YIKES!

Snowy Owl (photo taken November 8, 2005 on a garage in a residential area of Rochester, MN) CLICK TO ENLARGE!

It finally hit me today that it's only 2 weeks till Christmas and the only decoration I have out so far is a flag on my mailbox! It's also only 2-1/2 weeks till the end of the year at work and things are already getting kinda crazy there too.

So, I'm going to have to make some adjustments here at home in order to get everything done and unfortunately I think it's going to mean less time for blogging (at least during the week). So my posts for the next couple weeks are going to become a little sporadic. I will try to check in to stay in touch with what everyone else has going on, but don't worry if you don't see a post from me for a few days, because I'm probably trying to finish knitting a pair of socks or a cap in time for Christmas!

This One's for Mary

Sorry Mare, but I just couldn't resist!

Backyard Brushpiles

Richard has a Fox Sparrow in his backyard and Larry has a Fox Sparrow in his backyard......I wanna Fox Sparrow in my backyard!!

To encourage a Fox Sparrow to check out my backyard, I decided to create some new brushpiles this morning. Even if the Fox Sparrow doesn't come, the other little birdies and bunnies will benefit from these winter brushpiles. I put them fairly close to the feeders so the ground feeding birds have a little extra shelter while eating, plus these brushpiles may provide a safe haven in the event of a surprise Cooper's Hawk visit.

First I chose my locations:

Backyard

Side yard

Front yard

Armed with the big, ratcheting lopping shears, I got started.....

I put some white pine branches down first. They make a good base and provide more protection for little birdie toes from the cold and snow below.

Then I just cut down and threw on a bunch of branches from a maple tree and some pin oak branches that still had leaves on. The leaves are nice too as they will allow the snow to pile up on top and give more shelter for the birdies when they fly inside the brush pile.

Here are the other completed brushpiles:

Backyard

Side yard

Don't they look nice? I think these brushpiles add a lot more visual interest to the plain white snowy backyard. If we get more snow and they start to get covered up, I can just cut some more branches to add to the pile. In the spring when the snow has melted, I'll just pick all these branches up and add them to the huge brushpile out in my wildflower patch. And I'm pleased to report that within 20 minutes of piling up all these branches....

....the birds were already taking advantage of them. How much more free fun could a person have outside in the middle of winter?

And to make things even better, I got to see a couple of surprise visitors today:

The biggest Ring-Necked Pheasant I've ever seen! (can't you almost hear that sparrow saying, "hey, leave some for us little guys!")

Mr. Red-Bellied Woodpecker (the female has been a regular visitor for weeks now, but today was the first time I've seen the male)

A Great Gray Owl Story

I'm digging into the archives tonight to tell you a story that's almost 2 years old. Some of you may remember the winter of 2005 when the Great Gray Owls invaded northern Minnesota. For me, it was an event I'll never forget....and it all started so innocently.

I was still working at Wild Birds Unlimited then and had been hearing a few stories about this owl irruption, but hadn't been paying much attention. Then one Saturday evening on the NBC Nightly News, I saw this story about the owls and featuring Sharon Stiteler. Oh My Gosh, I could barely function the rest of the evening! First of all there were these huge numbers of owls (practically in my backyard) that would never be seen again in my lifetime (according to the story) and secondly there was the Birdchick! I was amazed to actually see this young woman who was so interested in birds (freakishly so, according to her website). It was almost like getting permission to "come out of the closet" so to speak. If this cute, young woman could go on national TV and be so excited about birds, then I wasn't going to hide my feelings anymore either.....and the rest is history.

So anyway, I talked my spousal unit into a couple weekend trips up north and were disappointed to see only a few owls. I don't know how we got on the subject, but one day my sissy and I had a brainstorm and decided that the two of us should try an owl trip together. So we took a little time off work and went up on a Thursday afternoon so we could get an early start looking for owls on Friday. We stayed at a nice (and inexpensive) motel in Moose Lake and used that as our starting point. Since I had already been up there a couple times, I was familiar with the roads to travel.

Following our usual birding trip agenda, we got an early start after loading up on snacks and coffee and headed out. It was cold that morning--above zero, but not very far. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon when we saw our first Great Gray Owl. It was actually too dark yet to even take a picture, but there it was....a good sign for what would turn out to be an incredible day.

We continued driving slowly down the country roads and stopped whenever we would see an owl. (A nice schoolbus driver even stopped on his route to make sure we weren't having car trouble.)

Some in trees.

Some on power lines and poles.

Some on fenceposts right next to the road! (I think Sissy was about 6 feet away from this owl when she took this picture)

The amazing thing was that we could stop the car, get out, and take pictures and these owls didn't fly away! I tried hooting at them and Wow, did that ever get a reaction. If they weren't looking in our direction, as soon as they heard me hoot, they would swivel their head around so Sissy could snap a picture.

