Eagles on Caribou Lake Rd

The spring melt uncovered a roadkill deer and the ravens and bald eagles have been on clean up duty.

The following were grabbed with my phone:

Collect all four!

Feathered feeders

A feeder I frequently take pictures at has been empty most of the winter due to a pine squirrel.  Feeding the squirrel is not the problem, just the damage done by the squirrel in the proximity of the feeders.  Recently the feeders were filled and the chickadees immediately returned.  As did the squirrel.  Within a few days I heard the distinct nuthatch call.  I waited patiently and watched.  Soon a red-breasted nuthatch zoomed in to a perch, paused, jumped to the feeder, grabbed a sunflower seed, and flew off.  This sequence repeated over and over, affording a window of less than one second each time to snap a photo.  The pic could be better but the morning light was not strong yet.  The chickadees were more compliant.

Red-breasted nuthatch

Black-capped Chickadee

Juveniles

A fresh deer carcass often brings in a few bald eagles.  Typically around this particular area are two adults and a juvenile.  Today it was the a fore mentioned juvenile and maybe a younger brother?

3rd year juvenile bald eagle

4th year juvenile bald eagle

Long tale, short tale, no tail

I saw lots of small birds today driving home.  Seemed to all be white-throated sparrows and yellow-rumped warblers. Found a few flowers still blooming this third week of September.  Oh, and squirrel with no tail!

White-throated sparrow

Thistle

Butter and Eggs

 No tail squirrel

Midsummer Magnetic Mistral

Incredible northern lights last night.  The show was so dynamic and fast with pulsing and dancing, I was having a hard time doing it any justice with long exposures.  I cranked up the ISO and took a series of 175, 1-sec exposures and made a time lapse video in effort to show how energetic the storm was.

This was the view looking straight up.

Check out my other videos from previous storms

March 2015

April 2015

Spotted and Potted

I frequently see this male Northern Flicker, but he is always on the move.  This morning he was more interested in the grubs he was after and paused enough times for me to get a pic.

Early in the evening, a male Pileated woodpecker visited by suet block.  Given the warm temperatures lately, the suet was quite soft and he got it all over his bill.  He proceeded to shake his head and scratch his bill with his feet in effort to clean up.

Male Northern Flicker 

Male Pileated Woodpecker

Grossly suprised

I was taking pictures of hummingbirds and had my fill so jumped back in my car.  Then a new bird arrived, a male red-breasted grosbeak!  Soon followed by his mate!

Male rose-breasted grosbeak

female rose-breasted grosbeak

Mating pair of rose-breasted grosbeaks

Turtle and leech

Found my first painted turtle of the season after having crossed Munger Shaw Rd.  I grabbed him out of the grass and showed the kids.   He had a leech stuck to the back of his shell.  Then some other bloodsuckers tried to get me.  I had a wood tick crawling up my arm and my leg.

Painted turtle on the shoulder of the road.

Leech stuck to the back of the turtle. 

Humming with your tongue out

This female ruby-throated hummingbird wasn't so keen on my snapping pictures of her...so she stuck her tongue out at me.

Female Ruby-throated hummingbird

A Rosy Day

I returned home and as I drove up the driveway, the local blue jays scattered from my bird feeder.  Then another shape flitted across the yard...this one was not blue.  The rose-breased grosbeak is lifer for me!

Why did the duck cross the road?

Just down the road from my house I had to hit the brakes as there was a hen and drake mallard sitting on the road.

Nearby was a mourning dove picking rocks

Back in my yard, a pair of downy woodpeckers were squabbling over the suet block.  The female would not let the male have his breakfast and kept chasing him off.

Humming my song

Ruby-throated hummingbirds, male and female, visiting the feeder at Belinda's this morning.

The "extra" red coloring on the male is the sun shining through the feeder.

Male Ruby-throated hummingbird

Female Ruby-throated hummingbird

Pining for you

Pine siskin on my feed was friendly enough to let me get close.  He was busy eating and I caught him with his mouth full.

Pine squirrel was licking the salt off the steps!

Downy Day

There were two pairs of downys raiding the feeders this morning.  I managed to catch two, then three, of the four in one frame.

The male was chasing the female around a maple tree.

  

 Three downys in one frame

Female downy, blinking. 

Male downy...

 sticking out his tongue!

And a Junco to boot!

Minnesota in April

As the snow started last evening, I happened to notice  these daffodils in bloom.  The daylight had already faded so I decided to wait until morning, speculating some contrast between the flowers and the freshly felled flurries.  Patience was rewarded.