Necedah National Wildlife Refuge

I'm getting so far behind in my blogging activities, so I need to show you the highlights of last Saturday afternoon spent at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NNWR) so I can move on to the other great stories and pictures I have to post for this week.

I hope you all get the chance to visit NNWR some day. I would love to see them offer a 3-4 day birding & nature workshop where participants could go out with the naturalists and study all the diverse habitats, plants, animals, and birds. The 90 minutes spent on the bus in the morning and several hours I had in the afternoon gave me only a small sampling of what this >43,000 acre refuge has to offer. They're currently in the process of building a large new visitors center, with a projected completion sometime in 2010. Maybe we should start planning now for a bloggers get-together that summer. They will arrange special field trips for birding groups......

Welcome!

At my first stop in the refuge, I was treated to a fly-by from this squadron of sandhill cranes.

Here's another look at a pair of Sandhill Cranes. We have them in Minnesota too, but usually closer to the Mississippi and I don't get down that way very often.

Here's a look at one of the juvenile Red-Headed Woodpeckers I saw. You can see from the back there's a lot of white on its wings. When they're flying, there's also a large white spot on their back, just above their tail. It's quite distinctive and makes them really easy to spot and identify when they're flying.

Here's an even worse picture of the adult woodpecker that the juvenile shown above was hanging around with. I'm guessing this was one of the parents. I know I said it in the previous post, but it was just fantastic to see so many Red-Headed Woodpeckers in one afternoon. I bet I saw at least 20 all over the refuge. The habitat (with its many dead or dying trees) was ideal for these birds. They're on the Audubon WatchList as records show this bird has seen a 50% decline in overall population since 1966.

Here's a story about Whooping Crane restoration near one of the viewing platforms in the refuge.

This was a little road to another viewing platform. It was in a native prairie area and I was trying to give you an idea of how tall the native grasses were growing right along the road. I was in Mr. Johnson's Tahoe and the grass was 4-5 feet tall. I also saw lots of Monarch butterflies all over in the refuge.

There was quite a bit of fall color starting to appear. I like the way the colorful maples, oak and sumac contrast with the dark colors of the evergreens.

Just another fall color shot with native prairie grasses in the foreground.

There was just one blemish on an otherwise lovely afternoon...... For whatever reason, there are certain roads in the refuge that are open to ATV traffic, and this was one of the groups I encountered. I could go into a huge ATV rant here, but I won't because Mr. Johnson owns one and he reads this blog. Suffice it to say that I do think ATVs have a purpose--on the farm or for work-related hauling and chores, etc. However, there's no way anyone's going to convince me that the folks in this picture above were out on their ATVs to enjoy nature because #1-they were going too fast to see much of anything; #2-you can see how dusty it was--after the third rider, the rest of the riders weren't able to see anything; and #3-any wildlife you might have been able to see would be scared off by the sounds of these ATVs coming up the road. OK, 'nuff said (deep cleansing breath and back to nature)

As I was crossing one of the roads, I happened to notice a large black chunk of something down the road to my right. It kind of looked like a blown-out tire, but as I watched, it started moving. I quickly changed course and headed up the road to investigate. By the time I got there the "black chunk" was in the grass next to the road. Getting out of the truck for a closer look revealed the HUGEST snapping turtle I have ever seen. Isn't this guy a monster? There was a drainage ditch from one of the lakes that ran under this road and this large snapper must have just crawled out of there. I felt really privileged to see such a creature.

Here's a pair of Trumpeter Swans. Caitlyn told us on the morning tour that there were several pairs in the refuge. (Lifebird #224 for me!)

Great Blue Heron (juvenile)

Belted Kingfisher

Goodbye for now......thanks for the memories......please come again!

Whooping Crane Festival

I pulled out of the driveway at 5:30 this morning on my way to Necedah, Wisconsin for the 8th Annual Whooping Crane and Wildlife Festival. I got down to LaCrosse, Wisconsin around 6:30 and had the chance to capture this DWOO (driving while otherwise occupied) shot--out my speeding car window--of pre-sunrise over the Mississippi.

I arrived at the festival shortly before 8 AM.

Uh-oh, looks like there's already a pretty good crowd!

As I was walking to the entrance gate, I noticed that there was a variety of license plates (in addition to the Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois visitors you would expect).

