Saturday Afternoon Drama

I was sitting at the dining room table this afternoon working on a lace patterned knitting project that requires lots of natural light.  With 4 inches of new snow last nite, it's been a busy day at the birdfeeders right outside my window.  Without any advance warning from the bluejays, a Cooper's hawk flew in to try and catch some dinner.  It landed in the big oak tree right near all the birdfeeders.   Woodpeckers had no warning and had to "freeze" wherever they were until Cooper's finally flew away hungry again.....

This is a first year Cooper's Hawk -- you can tell that by its yellow eyes.  (Adults have dark rusty-red colored eyes).  It's cold out there, so the Coop kept one foot tucked up into its tummy feathers for warmth.

Poor little Downy Woodpecker didn't even have time to fly away and was just barely able to duck down behind the deck railing and hang on by two toes, hoping desperately that the hawk wouldn't be able to spot her.

Here's where the Cooper's hawk was perched in the tree in perspective to the Downy woodpecker on the deck railing.  Distance is approx. 10 yds.  The majority of my birdseed and suet feeders are concentrated in the area outside my dining room windows (for best photo ops!) and there are at least a dozen feeders on the deck and hanging in trees all around this big tree where the Cooper's hawk is perched.

I believe there are a nesting pair of Cooper's Hawks in our neighborhood.  I feel privileged to be able to see these birds up close.  The ratio of Coop's to songbirds is probably 1:200 in my backyard, so if they need to hunt here, that's fine by me.  I see the hawks fly into the backyard several times a day (if I'm home to watch them), but I believe the majority of times they fly away without ever catching anything. 

Downy Finds a New Treat

Hello! What do we have here?

Is this actually something to eat? Why haven't I noticed it before?

Well, this isn't going to be easy getting a meal here, is it?

I'll just have to try and turn a little bit more, but there sure isn't much to perch on!
Jeez, this is really challenging! It sure looks a lot easier when the nuthatches are doing it!

Woodpeckers!

I have more woodpeckers at house this summer than I can ever remember before! Mostly Downys and many of them juveniles. This is a photo I took this morning -- featuring 5 Downys and 1 male Red-Bellied. What you can't see in this photo are 3 more Downys hanging onto the spindles of the deck railing below this photo! I have to refill this log every other day (it holds 1 suet cake). I also added another peanut feeder to a hook at the other side of the deck.

Another "first" for this year is a juvenile Red-Bellied Woodpecker at the feeders. The adults were occasional visitors all winter but have been showing up at the feeders more regularly this spring. Then one day not too longer I spotted their youngster at the peanut feeder. This little guy is perfectly capable of getting his own food, but I was thrilled to capture this series of photos from my dining room window earlier this morning. "Dad" came to the suet feeder while "Junior" just happened to be perched on the deck railing. What follows is the only interaction I've seen this summer between this Red-Bellied Woodpecker adult and baby.

"Hey Dad, is that for me?"

"Hurry! I'm so hungry!"
"Nom, Nom, Nom!"

Do woodpeckers have saliva??

Gag!

"OK, is that enough?" Dad asks

"Please sir, I want some more!"

Dad's thinking, "Hey look, peanuts!"

A Woodpecker Comparison Study

I have lots of woodpeckers in the backyard this winter. Downys are the most numerous -- last weekend I saw 6 poking around the branches in the oak tree outside the dining room window. I've been taking pictures of all my woodpecker friends who visit the suet log hanging on my deck. I hope you enjoy these photos showing the difference in size and color of my backyard woodpeckers.

Here's a female Downy. She's compacted her body to the smallest size because she's hiding from a Cooper's Hawk visiting the backyard. I can always tell when a hawk is here because the woodpecker doesn't even attempt to eat any suet -- motionless as a statue!

Here's another Downy woodpecker at full size.

They love this suet log and seem to prefer the holes in the center of the log because those are always cleaned out first.

Here's a male Hairy Woodpecker on the suet log. You can definitely see how much larger they are than the Downys -- especially when you can use an object like this suet log as a basis for comparison. I was lucky to catch this woodpecker in a blink!

Here's the female Hairy Woodpecker.

