I forgot about chipmunks

While enjoying all the nesting around the bird store, I completely forgot about the mammal uprising that we have in the spring. Squirrels have taken up residence in an outdoor storage area we affectionately refer to as the crib (or more to the point "Denny's Crib" because he's my employee who keeps it organized). On occasion other critters move in like mice and rats.

Today brought a cute creature who vexes me in warmer months: the chipmunk.


This little guy fell down into some PVC tubes we use for pole storage. As I leaned over to get a photo he tried in vain to hide himself in the bottom of the tube. It's been so busy at the store that we've sold so many poles that the normally full tubes are empty. This little guy presumably went in looking for seed and couldn't quite jump out. He now has a new home far away from the store (don't worry when I dropped him off in his new location I gave him a good scoop of seed to get him started).

Alas, there are more chipmunks. This is a guy hiding in our drain pipe outside the store who keeps trying to get in whenever he hears the back door open.

They wait for deliveries when we have our doors open and make a break for the inside of the store. Some people think that it's got to be cute and great for business to have a little chippy in the store, however, they are a tad destructive on the inventory. They get quite brazen once they figure out how slow we humans are in comparison to them. Some days one will leisurely eat peanuts out in the open while we help customers. Again, if that was all they did I could see putting up with that, but they rip open bags of seed and aren't nearly as litter trained as a rabbit. Plus the way they zip around really startles the cookies out of you.

Nest Cams Around the World

I just got this email:

Hi Sharon:

You may have already come across this web site, but thought I'd pass it on just in case.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dziadosz/

I love bird cams, and this one has many from around the world, all linked up on one site.

Enjoy!

Nan Wilson

Nan, dear, Nan, if only you knew how much time I spend on the internet already, this wonderfully cool site will no doubt keep me at my iMac well into dawns early light. Thanks for sending it!

Xcel Energy Bird Cams

Great shots from the Xcel Energy Eagle Cam. These are from the eagle news page at the Xcel Bird Cam site:

Marrch 13, 2005 A snowy late afternoon in the eagle nest. The adult's feathers are good protection from inclement weather. Notice that within a few minutes (and probably a good shake), the feathers have repelled the snow.

These are only from March 13 when the eagle was incubating. The chicks hatched late in the month so with the blizzard that just happened, the eagle has to protect them once again. You can watch the current progess at the Xcel eagle cam.

The great horned owl cam shows that their chicks hatched over the weekend and the falcon cams show that three of the four females are incubating. So if you can't go birding outside you can at least do some birding on the internet.

Wood Duck

I'm a proud wood duck landlord, here's a photo of the four eggs thus far (I'm now wondering if my own landlord is sneaking into my bedroom and posting photos on his blog of what he finds).

Trip to Grand Rapids

Wednesday I headed up to Grand Rapids (birth place of Judy Garland) for another wildlife tourism meeting. I drove up through Aitkin County hoping to find some owls but they have appeared to returned to normal hunting times. I drove through the area about 4pm and found no owls, but I did find a field full of rough-legged hawks. Rain clouds darkened the sky to the east as the sun started to lower in the west and the effect on the dried grasses was beautiful. In an area of about 2 miles I saw about 22 rough-legged hawks hunting the fields.

On the way home I lolligagged a little to see if I could pass through Aitkin closer to sunset in the hopes of finding more owls. I passed a strange scene, an eagle nest above some fishing cabins:


There's a young eagle on the right of the nest and an interesting shiny object. Any idea what it might be?


It's a tv antenna (obviously they are trying to get KARE 11 so they can watch my segments--okay, that joke even made me want to gag and yet I couldn't resist it). I think one of the birds tried to add it to the nest but it got caught in the tree. On the upside, I think they can get some great reception with it.

You can't see the head at this angle, but there was an adult bird sitting in the nest. It kept giving a whining call to the younger bird sitting on the branch. I wonder if the younger eagle was raised in the nest two or three years ago and the adult is scream, "Get outta here, do something with your life. Get a job!" I got a little closer and digi scoped the young eagle's photo:


"I am a lonely asparagus."

My lolligagging paid off, on the way home in the evening I found two porcupines and four great gray owls. Here's one:


Owls here this late are a sure sign that they are nesting. I think our record year is still going to continue.

Signs of Spring

Spring has really hit in Minnesota, the store is busy and birds are popping up all over. Denny predicted today that with the strong south winds there would be a rarity reported in the state in the next day or two.

Yesterday morning I checked our wood duck box behind the store and it looked as though the cedar chips had been moved around. I didn't see any other signs of activity and felt disappointed. I put the box up last year and mounted it about eye level to me with a raccoon baffle and according to wood duck society guide lines. I had no takers last year and after finding the box looking empty I contemplated moving it another part of the wetland. After we closed the store yesterday, Ron our home delivery guy rushed back in and said, "Sharon, there's three eggs in the box!" I went out with Ron and told him that I had check the box that morning and didn't see anything. He said that didn't see anything at first either so he put his hands in the chips and felt three eggs.

Panic suddenly set in...were these eggs from last year? The cedar chips looked unused last fall and fairly clean in March and I didn't bother changing the chips, were these old. Should I take the eggs out? I decided to sit on it for 24 hours. If these were recent eggs the female would for sure lay more by tomorrow. This afternoon I went out to the box and found four eggs, one of them still fairly warm. I'm so excited, I've not managed a wood duck box before and now I'm very hopeful to get bluebirds on our trail and not just tree swallows.

House Finches

The house finches have completed the nest in the cup in front of the store and laid three eggs. I noticed that the female lined the inside of the nest cup with some of the nesting material I put out for her that we carry in the store. I wonder if I will have to pay her an endorsement fee?

Cooper's Hawk in the Neighborhood

Today was action packed! I knew I was going to be running around like crazy today and I didn't get off to a good start last night. Bill took me to see Sin City (very good, although a bit more violent than Kill Bill). Anyway, a movie that doesn't make you want to fall asleep right away. Then I had A Balanced Breakfast with Ian and Margery Punnett at 5:45am (I need to get a later gig). Yesterday my KARE 11 segment got bumped because of the Pope's funeral, so it was rescheduled for this morning and then right after that I had a meeting with the bird store owners. I think the combination of the movie last night, writing deadlines, getting up early and having to go to a meeting with the owners and a tight schedule just made me get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I was so nauseous.

Anyway, while getting ready for work, I sat on the couch with Non Birding Bill applying some finishing touches to my makeup. Our couch faces window and shows the apartment buildings behind ours and beyond that are trees from a park. I glanced out the window and saw some movement from a large bird. My first reaction was that the bird was a crow, then it dawned on me that the bird was moving it's head up and down like the hawks at The Raptor Center do when they are feeding.


The view out our apartment window, the circled area is where I noticed the raptor feeding.

I went to grab my binoculars and realized my good ones were in the car (it's migration and it's best to have the binos in the car at the ready). I grabbed my old pair and they revealed an adult female Cooper's hawk eating something with feathers. I thought she was eating a robin and Non Birding Bill thought she was eating a pigeon (Bill was even interested in watching this one, he even used binoculars--I'm so proud). Whichever it was, it was large and I figured I had time to run down to the car and grab my Stokes binos. I did and digi scoped this image:


Look at those big red eyes! I think accipiters are my favorites.

I got so caught up with the Cooper's hawk I completely lost track of time so my hair was a mess as I raced off to KARE--but the upside was that my nausea was gone. Nothing like a raptor ripping the heck out of some songbird to settle your nerves.