I was able to hop aboard the 8:00 tour bus. Our trip leader was Caitlyn, who's been working at the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NNWR) as an intern this summer. She's also been leading lots of other groups this year and was really knowledgeable about the whooping cranes and everything that goes into raising them here at NNWR, not to mention all the additional information she shared with us regarding the other plants and animals within the NNWR.

Hey, what's that bird over there?

That's no bird.....it's one of the ultralight aircraft that Operation Migration uses to help the whooping cranes make their migration trip to Florida. The pilots were just finishing up their early morning flight training sessions. If I had gotten an earlier start and made it on the 7:30 bus, I might have been able to see the whooping cranes flying along with this aircraft.

Could you imagine flying all the way to Florida in one of these? Caitlyn told us that the program will continue until approximately 100 whooping cranes have been raised and followed the ultralight aircraft during fall migration. She said they're currently at just over 60 whooping cranes that have been taught to migrate this way.

Here's one of the enclosures where the young whooping cranes are being raised this summer. It's in an area of the refuge where the general public isn't allowed to go, so this bus tour gave us a chance to see it when normally you wouldn't be able to. You can learn more about the whooping crane project by clicking on this link for the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership.

I did manage to catch a fleeting glimpse of one whooping crane flying. They are a striking white color--especially when you compare them to the sandhill cranes which are quite common and in some fairly large flocks within the NNWR.

This is just another view within the refuge. On our bus tour through the refuge we were treated to the sight of many red-headed woodpeckers. I've never seen so many red-headed woodpeckers in one place!

The festival had several speakers lined up throughout the morning and afternoon, but since I was anxious to get back out to the NNWR, I only stayed to listen to Keith Kennedy give a talk about nature photography. I picked up a few pointers but came away with a longing for a new camera and longer lens (yes, size does matter!)

I then visited the big tent featuring informational booths on whooping cranes and also vendors selling a variety of goods. I resisted the urge to purchase another t-shirt or sweatshirt, but couldn't resist some new whooping crane "bling" for my binocular straps and my earlobes.

It was a fun day for me, but I realized after I got to the festival that it wasn't quite what I expected. It was a festival celebrating the whooping crane and I went expecting it to be more of a birding festival. I believe I was the only person there with a spotting scope and must have looked like a total dork walking around toting all my birding gear! Caitlyn did mention that NNWR has field trips geared more towards birders where we would actually be able to visit viewing blinds and see the cranes, so next time, I'll have to check out that possibility if I want more of a "birding" experience.

Stay tuned for my next post where I'll be taking you through the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge and sharing some of the amazing things I saw there on my own.

Jayne's Meme

I've been an uninspired blogger this week, but I'm saved today by Jayne who posted this fun little random meme on her blog and invited anyone who was interested to participate.

1. How many songs are on your iPod? Sigh......no iPod for me yet, but I hope to rectify that before the end of the year.
2. What music would you want played at your funeral? Something soothing with bird and nature sounds in the background.
3. What magazines do you have subscriptions to? BirdWatcher's Digest (of course), Wild Bird, Peterson's Bowhunting, and I also get the Audubon and National Wildlife Federation magazines with my memberships
4. What is your favorite scent? It's hard to pick just one for me, but my two most favorite scents are "Goddess Rising" from Ravenwood Spa and also "Frankincense and Myrrh" from Indigo Wild.
5. If you had a million dollars that you could only spend on yourself, what would you do with it? Quit work and travel to places (Ireland and Scotland come to mind first!) where I could spend all my leisure time knitting and birding
6. What is your theme song? hmmmmmm........I have no idea
7. Do you trust easily? no, I'm naturally skeptical
8. Do you generally think before you act, or act before you think? Usually try to think first, because I've learned some valuable lessons from my "act first" days (older = wiser).
9. Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days? Besides the economy, environment and disgusting political ads, I saw a horrifying news article yesterday about abuse of some pigs at a hog farm in Iowa. Of course, the fact that I'm currently reading "The Compassionate Carnivore" made reading that story even worse.
10. Do you have a good body-image? Nope, definitely not
11. Is being tagged fun? Yes, I think it's fun, but not as much fun as reading the responses from other.
12. If you had more hours in the day, how would you spend that time? Reading, knitting, birding, napping with Sophie.
13. What have you been seriously addicted to lately? besides knitting? nothing else comes to mind
14. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is? I think Jayne is a very sweet and caring person, patient and understanding. I can't wait to meet her next spring.
15. What’s the last song that got stuck in your head? I listen to internet radio (KOOL 108) at work. Yesterday morning they played Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen (is there anyone who doesn't love that song?)
16. What’s your favorite item of clothing? I have really neat black shirt with butterflies and sparkles on it.
17. Do you think Rice Crispies are yummy? I'm with Jayne on this one--only if they are made into Rice Crispy treats (Little Debbie's are as good as homemade--I eat one every day!)
18. If you had $100 to give away, who would you give it to? The International Fund for Animal Welfare working to help animal victims of Hurricane Ike.
19. What items could you not go without during the day? Snacks, lip balm, knitting, playing with Sophie
20. What should you be doing right now? Paying my bills that are probably overdue.

