A Minneapolis Sage Thrasher

Man, this was a busy Tuesday: I started with a volunteer shift at The Raptor Center, then on to some grocery shopping, did a little bike riding, saw an off course Sage Thrasher, then made dinner, and off to a Minnesota Hobby Beekeeper's Association meeting to get geared up for the spring season.

The highlight of the day was definitely the sage thrasher, it was only a few blocks from my home.  It was so close, I loaded up my digiscoping equipment onto my bike and rode over--exercise and a cool bird, now that's multi-taskng.

This bird is a tad off course. Perhaps it spent the winter in Texas and when it headed north to its breeding grounds, got mixed in with a rogue flock of robins and ended up a little further east than planned.  Perhaps this bird was originally hatched in the far western reaches of South Dakota and in the grand scheme of things, isn't that far off.

Who knows how long it will stay.  The bird has been at Lake Harriet for a few days, hanging out near the canoe racks at the Rose Garden, feeding on hackberry with the robins.  If you're in the Twin Cities area and want to see this bird, just look for the people with the binoculars, that should lead you to the thrasher.

Speaking of which, there were two really nice people already on the bird when I arrived, one named Chris works for a Twin Cities company called Fetch Delivers--a pet and wild bird delivery company. They currently have no minimum order and no delivery fee.  So, if you want one suet cake, you get just the suet cake, no delivery fee.  They carry some feed I would actually use like C&S Peanut Suet and Wild Delight--plus some rabbit chow.  We might give them a try--can't beat no minimum and no delivery fee.

Mysterious Robber Bees

We still have juncos moving through, many were starting to sing some of their territory songs over the weekend.  Some even chased each other through the brush piles as the flocks start their northward migration.

Lorraine has been gleaning honey from the remainders of the Kelli and Kitty hives.  As she put the wrecked frames outside, we got some robber bees coming in to them!

Little honeybees came in to claim what honey we had not.  We currently have no active hives in our beeyard...where are these girls coming from? Is it possible that these are bees from our first summer that swarmed off of the Kitty hive?  Or is a neighbor also keeping bees?  Honeybees will fly 2.5 - 5 miles away from the hive in search of food, so it is conceivable that these are from a neighboring hive.  But it's more fun to think them being the Kitty bees.  Oh, how I wish I had a little robotic, remote-controlled, helicopter bee cam!

Kroening Interpretive Center

Saturday, I did a Spring Birding Program at Kroening Interpretive Center and discovered a great little park, mere minutes from my home.  The center is in North Mississippi Park, a small park right on the river (and part of the National Park I work for, the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area).  I can't believe I haven't been here before.  There's a great view of a heron rookery and now is the best time to go see it.

Since the leaves are off the trees, the birds and their nests are easily visible.  Also, it's just the start of the mating season, so there's lots of activity as the birds put their nests together.  Once the leaves grow in, the nests will be almost impossible to see.

If you are interested in getting any photos of the birds, the afternoon is the best time, the sun is behind you from the trail and you can get some decent shots.  I may go back on Tuesday afternoon.

We saw several other birds like this male kestrel, tree swallows, and song sparrows.  I just saw my first of year yellow-rumped warbler today and I bet this park will be chock full of warblers since it's right on the river.  I can't wait to go back.

They have some great programs coming up at Kroening, so be sure to check it out.

Fabulous Guatemala Hummingbirds At Cabana Suiza

I have some serious Guatemala blogging to catch up on! And this Sunday morning when I read that on the calendar that is was April 5, yet looked out the window and saw snow covering the ground, I was longing for those 10 days in that tiny country.  I wanted to think back to stopping at a coffee shop called Cabana Suissa where I got to savor tiny dudes like the berylline hummingbird above.

I mentioned earlier when I first came back that there were some digiscoping challenges due to shade and just not being used to the way the birds moved.  Above is a female cinnamon-bellied flowerpiercer, I couldn't get a great shot of one of those birds to save my life, but thank goodness for bird feeders providing predictable perches.

