Excuse me … Your Birdfeeder is Broken!

Year 1

Prophetic words! Back on August 11th I decided I had to buy this t-shirt and anted up the cash to Amazon. Early this morning I decided it would be fun to wear my new shirt to my Cardiac Rehab appointment. The nursing staff at Essentia is fantastic, and many have become friends. Just prior to leaving I discovered today was a very appropriate day for “the shirt.” Five minutes before leaving for my medical appointment, I found out I had once again been “beared.” Here are my trailcam photographs from the past 24 hours …

With the extreme drought in northern Minnesota, which I have to assume is affecting the berry crop, bears will very much in evidence this fall. I had not been beared for over a month.

Mr. Bear (or Madam Bear) approaches

Wildcamera

Mr. Bear tells me what he thinks of my bird feeder protection system

Wildcamera

Yours truly working upon bear repair this morning

Wildcamera
Wildcamera

A close-up of the t-shirt!

Bird Your Local Cemetery!

Year 8

I have made this point before, but as migration really starts to get going, bird your local cemetery. The best birding will always be at a cemetery which has a pond, and a decent local bird population. Migrants are attracted to both the water, and the fact that birds are already present. The local birds are accustomed to people, both above and below ground! Generally, even though there are lots of spooks present, this will mean even migrants will spook less easily. In my case, I have been visiting Forest Hill Cemetery in Duluth’s Hunter’s Park neighborhood.

Because of the drought, the water level in each pond is much lower, which has created some mud flats that shorebirds absolutely love for feeding. A flock of five Lesser Yellowlegs, migrating through from Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic, was actively feeding yesterday morning at 7:30 am.

The treat of the morning was finding two Soras, one of which ventured way out of the reeds (unusual).

Finally, the locals were busy fishing. I always enjoy watching Belted Kingfishers, in this case a female.

Sunset Owlet

Year 8

Let’s check your powers of observation! These two photographs were taken seconds apart yesterday evening shortly before sunset. There is a subtle difference. Same juvenile owl … near Lake Superior in Duluth. You may need to maximize the images. I will admit it took me a while to figure out the difference, but I knew w/o knowing why the photos were different!

It has been fun to find my family of owls again after 2+ weeks of zero sightings. Over the past 3 days I have seen the juvenile Great Horned Owls many times. I suspect the parents are feeding them less and less. Thus, the owlets need to start hunting more on their own. I have even surprised one of the juveniles on the ground right at sunrise yesterday morning.