tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3618724380346273442024-03-13T07:25:44.751-05:00All of NatureSiah St. ClairTreeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.comBlogger135125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-33814119755066981752017-08-14T20:55:00.000-05:002017-08-14T20:55:10.367-05:00Giant Swallowtail Butterfly<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Giant Swallowtails are new residents of Minnesota. They are the largest butterfly in North America, and a few used to migrate north into our area each summer, but a warming climate allows their caterpillars to survive our winters now.<br />
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I found this one sipping mineral fluids from a dirt parking area this afternoon in Elm Creek Park Reserve. Butterflies with a seven inch wing span are fun to see.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-50866187154470513612017-08-02T21:03:00.000-05:002017-08-02T21:03:56.611-05:00Hummingbirds Have Long Tongues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This Ruby-throated Hummingbird has been feeding every day lately from the Trumpet Vine off my deck. This is either a female or a young bird from this year as there are no ruby colored feathers on the throat.<br />
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This picture shows how long the tongue is as it prepares to enter another flower for more nectar.<br />
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The Trumpet Vine flowers are long and it looks like this hummingbird needs its head, neck, bill, and tongue to get to the nectar at the very bottom of the flower.<br />
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It would visit each flower and then return an hour later for a second visit, and then repeat this all day.<br />
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The Hummingbird would often rest in the Lilac Bushes nearby after working the flowers for ten or fifteen minutes, as seen in the picture below.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-23439900050814651822017-07-17T15:49:00.000-05:002017-07-17T15:49:04.702-05:00Spiny Assassin Bug Eggs and Babies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In my native plant garden recently I found these very attractive eggs on the underside of a swamp milkweed leaf. I thought they were some kind of squash bug egg and kept them to see what would hatch.<br />
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The eggs were small, but quite a bit larger than the Monarch butterfly eggs I had been looking for, and placed in these very nice rows, for a total of 15 eggs.<br />
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The eggs had a very symmetrical pattern and were facing in the same direction.<br />
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I thought the eggs looked a bit like a tiny football, with their shiny, copper color and pattern. <br />
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I don't know how old they were when I found them, but 5 days after finding them they hatched and I was very surprised to see what the hatchlings looked like. Not at all what I was expecting.<br />
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All 15 eggs hatched. And the hatchlings were a surprising bright red with many black spines all over their bodies.<br />
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Their antenna were longer than their bodies and legs, and were waving all around as they started to move away from the eggs as a group.<br />
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They obviously expanded their bodies quite a bit after emerging from their eggs.<br />
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Spiny Assassin Bugs are true bugs, and in the insect order called Hemiptera. All true bugs have a tube-like sucking mouth, and they either suck plant juices, or prey on other insects and suck the juices from their prey.<br />
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Spiny Assassin Bugs are predators and capture other insects to eat.<br />
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As they eat they grow, and need to shed their skins to grow. With each shed they look different, so see below.<br />
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This is what the Spiny Assassin Bug looks like in its second instar, after it has shed its skin once.<br />
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I will try to post pictures of their next instars, but will need to recapture one as they have been released back into the native wildflower garden to contribute their part to the very active ecosystem there.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-80248753855151177492017-07-13T13:32:00.000-05:002017-07-13T13:33:08.644-05:00Monarch Caterpillar Fly Parasite<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Monarch Butterflies are one of the best known butterflies in Minnesota. Many people grow milkweed and protect milkweed plants, on which the Monarch caterpillars feed.<br />
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But in nature there are many battles every species needs to constantly fight to have its population stay healthy and survive to reproduce the next generation.<br />
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For the Monarch a parasitic tachinid fly is one of the battles it must face.<br />
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This particular tachinid fly lays its eggs directly onto the skin of the Monarch caterpillar. It will lay up to eight or more eggs on one caterpillar.<br />
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The eggs hatch and burrow into the insides of the caterpillar, feeding on non-vital tissue, so the caterpillar can stay healthy enough to keep eating, providing more food for these parasites.<br />
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The fly larvae, which are small white maggots, continue to eat inside the caterpillar until they are ready to pupate, the stage of metamorphosis in which they will prepare to turn into adult flies. To do this the maggots have to leave the caterpillar and drop to the ground.<br />