If you're reading this, please consider yourself tagged. It will be fun to read your responses tomorrow.

No Siskins Allowed!

I got up from the chair and glanced out the window and was surprised to see a Pine Siskin on one of the Nyjer feeders right on the deck. I grabbed the camera, but before I could get it focused, Ms. Goldfinch With An Attitude decided that feeder wasn't big enough for the both of them. Silly goldfinches--there's more than enough food out there for everyone! No wonder I never see those Pine Siskins!

Some Bird Sightings

I haven't done any posts about birds lately, so here are some pictures and bird stories from the past week. When we were down checking the trail camera the other day, there was this nice Turkey Vulture soaring overhead. I always have difficulty trying to catch those soaring birds in my viewfinder, but I got lucky this time.

This one's for you, Lynne!

I left work early on Friday and while I was sitting at the dining room table sharing my McDonald's french fries with Sophie, I happened to spot this little Eastern Wood Peewee sitting on the branch I have attached to my birdfeeding station in the backyard. I've been hearing it singing in the backyard all summer, but this is the first time I've actually seen the little guy.
We've got an abundance of American Goldfinches in the backyard. I'm going through almost 10 lbs of Nyjer seed a week now. There are both adults and juveniles and I'm starting to notice the males are losing their bright yellow feathers too. I'm keeping an eye out for Pine Siskins mixed in with my goldfinches too, but haven't seen any yet.
The archery deer season opened today and we went out this morning. It was quite foggy and damp. I took a couple of videos that I wanted to share with you but Blogger isn't allowing me to download either of them. (Have any of the rest of you had problems trying to download videos lately? This is the second time this week I've tried and had problems.) I didn't see any deer, but it was a great morning for birding. Here's my list of birds for this morning (a few of them I only heard, but it's still pretty good for not quite 3 hours).

Crow

Bluejay

Cardinal

Chickadee

Ruby-Crowned Kinglet

Black & White Warbler

American Goldfinch

Song Sparrow

House Wren

Hermit Thrush

Swainson's Thrush

Mourning Warbler
Orange Crowned Warbler

Belted Kingfisher

Screech Owl

Great Horned Owl

Cedar Waxwing

Hope you're enjoying a weekend with birds and nature too!

Are you sick of trail cam pics yet?

I'm running a little bit late tonight because I just finished hot water processing 5 pints of spaghetti sauce from the 6 lbs of ripe tomatoes that were sitting on my counter. I took a little taste as I was pouring it into the jars and it was so yummy! I have another bunch of tomatoes still ripening on the counter, and when those are ready, they're going to be turned into salsa. We're coming to the end of the season in the garden, but I have tons of apples getting ripe on the trees, so my canning and preserving is just beginning. It will be nice to have some homemade treats to give as Christmas gifts this year.

Back to the trail cameras....... We checked on both of them yesterday afternoon when we were down putting up the last tree stand. No photos of that legendary 12-point buck, but there were a couple surprises. Can you tell what this is? (click to enlarge -- that might help)
I had to magnify the picture to almost 120% in Photoshop and get Mr. Johnson over to help me identify this coonhound. He's kind of turned funny and looking off to his right. Note the time on the bottom of the photo and this will help you figure out what he's looking at when you see the next picture below.......
A big doe coming towards the coonhound. I'm glad this hound wasn't a deer chaser.

Here's a nice shot of a pair of camo-clad lunatics looking for evidence of deer tracks. Isn't it amazing what some people do for fun??

On our other camera we captured this group of juvenile delinquents out eating soybeans in the middle of the night. I was amazed to see these little guys are still pretty spotty.

Turns out they're not delinquents after all because it looks like Mom wasn't very far away.

I love this picture! That deer looks fake doesn't it? Like maybe someone took a deer head that had been mounted by a taxidermist and just held it in front of the camera (if you click to enlarge, it almost looks like she's smiling!)

