before, waddling and bobbing their heads like they do in the water.

I had a few life birds in Arizona. (great-tailed grackle was the first!) I'll share the rest over the next few days.

By the way- we left Phoenix Easter Sunday night, 84 degrees and a soft breeze and came home to Minnesota 3 hours later to 20 degrees with a wind-chill factor of ZERO!!!

For Pam

What Makes a Dad

God took the strength of a mountain,

The majesty of a tree,

The warmth of a summer sun,

The calm of a quiet sea,

The generous soul of nature,

The comforting arm of night,

The wisdom of the ages,

The power of the eagle's flight,

The joy of a morning in spring,

The faith of a mustard seed,

The patience of eternity,

The depth of family need.

Then God combined these qualities.

When there was nothing more to add

He knew His masterpiece was complete,

And so, He called it..."Dad."

~Author Unknown~

I am sad to hear that Pam from Nature Woman lost her father today. Please keep her in your prayers tonight.

Dam City Beavers!

While visiting Mississippi River Regional Park in Minneapolis last weekend we notice lots of evidence of the work of beavers. Beavers are known to be industrious, but do these guys think they're going to dam the MISSISSIPPI RIVER?

Some of the damaged trees like the one above were huge. Art noticed that several of the trees on the heron colony island were girdled. I assume that even if the beavers don't take those trees down, they will die. Will herons nest in dead trees? Will the trees' death affect the stability of the island? I'll need to ask the park naturalist the next time I visit.

This area is only minutes from downtown Minneapolis, lots of noise and traffic. But beavers are here and the Great Blue Herons have returned to nest and raise their young. Regardless of how we've encroached on their habitat, they still choose to be here. Their instincts to survive and reproduce sometimes amaze me.

Please click on this duck to enlarge the picture. It's not a perfect photograph, but it' s one of the sharpest I've ever taken. He followed me along the river's edge, begging to be photographed. Isn't he a gorgeous mallard? He thinks so too.

Heron Rookery

I don't know what happened here tonight, but when I came back to look at comments, all of my text was gone!!

Hmmpf...here goes again.

Sunday afternoon Art and I set out to find the heron rookery at Mississippi River Regional Park in Minneapolis. It was cloudy and cool but a good day to get out and walk. There in the middle of the river was the rookery. From a distance we could see the nests in the tree-tops.

With a closer look we saw that in most of the nests stood a Great Blue Heron. All of the herons were facing the same direction, into the wind.

The long feathers of their breeding plumage were swirling in the breeze.

Only one nest held two birds. One of the naturalists explained that the herons had only arrived a few days ago and that the males arrive first and stake out a nest with its surrounding territory. I plan to visit this park regularly and hope to be able to watch the progress of these families.

A Pretty Spot to Watch the World Go By

I found a new spot in the woods. A perfect beaver-felled birch tree for sitting in the sun and breathing in the pine-scented air .

A spot to watch Hasty Brook coming around the corner from the west

and flowing away to the east.

Spring Life at Hasty Brook

I was really surprised to find this butterfly out and about last Saturday. When I got home I looked it up in Butterflies of the North Woods and learned it is a Milbert's Tortoiseshell. They overwinter as adults, hibernating in hollow logs, and under bark or old out buildings. The author Larry Weber says they emerge from hibernation during the first warm sunny days of spring. I wonder what these early butterflies eat as there are no plants yet blooming.

Update- In an email from Sparky Stensaas, editor of Butterflies of the North Woods: "The butterflies that hibernate as adults feed on sap from trees...mainly oozing maple sap."

Here's a cool bracket fungus. It looks like it's slicing right through this little tree.

We sat down at the picnic table for a snack and a drink and before long were surrounded by a flock of chickadees. This one checked out one of the feeders. I'm sure the feeders have been empty since we filled them last in October. Do you think the chickadees associate us with the feeders? I am reluctant to leave seed in the feeders when we're not there. Last summer a bear bent the black iron shepherd's hook over to the ground to get at the seed. The wire mesh bag has big tooth puncture holes in it from being mauled. I really enjoy feeding the birds up there but I don't want to attract bears into our campsite. I need some good advice on that issue.

I saw this glistening orange blob in the leaf litter. A fungus? A slime mold? No one had the nerve to touch it!

Spring Comes to Hasty Brook

I had such a wonderful weekend- starting with a day at Hasty Brook on Saturday. Except for a quick drive-by in January on our way to Duluth, we haven't been up to Hasty since October. The weather forecast for Saturday in the Twin Cities was for heavy fog, drizzle and rain. This is the view out the window about an hour north of home.