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The process of the fly larvae leaving to pupate in the dirt on the ground often happens shortly after the caterpillar has changed into a chrysalis itself, the Monarch's pupa stage.<br />
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After the fly maggots eat an exit hole in the caterpillar or chrysalis, and drop to the ground, the Monarch caterpillar or chrysalis always dies. Its vital organs finally having been eaten by the maggots before they left.<br />
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Below are eight pupae of the parasitic tachinid fly shortly after they emerged from a Monarch chrysalis 11 days ago.<br />
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The white maggots turned into these brown pupae very quickly after they emerged from the chrysalis.<br />
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They stayed like this for ten days, and began to emerge as adult flies yesterday.<br />
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By this morning six of the eight had emerged as adult flies. These pictures give an idea of what they look like, and the shape and color patterns on their bodies.<br />
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The two gray antenna on the front of the face seem slightly different than other flies.<br />
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The adult flies are about the size of an average house fly, and it would be difficult at first glance to notice any difference.<br />
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The pattern on the back seems a little more pronounced than some flies.<br />
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The face down below would only be appealing to another tachinid fly.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-30550247552649402962017-04-12T15:44:00.000-05:002017-04-12T15:44:42.876-05:00Hepatica and Brown Creepers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The beginning of real spring is here when the Hepatica start to bloom. They are the first wildflowers to bloom in my backyard along with the Bloodroot. Most early spring wildflowers have large blossoms that provide significant nectar return on the energy early pollinators use up when getting around in the colder spring weather. <br />
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But Hepatica are different. They have tiny flowers. Mine measured only 3/8 of an inch across. But somehow they make it worth a pollinator's effort. There were a couple of flies nearby when I took these pictures yesterday, but none landed on the flowers while I was there.<br />
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It sure is nice to see these pretty flowers after the long winter in Minnesota.<br />
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Brown Creepers are not a sign of spring, since they stay here through the winter. This one was mixed in with a large group of Yellow-rumped Warblers yesterday, and they were a nice sign of spring.<br />
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Brown Creepers are strange and fairly uncommon little birds that act like nuthatches but are more closely related to wrens.<br />
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They fly to the base of a large tree and creep up the bark while spiraling around the tree trunk until they reach the top, then fly to another tree and do the same.<br />
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They find tiny bugs under the bark using their curved bill to fit into tiny crevices.<br />
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According to one source I found, they only use up 4 calories per day, on average, while climbing hundreds of trees And eating one little spider gives them enough energy to make it 200 feet up a tree. Their weight of 8-9 grams is a little less than that of an average Black Capped Chickadee.<br />
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As can be seen in the picture they have long toes with long claws for gripping bark. <br />
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Brown Creepers also have long tails <br />
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One of the reasons Brown Creepers are seldom seen is because they are very hard to see. Their natural coloring camouflages them extremely well when they are moving up the tree trunk looking for bugs. <br />
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I have enhanced the colors of this picture, but it still blends in very well. Their camouflage is so effective that the auto focus on the camera has trouble finding a focus point, so the majority of the pictures I took of this little bird yesterday have the bark in focus instead of the feathers on the back of the bird.<br />
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The feathers on the top of the back of the bird are perfectly in focus here, but still look blurry. These birds are good at hiding even when in plain sight!<br />
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Notice the long tail and see the picture below.<br />
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Brown Creepers have long, stiff, pointed tails to use as a brace when pulling bugs from under the bark. <br />
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Brown Creepers have 12 tail feathers, so 6 come to a point on one side, and another 6 on the other, making a stiff and very effective brace.<br />
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With its solid color, the tail is one of the easiest parts to see on this tiny bird, at least in a picture.<br />
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When you actually see one of these interesting birds they never stop moving, so are hard to observe for more than a second or two in one spot.<br />
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This picture shows the forked tail, and the long leg, toes, and claws, as well as the brown mottling colors that are typical of Brown Creepers. The black curved beak is a little harder to see at the top of the picture.<br />
