Looking Back on 2014

I got a gentle "scolding" from a friend recently who's been missing my blog posts. So I decided I'd get one more in before the end of 2014. Working two and three jobs for the last few years has pretty much kicked my ass to the curb and left me with neither the energy or initiative to devote to weekly (or even monthly) blog posts. But for those of you not on Facebook or also missing my blog posts, I'll recap my 2014 with one picture for each month of 2014.

A beautiful January sunset

A February snowstorm was beautiful only to those who didn't have to worry about moving all the snow or figuring out how to drive in it! 

In March I took a trip to California to visit my brother.  It was nice to see green grass, water that wasn't frozen, and birds that wouldn't be back to Minnesota for a couple months yet.

April brought a few spring birds back to Minnesota, including this Robin who was determined to battle that "other" robin taunting him from the window reflection.

In May the colorful summer birds finally arrived.  They're the hope we hold in our thoughts and hearts during the long Minnesota winter.

Backyard critters enjoying June clover and other treats falling from the birdfeeder above.

A long July weekend in northern Minnesota gave me the opportunity to photograph this rainbow over Snowbank Lake after a brief late afternoon thunderstorm.

 

Thankfully we saw more Monarch butterflies this summer than last year.  An August Monarch took advantage of the Rough Blazing Star blooming in my backyard wildflower garden.

In September, this first year Cooper's Hawk was trying its best to catch one of the birds hanging out on my deck.  Unfortunately, no birds were caught, but I did get the chance to capture this awesome photo!

Fall colors delighted the senses in October.

Early one morning in November, this small buck showed up in the backyard to sample some of the corn we put out for birds and bunnies.



Happy Christmas from me and my pretty girl Holly the Pibble!

California Birds

I'm glad my brother lives in California because it's a birder's paradise! With only 1 day available for birding, we spent most of our birding time in Sutter, Yolo, and Colusa counties which is the area closest to where my brother lives. This area is part of the agricultural region of the Central Valley, so a lot of it is quite rural and there are also plenty of wetlands.

The highlight of our afternoon was a visit to Colusa National Wildlife Refuge. Lots of ponds, both deep and shallow, so the area was attractive to shorebirds and waterfowl alike. Here are a few photos I took Friday afternoon. It was a perfect day for birding!

Snow Geese, Northern Pintails, Mallards, and Greater White-Fronted Geese

A closer look at the Greater White-Fronted Geese

At Colusa NWR, we also saw the White-Tailed Kite, a Bald Eagle, a Black Phoebe, lots of White-Faced Ibis, Marsh Wrens, and several sparrows and hawks that I didn't have the expertise to identify.

On our way to San Francisco on Saturday, my brother took us over to Travis AFB to see if we could get a look at the Burrowing Owls he's seen there on previous occasions. Fortunately, the owls were cooperative that day. Here's a cute pair just minding their own business and sunbathing outside their burrow.

I couldn't resist pulling out my birdJam and playing a little burrowing owl call out the car window. Mrs. Owl wasn't impressed, but Mr. Owl didn't like hearing that other owl one bit, Nosirree!! Here's a picture of his "I'm gonna kick some owl butt!" reaction. We could even hear him calling back.

We didn't stay there very long, my brother was worried the MPs would come by and move us along, so we left after about 5 minutes, but it was fun to see these little owls.

Loggerhead Shrike

Black Crowned Night Heron

This handsome guy was perched right outside the restaurant where we had lunch on Saturday in San Francisco. I really dig his pretty dark red eyes and those long jazzy plumes hanging down from the back of his head.

Snowy Egret

This bird was standing at the edge of the water right outside our restaurant in San Francisco. Every so often one of us would spot him catching a little fish. Isn't his plumage beautiful? And don't you just love those crazy yellow feet? What a cool bird!

Here's a juvenile Double-Crested Cormorant atop a utility pole along one of the canals running next to Robbins where my brother lives. He said the cormorants like to congregate in this area every morning.

I have no complaints about my trip to California except for one thing--it was TOO SHORT!! There are so many neat places and things to see here! We didn't even get to do any coastal or mountain birding, so those opportunities will have to wait till another time. This was a perfect time of year to go--the daytime temps were in the 60's each and there was almost no wind. Lots of blooming flowers and blossoming trees, plus green grass and palm trees everywhere--just the thing to perk up winter-weary Minnesotans!

I will have more pictures and stories from California in my next post, so stay tuned!

California Birding Adventures

Greetings from California! I arrived in Sacramento late last night after an uneventful flight and my brothers picked me up at the airport. On our way back to Brother Phil's, we took a little detour down some deserted back roads in search of Barn Owls (which Phil sees frequently on his commute to and from work). We failed to spot any owls along the road, but had a fun time driving around anyway.