But just to show she's not a fake deer, we also got this nice, full body shot. Don't you just love their ears?

That's it for now. Headed off to knit a couple rows and then it's lights out!

Time's Running Out!

Only a few hours left for you to place your bid on my hand-knitted Foliage Hat being auctioned off to help Kristy defray the costs of delivering over 800 hand-knitted hats to orphans in the Ukraine. The bid was raised to $27.50 just this afternoon by Cindie in Ohio (a brand new visitor to my blog!) Welcome to my blog Cindie and thanks for your bid.

Mr. Johnson and I are heading out to the woods this afternoon to put up one more deerstand and check the trail camera to see if we got any pictures of a legendary "12-point buck" that's being seen in the area where our bowhunting season opens this Saturday.

I'll be checking in later this evening to see who I'm going to be sending the Foliage Hat to in tomorrow's mail.

8:14 PM - The Foliage Hat goes to Cindie in Ohio with her winning bid of $27.50. Thanks Cindie and to everyone else who participated in the first "knitting for a cause" fund-raising auction on my blog. (Cindie, I already have your address and will get the hat sent out to you tomorrow.)

Mostly Insects

If you don't like bugs much, you'll want to skip today's post, but for everyone else, I've got a good variety of some insects to share with you that I've seen in the last few days. (Remember, you can click on any of these pictures to get a super-sized look at them!)

Last Thursday, we went out to the woods again to check and move the trail cameras. During our hike through the woods, I almost stepped into this 'foot-sized' hole filled with yellowjackets. YIKES! I was following Mr. Johnson and he must have walked right past it. Of course, I had to stop and try to figure out what these insects were doing. Because I didn't want to get too close, I counted on my zoom for a better look. It appeared that all of these yellowjackets were swarming on something, but I couldn't tell what (poop? a small dead animal?) My insect field guide says that the Eastern Yellowjacket (common in Minnesota) nests underground (usually in abandoned rodent burrows).
I had a short video clip to download also, but Blogger is feeling contrary tonight and I'll have to try that another time.


On our way back to the car, I almost stepped on this spider web right next to the crushed rock road. My insect field guide only has one page of spiders, but I'm guessing this is some sort of garden spider. It was quite large!
The web is quite visible due to the fact that it's coated with dust from all the car traffic kicking up dust on the road.


We went down again yesterday morning to check the cameras and I spotted this Eastern Comma Butterfly basking in the sun on a soybean plant.
Fortunately my patience paid off and I was able to get a wonderful picture of this butterfly with its wings open. I found out from my field guide that this is the "winter form" of coloring for the Eastern Comma. In the summer, their hindwing is almost entirely black.

Mr. Johnson brought me something special from his afternoon walk today. I had Sophie out in the backyard for a walk and I saw him go up on the deck and holler into the house for me. "I'm over here," I yelled back at him from the yard and I could see he had something in his hand. "C'mere, look at what I found for you," he said. I was thinking maybe a toad or something, but he was clutching a handful of leaves with this creature crawling on top.

Know what it is? I didn't but it was pretty huge and gross looking, so I figured maybe it was a caterpillar for a large butterfly or moth. I googled "caterpillar identification" and found the "what's this caterpillar" site that showed pictures of a similar caterpillar for the Pandora Sphinx Moth. Then I googled that name and found out more about the Pandora Sphinx Moth on Wikipedia.
I gotta tell ya, Mr. Johnson never ceases to amaze me......nothin' says "Love" like bringing a giant caterpillar home, does it?

And just to confirm what a swell guy he is, take a look at this early birthday present he got for me. I have one of those awful birthdays ending in a "ZERO" coming up in a few weeks and he wanted to get me something special that would keep my mind off the actual birthday by distracting me with something I would really enjoy. I didn't even have to hint very much for this.....

Thanks Honey Bunny! You are THE MAN!

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And for all of you who have placed a bid on my hat for auction (or are still thinking about placing a bid), please click on this link for Kristy's blog and look at all the hats she's received--820!! What a tremendous response.

Let the bidding begin

Hello Friends,

I've finished the Foliage Hat for September's "Knitting for a Cause" auction on my blog. I'm so pleased with the results that I have started another Foliage hat with some more yarn from Don -- Jo Sharp's Silkroad Tweed (85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere) in a really nice color called "Wintergreen." Anyway, I'm digressing here, so let's get back to the auction hat. Below is a view of the entire hat (laying flat) so you get an idea of how the stitch pattern looks. Yes, there are holes in it, but they aren't very big and I imagine it would be warm unless you're a person with no hair at all or you're standing outside in a stiff winter wind.