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The picture also shows the little midge fly in the lower right. These had just emerged and were flying in clouds of thousands all around the area where I took these pictures yesterday. Many of these may have been on the tree bark, and might have been part of a late lunch for this Brown Creeper.Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-59050162847695549252016-01-25T11:23:00.002-06:002016-01-25T11:23:46.340-06:00Rare Ivory Gull In Duluth, Minnesota<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This very rare Ivory Gull has been seen at Canal Park in Duluth, Minnesota for a few weeks and has attracted a lot of attention. I was there on January 22, and was able to get some pictures after waiting nearly 5 hours for it to show up. <br />
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This is a juvenile, meaning that it was a nestling last summer, somewhere above the arctic circle. The adult birds are pure white without the black spots.<br />
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It is a smaller gull that stays pretty much by itself and is normally never seen in this area.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-19796474658244851312015-04-13T18:59:00.001-05:002015-04-13T19:01:08.478-05:00Great Horned Owl Babies Growing Fast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Great Horned Owls did their pair bonding last December and January and began laying eggs in their nests in February here in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro area in Minnesota.<br />
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The babies hatched and have been growing fast. This pair were able to sit together for the first time in a long time as the female left the babies alone in the warm sun for the first time yesterday.<br />
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At the well known nest in Silverwood Park the babies left the nest a couple of weeks ago, but this nest in an Edina park will still have the babies in the nest for a few days. <br />
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The female Great Horned Owl is quite protective and stays with the babies as they are small. But the babies grow rapidly and it soon becomes crowded in what looks like an old squirrel nest. I took this picture on April 10.<br />
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Great Horned Owls usually don't do much construction for their nest, using an old crow or hawk nest, or an old squirrel nest. <br />
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These nests often fall apart before the babies are ready to leave the nest, and the young owls have to hold onto branches or fall to the ground. The parents are still very attentive and protect the babies wherever they end up. <br />
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The baby owls are curious but mostly lay flat on the nest and only a few white fluffy feathers can be seen most of the day.<br />
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This mother owl sat on a branch a few feet from the nest yesterday. This was the first time she wasn't in the nest with her two babies all day.<br />
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She would fly to a tree 100 feet away and then return to this branch several times.<br />
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Once about 20 crows came to harass her and I was surprised to watch her fly to the nest tree with the crows following her.<br />
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The babies must be too big for her to worry about crows injuring them. After a few minutes the crows all flew away.<br />
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The baby owls leave the nest as soon as they are agile enough to hop from branch to branch, and very soon from tree to tree with the help of their rapidly growing wing feathers.<br />
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This is one of the babies at the Silverwood Park nest that I took pictures of two weeks ago as it was hopping up a large branch moving away from the nest box. The babies owls are called "branchers" during these first days out of the nest.<br />
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The pair at the Edina Park did not get much time together as the male flys off in the picture below to distract some danger that the female can see as she looks up into the sky.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-71917561284027749712015-04-08T17:18:00.000-05:002015-04-08T17:18:10.866-05:00Pasque Flowers Are Blooming Spring Is Here<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Pasque Flowers are up and blooming. They are my for sure signal that winter has passed and spring has commenced.<br />
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I took this picture yesterday, though there was no sun. <br />
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It is always good to see these large hairy flowers push out of the recently frozen ground and open up to be pollinated by the first bees of spring.Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-77648580888735931792015-04-04T18:36:00.000-05:002015-04-04T18:36:52.168-05:00Bluebirds, Robins, And Worms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The Bluebirds and Robins have returned in great numbers. I took these pictures the last two days. <br />
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It is always a great pleasure to hear the Bluebirds singing when they return in the spring. This beautiful male was flying from one nestbox to another trying to decide which was the best location to attract the perfect female.<br />
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The blue of these birds is very welcome after so little color all winter.<br />
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Male Robins have also returned and seem to be everywhere out on lawns and in fields. They are looking for food after their long migration north.<br />
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They especially like worms, who come to the surface of the ground after the long winter. But the worms do not go willingly, and put up a bit of a struggle, as seen in the pictures below.<br />
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The worms mostly lose these contests, and the Robins get refueled and ready for their nesting season.<br />
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As the female Robins arrive over the next few weeks, mates will be chosen, and nesting will begin.<br />