We started seeing so many owls we were having trouble keeping track, so I pulled out my handy-dandy knitting row counter and clicked it every time we saw another owl. I can't remember the exact number, but by the end of the day we had seen over 70 of these wonderful birds.

And there were bonus birds too:

A Northern Hawk Owl

Bald Eagle sitting at the top of an evergreen

We had a blast on this trip and I'm glad Sissy came along with me because she was the driver while I scanned the landscape for owls. And even though we got to see all those cool owls, I think my favorite picture from the trip is this one:

My Sissy up to her butt in snow in the road ditch! She was going to try and walk over for a better picture and we had no idea the snow was this deep--it was March for cryin' out loud! She handed me the camera to put back in the car for safekeeping and I couldn't resist snapping this picture before helping to pull her out.

Some Completed Projects

I've been spending lots of time knitting lately. Not because I'm trying to get Christmas presents done, but because I'm a obsessive/compulsive knitting addict and there's not much to do outside.

I found a really great website that has HUNDREDS of free patterns and they're all sorted by category, so if any of you knitters reading this blog are interested, check it out at

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory.php.

You won't be disappointed! I've printed out probably 20 patterns already and will be knitting my fingers to stubs in the event that I ever try to complete them all.

Because I haven't posted any knitting projects lately, I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures of completed projects.

Here are some dishcloths that will be going back to Robin (Bumblebee) in tomorrow's mail.

Poor Robin is a frustrated knitter. After reading her hilarious post about knitting lessons, I sent her a note saying I would be happy to knit her some dishcloths if she wanted to send me the yarn. A few weeks later, a package was delivered to me containing 3 balls of yarn plus a jar of Robin's homemade bread & butter pickles and a jar of her awesome wine jelly. I hope she likes these dishcloths.

Last spring my Mom asked for a new hat: maybe a nice white one she could wear to church and oh, could it have earflaps too? Here's Mom's new hat--this was another free pattern I downloaded. I had to revise the pattern to add the earflaps, but Mom really likes it. You can't see from the picture, but there's a fine, iridescent thread woven in with the yarn and it gives the hat a pretty sparkle.

Here's a really nice hat with cables all around. I saw this hat last week on Loribird's blog. She was kind enough to e-mail me the pattern. I really like the way this hat turned out! I think I'll give it to one of my nieces for Christmas.

Here's a little cabled half-mitt I downloaded from the knitty.com website archives. I really like this yarn, but I don't think I like this half-mitt very well. I don't like the way the top (around my fingers) has a tendency to curl back. I like mine to fit a little tighter around my fingers, so these half-mitts are going to be a Christmas gift to one of my co-workers, because one of the rooms we work in is kind of chilly all the time.

Here's a little red wool shawl I finished late last summer. It's been laying down in the laundry room waiting to be washed and blocked and I finally got around to that a couple weeks ago. I think this little shawl is quite pretty and it would be nice to wear during the holidays.

I've got bunches of UFOs (unfinished objects) still stashed all over the house, but so far this winter is shaping up to provide lots of quality knitting time in front of the fireplace, so I'm going to take advantage of that. Besides with all these new patterns to try and BINS of yarn stashed away.....well gosh, I'm actually looking forward to a nice long winter!

Live to Knit, Knit to Live!

A New Look & A Look Back

I decided to change my blog template (again!). The main reason for this is to get away from that bright blue border and go to something more neutral (and inconspicuous) so if I'm looking at my blog at work, people who happen to look over my shoulder might see it as another work-related document (or if anyone questions it, I can always say that I'm taking my break at my desk, right?)

It was a really nice sunny day today....not very warm, but the sun still has enough power to melt a little bit of the ice. Here's a look back at some of the bird activity around my house during our snowstorm on Saturday. Even though the weather bad, the birds were still quite active, gobbling up as much food as they could and taking advantage of the shelter available in trees, shrubs, and brushpiles in my backyard.

Poor Mr. Bluejay--good thing he's got his own "down jacket" to fluff up and stay warm.

I filled the blue jays peanut tray several times during the day.....they ate them all!

I haven't seen squirrels for several weeks, but the weather was bad enough to lure this fat little gray squirrel back to my yard.

My apple trees still have quite a few leaves on them. I thought this was a fun picture of my crow family lined up on a branch and trying to get out of the wind for a little while.

Mr. Cardinal shone like a beacon on such a gray and snowy day.

House sparrows galore!

This handsome little male house finch was a winter storm visitor too.

Plenty o' juncos too. I counted 38 at one time yesterday afternoon!

This Red-Bellied Woodpecker used the bottom of a birdhouse to crack some seeds and peanuts.

