Birdchick

KARE 11 has their Loon Cam up and running. Be sure to check out the accompanying Larry’s Loon Log for questions about their behavior on the nest.

My friend (and beehive namesake) Kitty forwarded me an email from a Jon Freestone who has a robin nesting in an inconveneint spot.Jon says: “The nest was built between a Saturday and a Wednesday (that is the day it was first noticed) It has been there for about two weeks now, figure I will leave  [ Read More ]

So, in April, I got a part-time job as a park ranger for the Mississippi River and it is a great time! I work primarily at the Mississippi River Visitor’s Center at the Science Museum of Minnesota but I do get a chance to get out in the field. Last week, a group of staff  [ Read More ]

The American Birding Association (ABA), based in Colorado Springs, CO, is holding its annual convention this year just outside Salt Lake City in Snowbird, UT. The event will run June 23-29, 2008 and involves three days of field trips with professional leaders, two days of workshops and special presentations on bird-related topics, and outstanding speakers  [ Read More ]

Okay, the next time a hive goes queenless, I think I’m gonna leave it that way and let it go. It’s just too much stress to requeen. Maybe I need some sleep to process what happened today, but the beekeeping today was not so much fun. We noticed on Sunday that there was no new  [ Read More ]

Flight of Nature has put up a bunch of bluebird videos from inside her nest boxes. You can see them on her website or over on her channel on YouTube. All the videos are really cool and give you a glimpse of the secret life of eastern bluebirds in the nest cavity. My favorite is  [ Read More ]

I can’t believe it, Mr. Neil still has a yellow-bellied sapsucker hanging around! We’ve seen them during migration, but they’ve never really hung out at the feeding station before. I wonder if it’s going to nest here and where that will be. I would like to say I took these photos, but the person who  [ Read More ]

I went out and did a hive inspection with Non Birding Bill and Fabulous Lorraine today. Afterwards, we sat down to a cup of tea and talked some treason. I suddenly regret being the head beekeeper. There’s trouble afoot in the Olga Hive. She is now a parent colony, as we split her recently to  [ Read More ]

Okay, any beekeepers with any kind of advice, I could use it now. Our Olga Hive that we overwintered and just divided about a week and a half ago appears to be in trouble. When we took away the box with brood for the divide, we left behind the box that had some fresh larvae  [ Read More ]

Last fall, I went on a tear to get rid of some buckthorn and start replenishing the woods with bee and bird friendly plants (with mostly native plants) in Mr. Neil’s woods. I’ve tried to make a sincere effort to learn my wildflowers and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that if I find a flower  [ Read More ]