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In the meantime, worms should beware of hungry Robins.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-49674832174644649232015-03-10T20:57:00.001-05:002015-03-10T20:57:59.460-05:00Groundhog Collects Nesting Material<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This morning at Springbrook Nature Center a fat Groundhog was busy collecting leaves and grass to line her nest in preparation for her babies that she will be giving birth to soon.<br />
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Hibernation was definately over on this warm and sunny day. She was finding materials that had been dried out by the sun on the south side of her small hill.<br />
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This groundhog would place her lower jaw down on the ground and, with her mouth open, push forward picking up all the leaves and grass in her mouth. Then she would look around and disappear down one of her den's holes. A few minutes after she would be back and repeat the process. <br />
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She continued for the entire 90 minutes I watched her, and was still busy when I left.<br />
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Sometimes she would stop while deep in the brush and look all around for a few minutes, then return to her task of preparing her nest for her babies.<br />
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Around four babies will arrive in the next couple of weeks as green things start growing. <br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-82714729876077444522014-11-11T15:49:00.000-06:002014-11-11T15:49:10.558-06:00Purple Finches Arrive With First Winter Storm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There were several Purple Finches at my bird feeders this morning. The first ones this year, and just in time for the first big snowstorm of this new winter.<br />
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This male was waiting for an open space on the feeder. He soon was eating seed as can be seen below.<br />
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The females do not have the purple-cranberry color, but are distinctive with the white line over the eye, as can be seen in the picture at the bottom.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-55034653073516933292014-10-24T12:02:00.000-05:002014-10-24T12:02:37.563-05:00Yellowlegs Shorebirds Migrating South<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Most shorebirds have already migrated through Minnesota on their southward journey, but this Greater Yellowlegs was near the shore of the Mississippi River yesterday and allowed me a fairly close approach. It is usually difficult to get close to these birds.<br />
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This bird seemed to be resting, eating, and preening its feathers as it prepared for the next leg of its migration to the southern coasts of the United States or somewhere in Central America.<br />
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Yellowlegs nest in Canada, so we only get to see them during migration<br />
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Here is a picture with a female Mallard Duck in the foreground for size comparison. The long bill and fairly large size differentiate this from a Lesser Yellowlegs, which also migrate down the Mississippi Migration Flyway.<br />
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The bright yellow legs are distinctive in these birds.<br />
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Here this bird is looking for food, and in the next picture is seen grabbing something only it can see under the water.<br />
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I didn't see anything wiggling in its mouth when it came back up, so it must have eaten it while under water. With ducks and gulls all around it, food seen in its mouth would bring other birds eager for a meal.<br />
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After eating a little, and resting, then preening, as seen in the picture below, this bird flew off to another spot for more food and rest.<br />
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Next spring it will make the return flight to Canada, passing through this same area looking for food and rest to give it the resources it needs to fly thousands of miles to its breeding grounds.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-42096333802713539192014-10-24T11:09:00.001-05:002014-10-24T11:09:51.300-05:00Solar Eclipse At Springbrook Nature Center<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday in the late afternoon a partial eclipse of the sun occurred all across North America. It was a perfectly clear day and easy to see. I took these pictures at Springbrook Nature Center at about 6 PM as the sun was setting.<br />
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With this eclipse and the total eclipse of the moon earlier this month, it has been a rare sky focused time.<br />
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In this picture the sun was dissappearing into the trees of Springbrook as it set, with the partial eclipse still obvious.<br />
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The moon moving between the earth and the sun causes this eclipse, but the moon can not be seen, since the sun is lighting its other side.Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-88763560543042035252014-10-17T12:16:00.001-05:002014-10-17T12:19:07.905-05:00Mallards and Wood Ducks at Springbrook to Migrate Soon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ducks at Springbrook Nature Center are getting ready to migrate. It is easy to see the Mallards and Wood Ducks in the wetlands off the boardwalks right now, as they spend most of their time eating.<br />
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This male Wood Duck is one of the most colorful ducks in North America and and is easily seen from the boardwalk.<br />
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The female Wood Ducks are much less colorful, but almost always together with the males at this time of year.<br />
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The Wood Ducks are usually at the edges of the wetlands, and a bit more secretive than other ducks.<br />