And Penny had an exhausting day watching all the bird activity right outside the window.

We've Got Ice!

Our winter storm has come and gone....we got less than 4 inches of snow, so not as much as had been predicted, but we did end up getting the ice. I hate ICE (unless it's in a margarita). The temps continued to rise steadily into the overnight hours last night and the snow eventually changed to rain. I called my mom early this morning because I wanted to make sure they weren't planning on venturing outside--after watching both my dogs flip over on the ice when they went out this morning and then me almost doing the same thing trying to rescue them. Mom said when she went to bed last night it was 34 degrees on her outside thermometer--not good.

We had at least a quarter-inch of ice on top of the snow....

.....and everything else including the driveway, the deck, and the birdfeeders.

Here are the "bird feeder ice removal" tools--a scraper for the tray feeders and a screwdriver to chip ice out of the holes in the tube feeders.

Cleaning the feeders didn't turn out to be as much work as I thought, the biggest challenge was getting to the feeders. Here's a short video so you can see and hear what a full-figured woman sounds like walking through snow with a quarter inch of ice on top....

Can you imagine the fear a little mouse under the snow would feel hearing something like that walking towards him?? FEE-FI-FO-FUM!!

There were lots of hungry birdies visiting my backyard today, but I was really surprised to see these guys......

Brown-Headed Cowbirds (guess they didn't get the memo!)

Also a hungry Cooper's Hawk.....hope it got a house sparrow.....I counted over 120 today for Project FeederWatch, so there are plenty to spare.

I'm doing the winter storm coverage kind of backwards, so tomorrow's post will be some pictures of the bird activity in my yard from Saturday during the snow.

Winter Has Arrived

It's been pretty cold here all week and last night we received our first shovel-able snowfall. I think it was about an inch--just enough to cover the bird feeders so I had to sweep them off this morning before work.

The snowplows were out on the highways, but there really wasn't enough to plow there either, so they just dumped a lot of salt on the road to try and melt the snow instead. It always takes drivers around here a little bit of time to adjust to winter driving again and on our way into work, we saw lots of tire tracks where people had slid off the road.

Here's how things are looking in my backyard now with a little bit of snow on the ground.

This is the side yard (looking out the kitchen window). These are the trees where I usually see the Tufted Titmice--they like the fly-thru feeder hanging in the tree on the right.

It's definitely long-john weather--this is the thermometer on my deck around 3:30 PM (and the sun was shining on it!)

And since we all need practice on our winter driving skills, Mother Nature has decided to give Minnesotans a winter storm this weekend. On the map below, the white area designates all the counties that are in a Winter Storm Warning for tomorrow (Saturday).

This is a pretty darn big area and includes me in the south, Lynne and Birdchick in the Twin Cities, Marsha over in the west central area, and even Deb up north. Here in the south they're only predicting 4-8 inches of snow, due to the fact that some of our moisture may arrive as the dreaded "wintry mix" (sleet and freezing rain). Areas from the Twin Cities northward will be receiving just snow--and lots of it--up to 16 inches for the North Shore. Oh yeah, did I mention it was going to be windy too? Winds of 20-30 MPH are coming along with the snow. Should be an interesting weekend.

P.S. to Ruth: I believe this storm is moving to the northeast, so get your snow shovel ready!

Red-Tailed Hawk

Once again tonight, I have not had to worry about what I'm going to post on my blog, thanks to my brother. This time it was Brother Dave from St. Paul who saved me. When I opened my e-mail at work this morning, I found that Dave had sent me an e-mail with some photos of a red-tailed hawk taken by one of his co-workers at their workplace.

Look at this:

Background--Dave is an artist and works at Garven World Headquarters in Mendota Heights, MN (at the south end of the St. Paul). His co-worker who took these photos is Jessica Wahlberg, and here's the story from Dave's e-mail:

"My coworker Jess took the pictures right outside the side door here at Garven World Headquarters. She said the hawk was in one of the trees that border the parking lot, just watching the ground below. She said that all of a sudden, it just dove down & snagged the animal - it turned out to be a rabbit -and there was a bunch of rustling & then the rabbit started screaming. She said that it was hard to listen to because it went on for so long but that was when she decided to run in & get the digital camera that belongs to the art dept. She came back out & snapped a few shots, which is what I sent."

Dave and I had a little additional e-mail discussion about this and I mentioned that Jess must be a birder because most other people would be grossed out by seeing and hearing the hawk kill the bunny. Dave said that Jess did have an interest in birds (although not quite as obsessive as me--imagine that!) and she recognizes that this is all a part of nature's circle of life.