Here's that berryline again.  Check out those awesome hummingbird pants.  I'm used to the standard ruby-throated hummingbird with green on the back, white on the front and the males have that splash of red on the throat.  This guy is a gorgeous green, with glossy rust and bright white pants!  Although, if we're going to talk in ornithology terms, those white feathers are covering the toes and feet, so this hummingbird would have white socks.

The azure-crowned hummingbird also had some white pants going on, but not nearly to the degree that the berylline did.

While getting shots of the azure-crowned, I was able to see a bit more of the spectacular colors of the magnificent hummingbird behind it.  Note the purple, the emerald green on top of the other shiny greens of the white-eared hummingbird.

Here's a better shot of the white-eared in all its glory.  I was having such a blast getting photos of birds, I never made it into the coffee shop.  They guides were kind enough to grab the coffee for me and bring it out.

I could have spent all afternoon at Cabana Suiza, watching the none stop activity of the hummingbirds and getting photo after photo.  It was fantastic to be out with such great guides keeping us on the move to add birds to our list, but it's all a treat just to stop and savor great birds in great light.

Hey, check out this hummer.  This was the largest hummingbird that game into the feeders called a rufous saberwing--it was huge compared to the others, almost twice the size.  I felt if it were any bigger, it would have been lethal around our heads.  It was harder to get shots of the larger saberwing, it was more easily bullied by the smaller hummingbirds.

These are just some of the great birds that you can see in Guatemala.

Unexpected Hoosier Loon

While in Indiana, I went out for some birding with my mom, my aunt and one of my sisters. In the Hoosier State, spring is ahead of my home in Minnesota, so I welcomed watching the song sparrows on territory singing for a mate (above).  There were also a few field sparrows singing which had me excited about hearing them at Carpenter Nature Center in a few weeks--it's such a great song.

My mom and aunts have monitored a bald eagle nest in Mooresville, IN for the last five years.  They keep a journal on their observations and I smile when locals drive by, see my mom and say, "Hey, it's the Eagle Ladies. Hi!"

Quite a few of the people who live near the nest have invited my mom and my aunts on their property to look at other birds.  One is a bed and breakfast called Lake in the Woods.  As we took the long driveway into their property, we passed a few beehives and then came to a whole bee yard with over 20 hives.  Their bees were much more active, you could see workers going in and out of hives to look for pollen and propolis.  I tried to get my sister, mom and aunt out of the vehicle to look at the hives, but they would not do it.  I told them they would be fine, but they rolled up their windows.  I swear, you blog about getting stung once or twice and no one wants to go near a hive.

The owners of Lake in the Woods were very generous with their time and showed us around their yard full of chickens, guinea fowl, bees, a couple of pigs, and lots of great birds, including the above mourning dove.  A pair took up residence last summer on their porch and fledged two broods.  The pair of doves returned three weeks ago and got started again.

I noticed some splashing on the lake behind the bed band breakfast and at first could not believe what I saw.  It could not be what I thought it was.  But when I got my bins and finally my scope on the splashing...

...I discovered that it was what I thought:  a common loon--my state bird.  I had to come all the way to Indiana to see the Minnesota state bird.  The loon was in the process of bathing and darted and splashed all over the lake.  I never saw these in Indiana when I was growing, but I wasn't often at a lake large enough for a loon either.

Must be a migrant loon, on its way north, waiting for the lakes in the far north to open up.  Apparently, this species is possible to see on larger Indiana lakes during migration.  I got some video of it bathing, it really looked like it was having a good time.

Nice day out.

Digiscoping Workshop

Even though the calendar reads spring, we still have quite a few pine siskins around.  Today, we had our first snow of spring, I'm sure we have a bit more coming.

For those in the Indianapolis area, don't forget that this Sunday, I'll be doing a Digiscoping Workshop at Eagle Creek Park (it's free, but you must pay the park entrance fee of $5).  I'm looking forward to see what birds are already in Indiana, ahead of Minnesota.  Plus, my family will be there--you can see people who are shorter than me!