Today was our designated "birding and nature adventures" day and we made the most of it. My hope was to get some new life birds during the trip and I wasn't disappointed. As soon as I opened the curtains at 7:15 this morning, I managed to spot Brewer's Blackbirds (life bird!) on the power lines right outside Phil's house. Phil took me on a walk around town and I spotted two more life birds: Northern Mockingbird (singing beautifully in the backyard) and Tri-Colored Blackbird. Phil lives in a very small town in a rural, mostly agricultural area with a lot of wetlands, so there's no shortage of birds around here. We also spotted a Loggerhead Shrike (another life bird!) on a power line as we were motoring into Woodland for lunch and to pick up Nephew Charlie from school.

After lunch, we headed up to the Colusa National Wildlife Refuge where we spent probably 3 hours driving around and looking at birds. This area was almost all wetlands, so the usual birds you would expect to see in such an area were present. I got 6 more life birds here: White-Faced Ibis, Short-Billed Dowitcher, Black Phoebe, Cinnamon Teal, White-Tailed Kite, and Greater White-Fronted Goose. Here's a little video of some of the Snow Geese we saw out at Colusa NWR.

Too bad I didn't purchase an open-ended ticket for my return flight. The weather here has been fabulous--sunny and low 60's (perfect weather and conditions for birding). I hear the weather service is predicting snow for my return to Minnesota on Sunday night (sigh)

California Birds

Brother Phil in California recently sent me an e-mail with more bird pictures and I want to share them with you. He had another doctor appointment a couple weeks ago up at Travis AFB and this time he had his new camera along to take more pictures of the clinic's resident burrowing owl--and her BABIES!

He told me that he saw 3 little ones near the nesting hole, but he wasn't happy with how the photos turned out because they weren't very clear. I told him to send them anyway and I would see what I could do with my Photoshop software and here are the results. I put arrows on this photo so you could identify all 3 babies.

I didn't see the third one 'til he called me this afternoon and told me where to look for it (you can just see it's left eye and eyebrows showing above the grass). It's been really hot and dry there and you can see how well these little owls blend in with their habitat.

Here's one more picture from another angle. Aren't they cute?

I hope this owl is still nesting in the same area when I plan to visit Brother Phil and his family in California next year.

Phil also took these photos of a large flock of Whimbrels near Travis AFB.

Notice the haziness in this photo? This place is very close to the wildfires that areas of Northern California are currently trying to control.

We're kind of torn between Whimbrel and Long-Billed Curlew on these birds, but based on the size of the birds compared with the crows in the picture, we've decided Whimbrel is probably what they are. Phil said that looking at these birds, the beak didn't appear long enough to be the curlew and he was sorry the pictures didn't turn out better. I told him thanks anyway for sharing the pictures with me, so I could post them in my blog. It's really fun for me to have siblings who are also interested in birds and will call me up or send me e-mails and pictures with their cool bird sightings and stories.

Monday Miscellanea

I started packing my bag today for the Potholes & Prairie Birding Festival--my rainsuit went in first after I checked the forecast for Carrington, ND. It's going to be similar to what's in store for here the rest of the week with chances for rain every day. I will be happy as long as we don't experience any severe weather.

I'm not sure what kind of internet access I'm going to find there, and since I don't have a laptop computer, I will probably be absent from the blogosphere for several days while I'm at the festival. I'm hoping they have a public library with a computer and internet access.

So tonight is going to be a smorgasbord, for lack of anything more imaginative as I'm getting ready to leave for North Dakota.

Here are some updates on my gardens. My recent raised bed disaster is actually looking pretty good.

If it ever stops raining long enough to dry out a little bit, I can get in and work with this dirt a little bit more, but for now it seems to be loosening up and the chunks don't seem quite as large. (There is also a banana pepper and 1 more tomato planted in here, but not visible).

In my other raised bed, most of the seeds have begun sprouting. These peas are doing the best (almost tall enough to reach the trellis now).

And the lettuce is finally recognizable too.

The onions (bottom) and beans (top) are also coming along slowly but surely.

I also have swiss chard, beets, cucumbers, and carrots just beginning to sprout (but still too small to show in a picture). If we could just get a few sunny days in a row, I think the soil would warm up nicely and all of these plants would really take off!

Here's a picture of the completed shawl repair.

I swear that this is where the hole was and if you compare this section to one of the others on either side, you might see a little bit of difference, but I'm very happy with how this repair turned out because I even had a bit of a hard time finding it again.

Brother Phil in California had a check-up a couple weeks ago at Travis AFB hospital. When he came out of his appointment, he spotted this burrowing owl (with a 'bonus' yellow-billed magpie) out on the front lawn of the hospital.

How lucky for him (and me) that he happened to have his new camera along and he finally e-mailed me this picture today. He also told me that they've been seeing a male Western Tanager in full breeding plumage hanging around their yard (but the bird won't sit still long enough for a photo op).

I've gotta say, I'm loving this spring weather we're finally having. As I'm sitting here composing this post, there's still a robin sitting right outside and singing his head off (at 9:07 PM-almost dark!) I'm really looking forward to spending the next few days outside enjoying birds and nature.