It was a busy day of banding brown birds at Carpenter Nature Center last Friday. Above is a female purple finch that flew into the nets. It was interesting to not the changing of the guard we had going on migration wise. Although, the first bird I banded was not a migrant, but a house [ Read More ]
While I was in Florida, common redpolls were being reported in the Twin Cities metro area. Last winter they were showing up in good numbers up at Sax Zim Bog and Mr. Neil even had one at his feeders. There have been a few hanging out at Carpenter Nature Center. When we were trying to [ Read More ]
After several days of butt chilling temperatures, we finally had some warm weather. It started on Christmas Day. Non Birding Bill and I noticed the temps were in the twenties and then stepped outside. It was so warm, we took a walk to Lake Calhoun. By Friday morning the temps were down right balmy in [ Read More ]
The last Birds and Beers was a huge gathering. Some regulars and some new peeps came to join in the fun. We had a drawing from some prizes courtesy of Woodlink. We gave away a few of their “Happy Hour Hummingbird Feeders.” They’re nectar feeders in the shape of a daiquiri, margarita, and martini–how appropriate! [ Read More ]
It was jam packed at Carpenter Nature Center banding on Friday. It was the day after Thanksgiving and many people stopped by–including a hilarious 4 year old named Dylan. She kept asking to band a bird herself. I was doing a junco when she came to me and said, “I was going to do that [ Read More ]
We had an interesting recaptured bird at Carpenter Nature Center last Friday! We don’t have our nets setup right now, it’s too cold. Birds tangled in a net can’t use their feathers as well to regulate their body temperatures so we don’t up them up when it’s below freezing. We do set up little cage [ Read More ]
Man oh man, the migrants are all over the Twin Cities right now! The trees are just full of them. Above is one of the many yellow-rumped warblers that can be heard if you listen close for their kiss sounding chip note. I had originally planned to go up to Duluth for some hawk banding, [ Read More ]
Hey, have you sent in your comments regarding the proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act yet? Don’t let it slip away (and yes, I’m gonna be a pest about this). Well, it’s Skywatch Friday again. You can visit their site and click to all the links to every one’s photos of sky and if [ Read More ]
I just got the biggest chuckle out of this photo. Apparently a group of people were protesting Scientology in New York (all wearing masks) and two were holding signs that read, “Down with this sort of thing” and “Careful now.” This is a reference to one of my all time favorite tv shows… Father Ted–it’s [ Read More ]