Signs of Spring

The red-winged blackbirds are arriving in larger and larger flocks in Minnesota--spring. I got this photo on Monday while filming a segment with weatherman Rob Koch from KSTP. We were doing a segment on migration and I figured our best bet would be at the Minnesota Valley NWR--sure enough, there was a flock of red-wings. This female downy woodpecker hopped over to a male red-winged blackbird and the two birds stared at each other for a moment. It was almost as if they were having a conversation:

Downy: Oh hey, when did you get back in town?

Red-wing: Just arrived last night, still gotta go another 70 miles north Hinckley, any good grub around here?

Downy: Not to many insects in season yet, but the peanut suet isn't bad down at the feeders.

Red-wing: Score.

Common Western Birds Seen At The San Diego Bird Festival

I thought I had planned my bird festivals so well this winter. Florida and San Diego--what better places could a Minnesota girl go to in January and March? Alas, both were a bit chillier than I expected. Florida had a record setting cold snap. And well, San Diego was still really warm at 50 degrees compared to where I live, but not shorts weather. Part of it was that I did many field trips where it's expect to be chilly, like on a boat or in the mountains.

While on the woodpecker trip for the San Diego Bird Festival in the mountains we looked through my scope, we could see the top of the mountain was covered in frost. Glad we weren't going to the top. It was pleasantly chilly enough where we were. I have to say, I had some of the best field trip grub ever at this festival. The best part was all the Laughing Cow Babybel Cheese. Nothing like enjoying great birds in the mountain and eating cheese.

I'm so excited! I found another photo of a Brewer's blackbird that I forgot I took in my iPhoto stash. He's so pretty, shining in all his iridescent glory of the full sun. This bird was part of a flock hanging out at a picnic area. I got to feed them as I tossed bits of my sandwich to the flock. Ah, one person's trash bird is another birder's treasure.

Another bird I was excited to spend time with was the western bluebird. We get tons of eastern bluebirds where I live and westerns are different because their rufous coloration extends to their backs. Eastern bluebirds just have the sky blue down their backs. I was happy to find a male western bluebird that wouldn't turn around and just show me his back.

Check out this super cute dark-eyed junco (the western version sometimes known as Oregon junco). They were flitting around all over the ground and this one paused to get a sip from a small puddle of water. It's the same species as the dark-eyed junco I see here, just a different color. Dark-eyed juncos used to be divided into five different species, a few years ago, this would have been a countable bird, but now the five are lumped into one. I wonder how long until they are divided again?

There were some common birds for me that others on the field trip where excited to see, like this male purple finch. He's beautiful, but he was a lifer for several people on my field trip. And we had to work to see this dude. I'm used to peering out at the feeders at Mr. Neil's and there they are. This one was singing at the top of a tree and it took some time to find the right angle for folks to see him. I giggled at working so hard for a feeder bird. He was singing his territory song, and I managed to get a video of him singing:

Such a pretty song and it's lovely to hear territory song after a long winter.

Anna's hummingbirds were all over the place and we found a female who appeared to be incubating eggs on a nest. She must be well habituated to humans. This nest was at about my eye level in a bush. The bush was in the corner of a "V" where two well travelled paths intersected and people walked by unaware as we watched.

We saw quite a few red-tailed hawks. Many were grabbing thermals and starting to do pair bonding activities. In Minnesota, these guys are setting up territory now. Females should be laying eggs soon. The red-tails in San Diego looked like they were on about the same schedules.

We did see some mammals out on the trip. This was a ground squirrel watching the birders as we were watching the birds. Something about his posture made it look like he was plotting our demise.

The Woodpecker Field Trip At San Diego Bird Festival

Don't forget that this Thursday at 6pm at Merlin's Rest is a Birds and Beers (Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders to sit down, have a beverage, and talk some birds). If you are remotely interested in birds, from the hardcore lister to the backyard birder to someone who saw a bird once, this group is for you.