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The Mallards are common and easy to get close to. This pair were within a few yards of the boardwalk, and taking a rest from their busy eating schedule.<br />
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As you can see below, their time is mostly spent eating plants that can be reached just under the surface of the water. Bottoms Up!<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-71455165112017628682014-10-17T10:58:00.001-05:002014-10-17T10:58:55.232-05:00Blood Moon Eclipse <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A week ago there was a full eclipse of the moon on a very clear early morning, which many people either watched, or viewed pictures of. <br />
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I took this picture at 10 PM, six hours before the eclipse started. <br />
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In the picture below you can see how the moon changes position, at least from our perspective, turning a bit clockwise, over the next 6 hours.<br />
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The internet said the eclipse would begin at 4:25 AM, but at 4:00AM it had already begun in my location, so I was glad I had taken this picture of the whole moon earlier.<br />
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This picture was taken at 4:15 AM, and from here-on the moon moved fairly quickly into the Earth's shadow, as can be seen in the following photos.<br />
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As the shadow "moves" across the moon, the limitations of photography, compared to human eyesight, become apparent.<br />
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To the camera it looks like the area on the moon that is in shadow is completely dark. But our eyes are able to see the red glow of the dark moon area caused by the "halo" of reddish sunrises/sunsets happenning all around the edges of the Earth. This is where the term "Blood Moon" comes from.<br />
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This picture was taken at 4:40 AM, The moon was getting fairly low in the sky here, and I had to move my tripod to not have tree branches interfere with the picture.<br />
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By 4:55 AM the moon was nearly 2/3rds in the shadow, and nearing total eclipse.<br />
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By 5:11 AM only a crescent of the moon was visible from sun light reflection.<br />
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But as you can see in the picture below, the red "Blood Moon" was very visible over the rest of the surface of the moon.<br />
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The pictures here are all taken at about 125th of a second because the moon is quite bright in the camera lens. But the "Blood Moon" is quite a bit darker and required a slower shutter speed of about 1/5 of a second.<br />
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The white area on the right side of this picture is the regular moon light, which has to be overexposed to be able to see the red area. This picture was taken at 5:11 AM, the same as the picture above.<br />
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At 1/5th of a second through a 600mm lens the moon actually moves a little as it is setting, making it difficult not to have some blurring when taking the picture.<br />
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From my place to take these pictures the moon lowered into the trees nearby and was gone for photography purposes after this picture.Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-47881535918142964262014-09-14T14:28:00.000-05:002014-09-14T14:28:13.235-05:00Wooly Bear Caterpillar Weather Predictor?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Wooly Bear Caterpillars are busy finding a place to hibernate for the winter, and walk busily in front of anything in their search. So lots of sightings are being made now. Here are pictures of two caterpillars I have found in the last few days.<br />
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Folklore seems to have made sure that everyone hears the story that the amount of brown on these caterpillars is a predictor of how severe the winter will be. <br />
Supposedly, more brown means a less severe winter.<br />
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Here in Minnesota we are always looking for a reliable winter prediction, even if from a caterpillar.<br />
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Folklore is fun and will persist, but science and observation helps to give some understanding of why these caterpillars may look different sometimes. <br />
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Eggs are laid in late summer and early fall when these caterpillars hatch and start to grow.<br />
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After hatching they eat several plants that grow in our lawns, and shed their skins as they grow. They shed 6 times, and each time the black bands get wider and the brown gets narrower, but the furry bristles get thicker with each shedding as well. <br />
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When cold weather sets in the caterpillar finds shelter under some bark or other protected place and hibernates, freezing solid!<br />
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When warm weather returns the caterpillars revive, eat a little, then form a cacoon, and after a few weeks an Isabella moth emerges, and the cycle starts over.<br />
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So, what do you think? A long hard winter or a short easy one?Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-37944312616129802312014-09-12T15:57:00.000-05:002014-09-12T15:57:49.380-05:00Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly Caterpillar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Almost everyone has seen the beautiful and gracefull Tiger Swallowtail butterflies that visit our gardens in mid summer. <br />
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As the flowers and warm weather have dissappeared, the butterflies have as well.<br />