Within an hour we drove out of the fog into dazzling blue skies and sunshine! We were a little surprised at the amount of snow still on the ground but the temps were in the 60's. Just lovely. This is view from the road, down our driveway toward the campsite. In the distance John is standing on the culvert. Art was pleased to see water running through it as it slopes quite sharply toward the creek on the left of the culvert and we'd been concerned about it washing out.

Here is a view of the creek that I particularly love. In the distance you can just see the bridge spanning the creek. There is a good drop between where I'm standing and the creek level.

The elevation drop is visible from this point of view. Here I am standing on the bridge looking back toward our campsite. With all the run-off the creek is running high. It's hard to tell in this picture but water is running both over and under the ice.

I have lots more to show but am having a hard time loading pictures onto blogger. I'm behind in posting because the power cord for my laptop shorted out (in my lap!) complete with smoke and sparks. Best Buy wanted $120 for a new one. Art tried Radio Shack to replace just the shorted section and that was still going to cost $80 so he spent Sunday evening splicing and soldering and voila! I have a repaired cord! I'll need to buy a new one eventually but at least I'm fixed for a bit. My good Art also went with me back to the Mississippi River Regional Park on Sunday afternoon so I could scout out the heron rookery. Details coming soon!

I and the Bird #45

Check out I and the Bird #45. Jayne at Journey Through Grace is hosting this fun-packed "bird"day party!

Pssst! It's Jayne's birthday too so be sure to wish her a happy day!

North Mississippi Regional Park

Today, on the first full day of spring, I made another trip out to North Mississippi Regional Park in Minneapolis. It was very cloudy, misty and drippy. My first bird was a bald eagle following the river north, headed back up to it's summer territory.
It seemed like a good sign! The river was wide open with just a few ice chunks floating downstream. My second bird was a blue heron- my first for the year. Within minutes a hiker stopped to tell me that there was a rookery on an island just about a mile or so south of where we were and that he had seen 10 herons there. I got back in the car with his directions and started out to find the rookery. Forty five minutes and many wrong turns later I found myself at the boat launch on the other side of the river where I could follow the trails to see the rookery. I have to say that I thought the parking area at the boat launch was pretty secluded. There were 3 guys in 3 cars parked in 3 corners of the lot talking on cell phones. I felt they were all looking at me. I don't usually get creeped out birding by myself, but this time my radar went off. Of course I had to argue with myself just a bit so I screwed up my courage and hopped out of the car to take a look at a trail map posted only about 10 feet from the car.

That's when THESE GUYS attacked! These stinking honkers came around the car so fast I barely had time to react. It was like one of those dreams where danger is coming and it feels like you're running through pudding. Back in the car, heart pounding. Those nasty bastard geese were flapping their wings and hissing at me! I had one of those post-adrenaline giggle fits and when I caught my breath I noticed a fourth car come creeping into the lot. The driver went slowly to each of the 3 parked cars... I'm pretty sure there was an illegal transaction made.

Bye-bye boat landing.

As I drove out a police car drove in.

Back to the park on the other side of the river I went. Happy to be in a safer feeling environment I spied a group of these smallish water birds.

Not great pictures, but I put them on the laptop and got out the field guides.

Pied-billed Grebes!! They are a common water bird in Minnesota but a first for me!! I am admittedly lame at identifying waterbirds, so if I'm wrong please break it to me gently.

I still want to see that rookery. Art said he'd go with me on Sunday.

Peregrine Sighting

Birdchick did a post last week about the peregrine falcons coming back to nest at the Colonnade building in Golden Valley. Since I was out and about running errands in the area I decided to see if I could spot them. I couldn't see anything from the freeway side so I drove around to the top of their parking ramp on the north side. (If you click to enlarge the picture above you can see the peregrine on the ledge jutting out on the left of the building.)
There she/he was! I drove up about a hundred yards or so to the closer end of the ramp top.
I cranked the 10X optical and 4X digital zoom on my Coolpix S10 to its limit and got this shot. From the bit of glare in the first distant picture you can see that I was shooting into pretty bright sunlight. I tweaked the contrast on the picture in Picasa and came up with this! The wind on top of the parking ramp was very gusty and you can see the ruffled feathers on this bird. I wonder how she hung on. Wouldn't it be amazing to have a desk in a cubicle on the other side of that window? Birdchick had blogged about the banding of the peregrine chicks at this site for the last few summers. This year I'm determined to find out when it is and be there too.

A Really Cool Birding Link: Hilton Pond

photo courtesy of Hilton Pond

I want to share a link to a site that has one of the coolest bird articles I've seen in ages. It's This Week at Hilton Pond.

It talks about a bird strike on a window and what they observed and learned about the bird. The pictures are just so amazing! Some of you may all ready subscribe to this weekly email link but if you don't, check it out. I always learn something there about birds and our natural world.