Going up a little more in size, here's the Red-Bellied Woodpecker. This one's a male. We've had a solitary female visiting the backyard feeders all winter long and just within the last couple weeks this male has also now started showing up. I hope they will pair up and stick around for a while.

And lastly, here's my queen woodpecker -- the Pileated! I've been waiting weeks for her to visit the backyard again and she finally showed up last week and wouldn't you know it, the suet log was empty! At least I managed to get this photo of her before she flew back to the other suet feeder. Isn't it cool how she's almost as big as this suet log? What an impressive bird! I don't think I'll ever get over the amazement of seeing her in my backyard.

This has nothing to do with woodpeckers, but I thought you might enjoy seeing this little flock of cardinals who come to feed at twilight. It won't be many more weeks until the cardinals start establishing their territories. Then these cardinals won't be tolerating each other's presence under the bird feeder and I'll have to wait for next winter to see this many together again.

Hello? Is Anybody There?

Downy Woodpecker stopped by the dining room window yesterday morning with a message:

"Hello? Ruthie, are you there?"

"Could you please put down that stupid knitting long enough to fill my suet log?"

"K......thanks.......bye!"

Sunday Birds

I got this suet feeder last weekend at the Sax-Zim Bog birding festival. It's a little chunk of a cedar log with a hollow center. The Boy Scouts were selling them for $1 and if that's not a heckuva deal, I don't know what is! I stuffed it full of suet on Tuesday morning and hung it out on a hook off the deck. I've been keeping an eye on it but haven't noticed any activity at this new suet feeder until this morning. We were at the dining room table eating our breakfast pancakes and watched this little female Downy Woodpecker cautiously approach and then fly over to sample some suet.
It wasn't more than 10 minutes later and a male Downy showed up to try out the new feeder too.

Later in the morning we took of for another birding trip to the Mississippi. I'm still trying to check the Long-Tailed Duck off my list and was hoping that the ones that had been seen down there last weekend were still hanging around. Unfortunately, there were almost no ducks to be seen anywhere on the open channels of the Mississippi, but our disappointment was only temporary because once again there were plenty of Bald Eagles for our viewing pleasure. This one perched really nicely right at the edge of a scenic pull-out along Highway 61.

A little farther down the road we pulled out at Reads Landing where we had seen ducks and swans a few weeks ago. We saw only a small flock of mallards, but the swans were still there. We counted about 20.

Aren't they beautiful?

After checking out the open water near the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, we crossed the bridge to Wisconsin and followed the river road south from Nelson. Again, there was a surprising lack of waterfowl on the river, but we did get a good look at some longbeards pecking some grit along the edge of the road.

It's only 2 months now until our spring turkey hunting season and I sure hope we see some nice birds like this when we're out there (I also hope the snow's gone by then too!)

Bird Adaptations Class

Since the new year started and it's not as busy at work anymore, I have switched back to my 4-day-a-week schedule. It was sure nice to sleep in a little longer this morning! Plus I was able to add some time to my Master Naturalist volunteer hours log by participating as an assistant in the Bird Adaptations Class held for Rochester public school 3rd graders. I got to Quarry Hill Nature Center around 9:15 to meet with Carrie (the class leader) and find out what my duties would be with this class. Shortly before the class was due to start, Carrie got a phone call from the school saying there wouldn't be any students this morning as no arrangements for transport to Quarry Hill had been made with the bus company. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.... However, as long as the mist net was up and one of the other naturalists at Quarry Hill was doing bird banding this morning, we decided to continue catching some birds. I was thankful that Carrie had time to work with me as I definitely need more experience getting birds out of the mist net.

We caught a really good variety of birds this morning. Here's a little White-Breasted Nuthatch I was able to release from the net myself. Experienced bird banders are probably cringing as they see the grip I have on this poor little nuthatch, and that's exactly why I really need to get more experience at the nets. I love working with the birds though because it's such an amazing experience to hold these tiny feathered creatures in my hand.

Here's Carrie holding the female Cardinal she retrieved from the net. Mrs. Cardinal was extremely verbal in voicing her displeasure while being removed from the net. Fortunately, Carrie's a very experienced bird bander and was able to avoid any abuse from Mrs. Cardinal's strong beak. Isn't she a beautiful bird though?