I really enjoyed seeing these pictures of a beautiful first year Red-Tailed Hawk. I love the way it's trying to mantle over the rabbit (in the photo below), but there seems to be too many sticks and branches in the way to allow the hawk to spread its wings more. I also like the way the feathers on its head are sticking up. It must have seen Jess standing there taking pictures....

Thanks so much Dave and Jess for sharing this story with me and allowing me to post it on my blog.

Too Tired Tonight

For some reason this week, I have no energy after 7 PM, so instead of falling asleep on the couch at 7:30, I'm forcing myself to stay awake at least till 8:00 and post something.

Thanks to Brother Phil in California, who sent me an e-mail with photos this afternoon, I don't even have to think about what to put in my blog tonight, because it's back to tundra swans again.

My brother took these photos in the recently flooded rice fields, near Beale AFB (north of Sacramento) in California.

He also told me in a phone call tonight that there are rice fields that have been flooded near where he lives in Robbins so he now sees the swans close to home too (in addition to Ibis and other waterfowl and wading shorebirds). He says he can hear the swans "talking" to each other when it's quiet at night. Wouldn't that be cool?

Thanks Phil for sending me these photos!

Happy Birthday Old Fart

Today marks the birthday of my spousal unit who has finally reached the half-century mark. (Don't forget to send in for your AARP card, honey!) We had a family birthday party/pig-out at the local Pizza Ranch.

Happy Birthday Honey Bunny!

After dinner entertainment was provided by my spousal unit, my sister and I--who amused my sister's daughters with stories of bad things we did and trouble we got into when we were younger, with the grandparents nodding their heads and saying, "yup, she did that...."

Why is it that young people think these stories are so entertaining? Is it because we are such model citizens now that they think we weren't capable of doing bad (perhaps even illegal?) stuff in our younger days? At the time, backing into another car with the family vehicle or sleeping on the bathroom floor next to the "throne" after a night of partying didn't seem very funny, but my nieces think it's pretty hilarious and after 30 years, I can finally laugh about it too.

Maybe at the next family gathering we can share stories about the outdoor theater....then again, maybe not!

Tundra Swan Trip-Part 2

When we first started seeing all of the swans in the river, we started looking for a spot to pull over on the highway, then finally saw the sign for the Scenic Overlook - 1/2 Mile Ahead on Left. I'm not sure who was responsible for this Brownsville Overlook (maybe the US Fish & Wildlife Service and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources), but it was a really nice and newly completed viewing area with lots of parking spots and this informational signboard.

Here's some information on Tundra Swans by Stan Tekiela from his "Ducks & Geese of Minnesota Field Guide."

Tundra swans are the smallest and most numerous of our swans and they're called Tundra Swans because they nest on the open tundra of Alaska and northern Canada. Pairs form in the fall before migration, with bonds lasting many years, if not for life. They may have 4-5 babies and both parents take turns incubating the eggs. The parents lead the chicks to food and then the chicks copy the feeding behavior of the parents.

The chicks stay with the parents for a year and are distinguished from the adults by their gray plumage and pinkish bills. The juvenile in the photo below looks much grayer than juvenile in the above picture.

They tip forward in the water to feed and with the aid of their long neck, they're able to reach down and tear off aquatic plants from the bottom of the river or lake. The picture below shows only one "tipped-up" (at the left side of the picture).

According to Stan, we will only see them here in Minnesota during the fall migration. They will fly non-stop for 2-3 days from Alaska down to North Dakota and Minnesota. They gather in great numbers--up to thousands (see photos below!) in large lakes and rivers to rest and feed, often staying until the water freezes before continuing on their migratory journey. Then they fly another 2-3 days to wintering areas on the East Coast. In the spring, they will migrate north up the eastern seaboard, turning west across northern Canada to return to their spring and summer home.

We didn't drive any further south than this Brownsville overlook, so I'm not sure how much farther downriver these swans were, but it was amazing to see the sheer numbers of them in this approximately 1-mile stretch of Mississippi backwaters.

They were doing quite a bit of vocalizing and it was really neat to hear all of them calling to one another. We ended up standing outside and watching them for at least half an hour--until our lips started going numb from the wind and cold. We finally got back into the vehicle and turned on the heater so we could watch them a little more while we warmed up. We wondered if they all leave on the same day or if they take off in little groups until everyone is gone? Wouldn't it be amazing to be there if they all decided to take off the same day?

I'm glad my sissy was able to come along with me on this trip. It's going to be my second best birding adventure with her (our first and most memorable will always be the Great Gray Owl irruption trip we went on in February of 2005).

And now, as promised, here's the longer movie (20 seconds) of swans.



Thanks for coming along with me on this Tundra Swan trip--hope you had a good time. Someday I hope each of you will get a chance to see these magnificent birds in person. If you ever decide to take a trip to Minnesota in late November, I would be happy to be your host!