In the Backyard

Here are some photos of some random, but interesting things I've seen in the backyard in the past week or so.

My crow family

The juveniles are big enough to feed themselves now, but still try to beg from their parents every once in a while. Sometimes only 4 will show for a day or so and I get worried that one of them may have gotten shot during Minnesota's crow hunting season, but then the next day all 5 are back again and I'm relieved.

Cooper's Hawk sunbathing

I checked with Susan (the raptor expert) to see if she had any opinions about what this Coop was doing and she said she'd never seen any of her Coop's behaving this way. After the hawk flew away, I went out and checked where it had been laying and no ant hills were nearby, so we ruled out "anting." There was also no evidence of a fresh kill in the area, so I think the bird was just trying to cool off a bit on a hot August afternoon.

The backyard wildflower garden/monarch waystation is in full bloom!

Lost of purple coneflowers, but also Joe Pye weed, Canada goldenrod, Queen Anne's Lace, green-headed coneflower, and brown-eyed Susan. It's definitely a butterfly and bee haven.

Common Green Darner (female)

I found this beautiful dragonfly on the swamp white milkweed last week when I was collecting monarch caterpillars. I was really happy she allowed me to get some great photos before flying away.

Newly tagged monarch enjoying her first nectar in the wild

Great Spangled Fritillary on Joe Pye Weed

Hope you're seeing some neat things in your backyard too!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Even though it doesn't feel much like spring here yet with our below freezing nights and a windchill of 9 degrees this morning when we took Sophie for a walk, there are plenty of spring birds in the backyard, looking for food and doing lots of singing and pairing up.

You've always heard that robins don't eat birdseed, right? Look at this goofy robin who's been hanging out in the tray feeder on my deck. I watch him and he's definitely eating something from this tray, but I can never see what sort of seed he's got in his beak.
When I worked at Wild Birds Unlimited, we learned from one of our customers that his robins really chowed down on whole sunflower hearts when they got back in the spring. The seed blend I put in this tray feeder contains whole sunflower hearts, so I'm guessing that's what this robin is picking out. Watching this robin brings a big smile to my face!

This is a short post tonight and I'll leave you with this little video I shot out the dining room window yesterday afternoon.

Have a good week everyone!

Welcome September

Wasn't it great to have a 3-day weekend? I was so happy to just stay at home for the majority of each day and have the chance to watch out my windows and see what was going on with birds in my backyard. I glanced out the kitchen window on Saturday morning and saw this:

What the heck is that? I thought to myself, because my mind was telling me it wasn't a bunny just laying in the grass. So I grabbed the binoculars for a better look....... Holy Cow! It's the Cooper's Hawk! Have you ever seen them just laying in the grass like this before?

I wondered if it was injured or maybe was sitting on top of something it had killed, but when I tried to open the window to get a better picture, it heard me and flew right away. I will turn this unusual hawk behavior over to Susan, the raptor expert and see if she has any insight on what this hawk was doing.

Here's what I think is the same hawk cooling off its toes and tail feathers in one of the birdbaths also outside my kitchen window. While the depth of water in this almost empty birdbath is ideal for chipping sparrows and house finches, it's quite inadequate for a Coop, although it appears he/she was trying to make the most of the resources available. This picture is a little clearer than the ones above that I had to take through the kitchen window....for this picture, I was able to crawl out onto the deck and snap the photo using the side of the house as a blind. The deck is not very hospitable for crawling on bare knees, but I was happy this picture turned out great on the first try because the Cooper's Hawk eyesight saw me after about 3 seconds.....bye-bye!

We enjoyed summer-like temps (with highs in the 80's) for the entire weekend. However, a front is coming through tomorrow and will bring us some rain and then, finally, some lower temperatures (daytime highs in the low 70's and down in the 40's at night). Hooray! Welcome September!

Unusual Bird Behavior

I saw a couple of different birds this afternoon doing some things that aren't normally associated with their particular species, so I thought that I would share them with you (since I had no new migrants to photograph).

Here's a little goldfinch in my crabapple tree. Can you tell what he's doing? (look closely at his left foot)

I had to get the binoculars to confirm, but he's eating one of the remaining dried up crabapple fruits from last fall! I had no idea that goldfinches would eat fruit, did you? Apparently he hasn't noticed the 3 feeders I have filled with nyjer seed.

The other day, I moved my peanut wreath to the crabapple tree right outside the dining room window. Here's what I saw this afternoon:

Did you know cardinals like peanuts? Did this cardinal even know what was inside the shell?

I managed to capture this short video of the cardinal trying to get a peanut out of the wreath. That short, stout beak is useful for cracking seeds, but sure isn't very handy when trying to reach inside the ring and grasp something as big as a peanut.

Hey Mary, it looks like I've got an extra RB Grosbeak, so I'll be sending one of these guys your way this weekend!