We also caught a male Hairy Woodpecker in the net. This is the first time I've ever been able to see one of these guys up close. His head feathers look a little ruffled and I'm not sure if that's from having the net removed from his head or just his annoyance at being held by Carrie.

And last of all, I decided to have a little fun with the stuff Great Horned Owl that was on display as part of the Bird Adaptations Class. Check out that wingspan! It looked really intimidating to me just standing there and holding it......can you imagine what a cottontail thinks as it sees this owl swooping down toward it?

Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival

Can you believe it's only 2 weeks until December 1st? I've been ignoring all those holiday ads on TV lately, but realized this morning after my every-other-Tuesday meeting at work that our next meeting will be in December. Yikes! where does the time go?

So what that really means is that we're that much closer to 2010 and the third annual Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival.......where you'll get the chance to see really cool birds like this Great Gray Owl!

(Photo taken by my Sissy!)

If you plan on attending this year's festival, you'll almost certainly see a Northern Hawk Owl as there are quite a number of them showing up in northern Minnesota already this year. (this is another photo taken by my Sissy)

The 2010 Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival will begin on Friday, February 12th and run through Sunday, February 14th. This year's festival will be limited to 150 participants and you can find out more information about the festival by clicking on this link.

I attended the first festival 2 years ago with my dear blogging friend Lynne (of Hasty Brook). Lynne and I had a great time at that festival and that was the only year I managed to check off EVERY woodpecker species on my Minnesota checklist when I saw the Black-Backed Woodpecker and this Three-Toed Woodpecker (both lifers!)

This year's program is a veritable "who's who" of well-known Minnesota birders including my friend John Hockema. The excellent selection of stops during the field trips will guarantee that you'll have a chance to see these beautiful (and declining) Evening Grosbeaks.

Not to mention Pine Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, and if you're really lucky, a Hoary Redpoll or two.

It looks like this year's festival is going to be the best yet. Great speakers, awesome meals, incredible birding, friends, and fun. Don't let the thought of February in Minnesota intimidate you......just dress in layers like us smart Minnesotans do (you won't be forced to stand outside all day anyway and the buses will be kept running for those folks who need a warm-up).

I'm hoping that I'll be able to attend the festival with Lynne again this year and you can help me -- just go to my Etsy shop in my sidebar link and make a purchase for yourself or a gift -- all purchases will help subsidize my trip to the 2010 Sax-Zim Bog Winter Birding Festival (hey, I'm not above a little shameless self-promotion to achieve my birding goals!)

A Finished Project & Miscellaneous Photos

Here in Minnesota it's gone from being a dry and summery September to November-like weather--been rainy and chilly here for almost a week now. Somehow, autumn and October just missed us altogether and our weekend forecast is sounding like December with lows in the 20's and snow showers predicted! Oh well, I'm planning to take advantage of a couple sunny days predicted for tomorrow and Thursday and get my lawn mowed for the last time and whatever other outside chores I can accomplish during the small sunny window of opportunity.

As usual, I've been knitting like a fiend while hanging out indoors the last few days and I finally finished this Montavilla Market Tote (a free pattern from KnitPicks--click on this link and scroll down the right hand side where you'll see the title "100+ free patterns") This is a long overdue birthday present and hopefully I'll be able to get it washed and dried tomorrow, so I can ship it to the recipient before her next birthday rolls around!

I have no other blog-worthy items to report, so I'll share a few pictures with you in this post. I thought this was a cute picture of the Downy Woodpecker waiting for the Hairy Woodpecker to vacate the suet log, and it's another good size comparison for these woodies too.

I helped with birdbanding at Quarry Hill Nature Center again last Sunday. Here's the White-Throated Sparrow I was able to get out of the net. This is Glenna's hand holding the bird and after she banded it, she allowed me to release it again. They're really pretty little sparrows and I'm starting to hear quite a few of them in my backyard and out in the deer hunting woods right now too.

And speaking of deer hunting, we were out again last Sunday, but no deer seen. I'm sure the weather change this weekend will bring a change in the deer habits too. And of course, once it freezes hard, there will be a lot less vegetation to deal with in the woods which always makes hearing and seeing deer much easier.

