Coonz in the 'Hood

Update 6-6-11: I've had a couple people suggest to me that I should use the "Coke & fly bait" recipe to get rid of these backyard raccoons. "Won't get 10 feet before he drops over" was one of the comments. In case any of you are wondering why I don't just poison these pests it's because I absolutely refuse to use poison in any way, shape or form. Have you ever seen an animal that's been poisoned? It's not a pretty sight. And then, what do I do with that dead, poisoned animal? Because any creature that feeds on carrion will be poisoned too. I know there are people who don't care whether a coyote, crow, or vulture dies either, but there are all kinds of bugs, mammals, and birds (including bald eagles!) who eat dead things. Nope, no way, no sirree......no poison in MY backyard! There are enough wild spaces around here far away from my yard where I can let a raccoon go free and that's just the way it's going to be.

For the first time in as long as we've lived here, raccoons have become a problem in the backyard. There was one particular birdfeeder that was continually being knocked down. No matter how far out I would hang it on a really skinny branch, I'd get up in the morning and the feeder would be laying on the ground. So I called up my neighbor to see if he would loan me his Havahart trap and the very first nite we put it out, we caught this big guy! (His love of the birdseed with peanuts in was all it took.)

So I hung that birdfeeder back up again and dang, it wasn't 2 days later and I woke up to see the birdfeeder on the ground again in the morning. (Fortunately it's a Wild Birds Unlimited tube feeder, so the thing is virtually indestructible.)

So, out came the trap again and the next morning I woke up to find the trap turned over on its top with no raccoon inside. This smart raccoon knew that if it could get the cage rolled over on its top, the door could be opened for a speedy escape. Obviously one smart critter.......

OK, so on to Plan B -- a fencepost on either side of the cage to keep it from rolling over. Yeah, that'll do it! But the coon was smarter than that -- for the next 4 mornings, I woke up to find the food dish empty but so was the trap! This raccoon was clever enough to know not to step on the plate in the bottom of the cage that would make the door snap closed. #*%&!!

So yesterday while mowing the lawn (plenty of time to think......) I came up with the plan of putting the food dish under the cage, so the raccoon wouldn't have easy access to the food and would most likely have to step on the trip-plate while trying to get at the food through the bottom mesh of the cage. And then I also added 2 posts through the cage to secure it from tipping over and to keep the coon from being able to lift the cage from the outside to get at the birdseed dish.

The first thing I did when I got up this morning was look out the kitchen window.......Yes!! Gotcha clever raccoon!
It's nice to know that I'm smart enough to outwit a raccoon (and it only took a week!)

This raccoon is much smaller than the one we caught last week and a little bit different colored too. I think maybe she's an older (therefore, smarter) female. She wasn't the least bit excited about riding in the back of the pick-up.
A few miles away, we arrived at her new home. Mr. Johnson got to do the honors. Ready, set......

GO!!

She blasted out of that cage like her tail was on fire! I had no idea raccoons could run that fast!

This is the last we saw of her -- still barrelling down the trail towards what I hope will be her new home. Maybe this will teach her a lesson about avoiding birdfeeders at least......

Birding Close to Home

Yesterday afternoon we took advantage of the summer-like weather to visit Root River Park, a new county park about 5 miles from where we live.
In case you're wondering, this park has also become the new home of a certain very large raccoon.....

The park had a nice parking area, a handicapped accessible porta-potty, and nice, wide mowed paths. I don't know how many acres the park is or how many miles of trails there are, so I'll have to do some research into that. I do know that it's a great birding area with trails bordering forest edges, through the woods, along the riverbank and through grasslands, so there were ample opportunities for us to see many different things. As we were walking down the trail into the woods, I saw a larger bird ahead, skulking through the branches of a small cedar tree. At first I thought maybe a brown thrasher, but a look through the binocs showed a much darker brown color. I walked a little bit closer and the bird flushed into some overhead branches. Awesome! A cuckoo! Now, will it sit still long enough for me to get a good look so I can determine whether it's a yellow-billed or black-billed?

What do you think? I went with Black-Billed Cuckoo on this one. I used my birdJam to play a few calls and got this cuckoo to fly to another branch with less cover. Definitely a good way to start the afternoon!

The bird never vocalized, but we did have the chance to see it again in the same area on our way out, so I'm wondering if it doesn't have a partner and they're nesting in the park.

The trail wound down the hill to the river bottom and we could hear several Common Yellowthroats singing. Again the birdJam was put into use and this male came over to investigate the intruder in his territory. I was fortunate enough to snap this one pretty good picture as he sat still for a nanosecond!