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Measurement flat is about 9.5" (so the hat is at least 19" around)

Here's what the hat looks like on me. Since I like a hat that covers ALL of my ears, I added one more pattern repeat than the pattern listed, so you can see that this hat comes down over my ears and forehead quite nicely. I have a medium sized head and I think this hat fits just fine! (BTW, my head got pretty warm during the 5 minutes or so while I was attempting this photo shoot in the bathroom mirror.)If you're interested in bidding on this hat to help Kristy deliver hand-knitted hats to orphans in the Ukraine, you can leave a bid in my comments section or if you're uncomfortable with that, send your bid to me in an e-mail (rjknits at msn dot com). I will leave the bidding open until next Wednesday (September 10th) at 8:00 PM (CDT). I would like to have the bidding start at $10 and see how things go from there. I'm going to be interested in seeing how this turns out and I hope to get bids from lots of folks--not just my regular commenters but also those people who regularly read my blog, but have never left a comment.......I know you're out there! I would love to send this hat to someone who will enjoy it for themself or give it as a gift to a loved one or special friend. Hat season is not that far away.......

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Since I was washing and blocking my Foliage hat, I decided to do the same for a couple other projects I've finished in the past couple weeks. Shown below is a neck warmer. This yarn is 100% alpaca and hand-dyed. I found it on sale at Ram Wools a couple months ago. They had all kinds of different colorways and I think I bought 9 or 10 different colors. They're 50 gram balls and it was just enough yardage for knitting this neckwarmer (they're nice for keeping your neck warm in the winter--especially if you don't want the bulk or long tails of a scarf around your neck).
I also had a red shawl to show you, but the pictures of it lying flat on the bed just didn't do it justice, so I'll have to enlist Mr. Johnson's assistance and try to get some photos of me modeling the shawl. I think you'll like that one and it would also be a good item to auction on my blog for an upcoming worthy cause.

Almost Done!

With Miss Penny's assistance, I'm making lightning fast progress on the Foliage Hat for auction! This is a fun pattern and I can't recall that I've ever knit a hat from the top down, but it's working out very well. The plan is to get it finished tonight and then wash and block it tomorrow (to get those rumples out). After I post some good photos of the completed hat, bidding will begin on Friday!

If you're new to this blog or just missed the original announcement and wonder what's going on here, please click on this link to find out more about the upcoming auction.

I Have An Announcement

Remember all that yarn my dear friend Don gave me a few weeks ago? Well, this afternoon I had a brainstorm....... How about knitting some items that I can auction on my blog with the proceeds going to worthy causes! You know like The Raptor Center, The Nature Conservancy, the McCain Presidential campaign (oh sorry, I didn't mean that, just checking to see if you were paying attention!)

My plan is to knit one item for auction each month, I'll tell you what worthy cause we're going to support each month and then keep you posted from start to finish of the project. While I'm knitting, you can dream about how much you'll love your new hand-knitted hat/socks/mitts/shawl/whatever that arrives at your house when you make the winning bid!

Take a look at this lovely ball of 100% handspun and hand-dyed wool in really nice shades of gold.

Now envision how this yarn will look once it's knitted into a "Foliage Hat" shown below. Foliage Hat - designed by Emilee Mooney (free pattern can be found at Knitting Pattern Central)

This month, the worthy cause I have selected as the beneficiary will be Kristy's Hat Quest (click on the link to learn more). Here's a picture from her blog showing some of the children at one of the orphanage facilities in Rivne.

Kristy's original goal (back in May) was to deliver 300 hats to the orphans, but she has already received 688 hand-knitted hats that she will be taking to the Ukraine later this month. What an overwhelming response! In addition to hats, people also knitted and sent her mittens, socks, and scarves. Now her concern is how much it's going to cost to ship the huge suitcases of all these knitted things over to the Ukraine. And that's where this blog comes in. Whatever amount I raise from the auction of the hand-knitted hat shown above, I will be sending to Kristy to help defray her expenses. So stay tuned, think about how that Foliage Hat will work for you or as a gift for someone special, and get ready to bid later this week. (I'm starting the hat after supper tonight and you all know I'm a pretty fast knitter!)

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!