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I saw this old and bedraggled looking one last week in the prairie. I was surprised it could still fly from flower to flower.<br />
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While these butterflies are now gone their caterpillars are finishing growing and looking for a place to make a chrysalis for the winter. <br />
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Tiger Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars have some distinctive features.<br />
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They are a basic green like many caterpillars, but they have special "eye" markings to use in defensive situations.<br />
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When danger approaches they pull their head back into their body, swelling the front part of their body, making it look like the scary picture below.<br />
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If that doesn't work the caterpillars have brightly colored orange scent organs they extrude from their head that emit a bad odor. <br />
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It's defenses seem to be working for this caterpillar so far.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-50085378575287924232014-08-29T15:49:00.000-05:002014-08-29T15:49:37.804-05:00Monarch Butterflies Start Migration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In Springbrook Nature Center's south prairie the Rough Blazing Star is in full bloom and the Monarch Butterflies are busy drinking nectar as they start their long migration to Mexico. <br />
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I took these pictures on Tuesday with Monarch butterflies all around me, seeming to have added to their numbers this summer after reports of serious population decline last spring.<br />
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I'm sure they are still in serious decline, but it is great to see them in numbers after seeing so few recently. <br />
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This is a male, as told by the black "spots" on the hind wings.<br />
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Although there were plenty of flowers to go around, the butterflies often nectared together on a single plant, with 3 or 4 close together, as can be seen in the picture below.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-29723366209840215342014-08-21T15:42:00.000-05:002014-08-21T15:42:12.640-05:00Butterflies in Summer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Lots of butterflies around the flowers at Springbrook Nature Center and gardens this summer.<br />
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Eastern Tiger Swallowtails are nearly the largest and there have been lots of them this year.<br />
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They are slow fliers when they are getting nectar from flowers, and a pleasure to see. Their caterpillars feed on cherry leaves, so a Cherry tree will attract even more of them.<br />
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This American Lady butterfly is feeding on Joe Pye Weed flowers. These butterflies probably do not survive our winters in Minnesota as hibernating adults, but fly north in the spring and will have a couple of generations in this area before the cold of late fall ends this year's cycle. <br />
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These butterflies are very fast flying and some years will be seen in great numbers and other years very few seen.<br />
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The Question Mark butterfly is named after the silver white mark on the hind wing that looks a little like a question mark. These butterflies fly very fast and rarely stop for anything. Finding one that stopped to get some nectar was a gift.<br />
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Below is the Red Admiral Butterfly, another one that is sometimes seen in great numbers. This one is nectaring on Purple Cone Flower, and flies very fast from one flower to another, spending all day on the flowers.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-28091746693172368972014-06-20T11:46:00.000-05:002014-06-20T11:47:57.289-05:00Robber Fly Bumblebee Mimic Eating Real Bumblebees<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bumblebees are an important part of ecosystems because of their pollinating activities on the many flowering plants all around us.<br />
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There are many species of Bumblebees, but most of us are more familiar with the large yellow and black ones that generally ignore us while busily working away at gathering nector and pollen, as in this picture taken at Springbrook Nature Center.<br />
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A group of predacious robberflies have taken advantage of this casualness that other insects seem to have with bumblebees. <br />
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As can be seen in these pictures this member of the fly family is an amazing mimic of a bumblebee.<br />
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By using this mimicry, the fly can sit in the open among leaves and flowers and not be seen as a threat by other insects. And birds don't try to eat it since they don't want to be stung.<br />
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Yesterday I was photographing small bumblebees in my raspberry patch when this fascinating imposter showed up.<br />
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It did not take it long to get close enough to one of the small bumblebees to grab it and then land on a leaf to enjoy a healthy lunch with its piercing and sucking mouthparts.<br />
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Mimicry works for both defense and offense, especially for this fly.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-88471080738829928102014-06-13T20:11:00.000-05:002014-06-13T20:11:00.348-05:00Dew In Prairies At Springbrook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There was heavy dew in the prairies at Springbrook Nature Center this morning. All the new grasses and flowers, as well as any critter that spent the night in the open was pretty much covered with drops.<br />