A few yards farther down the trail and I heard a distinctive "bee-buzz" from one of the trees to my left. Aw man, Blue-Winged Warbler! I've heard them, but never gotten a good look at one before. A quick scroll through the menu to Blue-Winged Warbler on the birdJam and after only a few calls, this handsome male flew in to chase away the intruder in his territory also.

From this dead branch, I got a really good photo op, so I just pressed the button and the continous shooting feature did the rest......

a great flight shot, showing his bright yellow underneath and the white sides of his tail.

Look out! It's a Blue-Winged Warbler dive bomb!

I spotted this male Eastern Bluebird sitting on the top of an old dead tree stump in the middle of a pasture. He was keeping an eye on the nestbox which was located about 50 yards away.

At the edge of the Root River, we had fun watching this female Baltimore Oriole enjoy a bath.
There was a small rock just barely submerged under the water and just deep enough for her to be able to get under the water and make some big splashes.

She spent quite a bit of time there until she was pretty much soaked, and then she flew off to a sunny branch just above this river bank.

There were plenty of wildflowers blooming along the trail edges too. Here are a few:

Wild Blue Phlox

Golden Alexander

Wild Mint

Columbine

Huge patch of blue phlox along the riverbank (this picture is my desktop wallpaper)

Wild Geranium

We wondered how this White Pine grew as large as it was with its roots right at the edge of the rocky bluff......

Also saw this beautiful Mourning Cloak butterfly. I've never noticed the "eyes" on its wings before........

This was a great park and I'm looking forward to visiting it again to explore some of the other trails. Root River Park will definitely be at the top of my "must visit" birding list during next spring's warbler migration.

I'm so glad it's finally spring

There are some really good reasons for living in Minnesota......winter isn't one of them!
However, once winter finally departs (this year after staying too long!) spring finally arrives and with it come the beautiful birds that we dream about all winter......like this Baltimore Oriole

And how about a pair of Indigo Buntings!

There's nothing like the intense colors of the spring and summer migrants arriving in the backyard to make us forget winter nightmares like this.......

.....and enjoy the beauty of male Rose-Breasted Grosbeak with the promise of crabapple blossoms in the background.

Here's a little visitor I usually expect during the winter, but he didn't show up in my backyard until just last week -- the Red-Breasted Nuthatch.

I heard an unusual bird call in the backyard last weekend and finally spotted this Eastern Towhee hanging out with some other ground feeding birds in the backyard. This was a marvelous sighting for me -- haven't seen an Eastern Towhee for at least 10 years and this is a FIRST for my backyard!

It even flew close to the house and perched in the crabapple tree for a few minutes so I was able to snap a photo of him from my patio too!

Last weekend's weather provided some sort of migration fall-out, because in addition to the towhee and red-breasted nuthatch, some Cap May Warblers also showed up and feasted at the suet log.

Did she say Cape May Warblers?? Yes I did! Another first for my backyard PLUS a life bird for me!

What gorgeous little birds! They hung around for several days, flitting in and out of the cage protecting the suet from starlings and then they were gone, no doubt heading to somewhere in northeastern Minnesota.

The brilliant yellow feathers of the goldfinch are always a welcome sign of spring around here too. I started seeing a few yellow feathers on these finches in March, and then it seems like all of a sudden they've all turned completely yellow.

The best surprise of last weekend also hung around for several days. See him in the background there? (hint: that ain't no cardinal!)

OHMIGOSH, IT'S A MALE SCARLET TANAGER! I'm surprised my yelling didn't scare him away!

He loved the grape jelly which the orioles grudgingly allowed him to share.

What a contrast to what I saw on this deck from December until March!

Once the orioles arrived, they were back to stay. Here are the male and female Baltimore Orioles.

The males are not very tolerant of each other's presence at the jelly dishes. Grape jelly has become one of the scarcest items on Rochester's grocery store shelves in the last couple weeks.

Here's a good example of tolerance with an Orchard Oriole enjoying some jelly while the Baltimore Oriole visits the nectar feeder.

I was surprised to see the Orchard Oriole visiting the suet log too. He didn't seem to have any problems getting through the starling-proof cage.

Such a beautiful bird. (I put dried mealworms on top of their grape jelly and that's what you see hanging out the tip of his beak.)

I even got to see the female Orchard Oriole perched in the backyard swamp white oak tree.

The Orchard Orioles usually don't hang around for very long, so last weekend was probably the only time I'll see them this spring also. But at least the Baltimore Orioles are still sticking around, feasting on grape jelly and singing their beautiful songs for me every morning. Hopefully they'll nest somewhere nearby and bring their little ones to visit before their departure again in August. But I'm not even going to think about that and simply enjoy the colors and sounds of spring in Minnesota.