I was really excited to do the Woodpecker Field Trip at the San Diego Bird Festival. I was hoping to see some new species like white-headed woodpecker or Lewis's woodpecker. I got skunked on both but had a fabulous time--that's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise when birding. Ah well, another bird for another day. I did have a great time with all of the acorn woodpeckers and several other species.

We had a great moment with a western variety of northern flicker (this is a red-shafted variety). Where I live, we get the yellow-shafted version of this species. The red-shafted version of the northern flicker is different, the shafts of wing feathers are red and the males have a red moustache and not a black moustache. Note the above male. Now, here is a photo of the yellow-shafted that I'm used to. See the difference?

We had paused for a break in the trail and could hear this bird in the distance. We played its call once and it flew in and immediately flew in and started to drum on the trunk to announce territory. I got a video of it:

What amazes me most is how little movement the flicker appears to be making and still manages to create quite a sound. The birds look for a good, resonant tree but still the sound is remarkable.

We had a spectacular time, the view was beautiful up in the mountains surrounded by burnt trees. One of the field trip leaders was Steve Shunk head of Paradise Birding. He's got a woodpecker festival going this June in Oregon and says that he could easily get me white-headed woodpecker there...was that his plan? Maybe he was keeping the white-headeds away on this trip, so I'd have to go to Oregon in June? Doubtful, since I've never met a man so gung-ho on woodpeckers...ever. Seriously, this guy needs to be seen to be believed. I have never seen a grown man get so excited over seeing a downy woodpecker, as Steve Shunk.

I did get one new woodpecker species and that was a Nuttall's woodpecker. This is such a cool woodpecker at least the one I was was watching. She was gleaning insects off of the leaves. They do peck like other woodpeckers, but some do go for the bugs crawling on the foliage. I got a video of her foraging. In the background, you'll hear Steve talking about a sapsucker, he's not talking about the Nuttall's--you can hear his excitement (that's the same excitement he would have for a downy woodpecker), he was on the trail of an odd looking sapsucker:

Did you hear Steve's excitement?

Birds Around San Diego Bird Fest

One of the cool things for me, being a Midwestern girl is that when I go to the coasts, just walking out the door of my hotel room brings exciting birds for me like the young Heerman's gull (it was foraging on the lawn and pandering for a handout). Have you ever seen an adult Heerman's gull? Check out this link, it's a pretty classy lookin' bird.

Okay, mallards are not the most exciting bird on the planet but I did think it was funny that a pair was hanging out at the heated pool at night--yes the pool was heated, it did get down to 40 degrees at night. This male must have quite the line going with the hens, "Hey, baby, I know a place we can relax. It's fenced, far from predators, we can get some snacks, and nothing but class all the way."

Okay, this I thought was very cool. At first, "I though, are those cell phone receivers tacked onto palm trees?" Then I realized that the trunks were wide and realized that they were fake palm trees. Cell phone towers disguised to blend in with the landscape--and no guy wires to kill birds. Check it out, there a bird perched on top of one of the trees.

Thanks to the magic of digiscoping, we can see that it's a Cassin's kingbird. That must be a great place to watch for insects.

My buddy Clay chuckled when I got a photo of a Brewer's blackbird. "You can tell those Easterners gettin' a photo of a Brewer's blackbird." What can I say, it's different.

Black skimmers were roosting in the afternoon on a beach near the convention center where the San Diego Bird Festival was held at Mission Bay.

A pleasant surprise for me was seeing brant swimming around near shore. This is one of those birds I could never see, but once I finally saw them, I see them everywhere now. They were on their northward migration.

Willets were all over. I took this photo off the San Diego river, it was foraging and when another willet walked nearby, it stopped feeding and then sat down and was still until the other willet passed. Was this some sort of submissive behavior?

There are also the numerous brown pelicans, anyone can get an award winning shot...

So why not get a shot where they look really goofy and not unlike that rarely remembered Showbiz Pizza Place character, Uncle Klunk.