Here are a couple pictures from one of the trail cameras we had out there. These pictures are always my favorite! The deer are so inquisitive and this camera was located on a tree right next to one of their trails. It doesn't make any noise, but there's a fabric webbing that attaches the camera to the tree and I'm sure she was checking out my scent on that webbing.

Here's a cute little guy venturing out on his own (click on the picture to enlarge it and you'll see his little antler "bumps"). Doesn't he have the sweetest face? I don't think his spots have been gone for very long. There weren't any other pictures of deer just before or after this little one, so I hope he finds some other young deer to hang around with for the winter.

Oh and before I end this post, I want to mention that last hummingbird in my post from October 2nd, really WAS the last hummingbird......I haven't seen any since, but I'm planning to leave the nectar feeders up until our predicted hard freeze on Saturday night.

Miscellaneous Stuff & Some Knitting

I got an e-mail notice from the owner of my LYS (local yarn shoppe) this afternoon saying she had just given away the last chemo cap and it was time for us to make some more. The challenge thrown out to us rabid knitters was 30 caps in 30 days and I've decided to accept the challenge. So in order to get my 30 caps done, I'm going to have to take a little break from blogging (and probably Facebook too) and concentrate on this knitting challenge and also some other home and garden activities. Before my break though, I'll share some of the miscellaneous stuff and knitting that has been occupying my time these past couple weeks.

We moved the deer hunting ladder stand last weekend in anticipation of the upcoming archery deer season opener. (Actually we had to move it off some private property where our hunting privileges have recently been revoked.) Anyway, Mr. Johnson had this tree in mind and the ladder stand worked perfectly there. In this picture, he's cutting off a large grapevine that's grown up on this tree. This is a perfect spot right at the intersection of two heavily used deer trails, plus not much underbrush in the woods, so it should be good for birding if the deer activity is slow.

I picked the first zucchini from our garden. They have a somewhat stunted shape, but were very tasty nonetheless. There are plenty of blossoms and more little zucchinis on my two plants. I like this golden variety because they're easy to spot (not like the green ones that sometimes grow to the size of a baseball bat because you couldn't see them under a leaf!)

I'm finally starting to see more juvenile birds around the yard. Here's a cute little cardinal who visited the birdbath on Sunday afternoon.

This juvenile Red-Bellied Woodpecker easily figured out how to get inside the cage to the suet log. This is the first one of these youngsters I've seen this summer too. The adults have also been noticeably absent from my backyard--although they were regular visitors during winter and spring.

And now on to the knitting projects. I've been looking for this book ever since I saw it on another knitting blog and last week I found it at Michael's. There are so many cute patterns in here, so I also picked up three balls of cotton yarn to try some of the designs out.

I don't think I have to tell you what this design is.......

This butterfly turned out really cute too.

Sunflower

Leaping Frog

Hummingbird

I'm still working on the square lace shawl, but have finally gotten to the edging. Here's what I've managed to complete this week for the edging. I know this shawl will be much more impressive once it's all blocked out. I'm still not liking this pattern very much--the written instructions aren't very clear and I wonder if the person who wrote it was a really experienced knitter or expected only advanced knitters would be working on it. I've spent plenty of time re-reading sections and scratching my head trying to figure out what she's doing. The real challenge will come when I get to the first corner with my lace edging, but I'm hoping that once I'm there the written instructions will make perfect sense and the chart will correspond exactly to the number of stitches I'm working (I would hate to give up now that I'm almost done!)

I've also been whipping up some of these "coffee cup sweaters." Aren't they cute? And a good way to use up some of my leftover yarn scraps.

Here's a couple more pairs of the knitted half-mitts I've finally finished too. I love the colors in this self-striping yarn.

This color is called Pink Camouflage. (I honestly don't quite get the pink camouflage thing......but I thought the colors knitted up rather cute for these half-mitts.)

Most of these knitted items are destined for my Etsy shop, which is in desperate need of restocking, so between knitting chemo caps, watching birds, pulling weeds and all the other fun stuff going on around here, I hope to get the Etsy shop "shelves" full again.

I'll be checking in with occasional posts when I can and hoping to stay caught up with everyone's activities. In the meantime, I hope you all have an enjoyable summer!