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As the sun came up, the dew evaporated into the air as things warmed up.<br />
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The image in the dew drops illustrates how a lens inverts whatever it sees. You can see the sky on the bottom of the drops.<br />
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A damselfly is covered with dew here, and the drop on the grass beside it shows how a drop of water can act as a magnifying lens.<br />
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As soon as the dew evaporated off the damselfly it flew away and joined the many others searching for small insects to eat.<br />
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The Prairie is full of flowers, including the Spiderworts, which have just started blooming.<br />
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Each flower blooms for one day only, with a new bud behind it taking its place tomorrow.<br />
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The wild asperagus has grown tall and now has many tiny flowers which will grow into little green berries about the size of a pea in a few weeks.<br />
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The wild roses have started blooming, and are the biggest blossoms in the prairie.<br />
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The puccoon in the picture below is also starting to bloom after the managed prairie burn earlier this spring. Their large yellow clumps can be seen from a long way off.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-59721454853500460642014-05-14T11:34:00.000-05:002014-05-14T11:34:15.155-05:00Broadwinged Hawk Banded At Springbrook Nature Center<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For the first time in 26 years of banding birds at Springbrook Nature Center a Broadwinged Hawk flew into one of our mist nets and was captured immediatly and then banded and released.<br />
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This was pretty exciting for all the volunteers, most of whom don't get to see a hawk up this close. Fortunately, volunteer Amber Burnete, who works at the Raptor Center, was present and very familiar with handling birds of prey. <br />
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This turned out to be a Broad Winged Hawk that was only one year old, so a little inexperienced and may be why we captured it.. The eye color helps to determine the age, and has not turned to the brighter yellow af an older adult.<br />
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This hawk was very calm through the banding process, but wary of so many hands measuring and looking at feathers to determine its age.<br />
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Here the band is being closed on the hawk's leg. Now if this hawk is ever captured again we will be able to learn where it has traveled and how long it lives.<br />
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Here is the hawk being released. the band can be clearly seen on its right leg. If the hawk stays around Springbrook we will be able to see the band on his leg and know that this is the one we captured on Sunday, May 10, 2014.<br />
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The hawk was ready to go, and flew immediately into a tree nearby. It shook its feathers out, and then flew back in the direction of the area where we captured it a little earlier.<br />
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Hope we see it again.Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-47783086495141648432014-05-14T11:01:00.000-05:002014-05-14T11:01:14.352-05:00Bird Migration In Full Swing At Springbrook Nature Center<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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At Sunday's bird banding activity at Springbrook Nature Center migrating birds were everywhere. The early migrants have been held back by the wet weather and late migrants have arrived from the south, making a great opportunity to see them all at one time.<br />
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This male Northern Shoveler duck was swimming just off the boardwalk.<br />
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This Yellow Rumped Warbler was also on the cattails seen from the boardwalk, along with many others. The yellow feathers on his rump show where his name comes from. <br />
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These little warblers are early migrants, and have usually flown further north by now, but are still very common in the park. they will be gone soon<br />
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This Olive Sided Flycatcher is one of only four caught in our nets for banding in the past 26 years. His hooked beak is very normal for flycatchers.<br />
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He is posing here after he was banded and ready for release. He seems to be less "olive" colored than others I remember.<br />
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Here with his wings open there is just a hint of the olive color that gives him his name.<br />
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Being captured, banded, and released did not seem to frighten himt too much, as I saw him again back in the same area at Springbrook yesterday, two days after his release.<br />
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The Black and White Warbler below was just one of the 22 species and 73 individual birds banded on Sunday at Springbrook.<br />
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<br />Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-83365553210433251082014-04-28T12:50:00.002-05:002014-04-28T12:50:57.436-05:00Bluebirds at Springbrook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the cold rain yesterday we caught this male Eastern Bluebird in between showers during Springbrook Nature Center's banding program. The female was close by and called for him until he was released after he was banded.<br />
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His blue color was very intense, contrasted with the rusty red breast.<br />
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During the banding process the wing feathers are inspected to determine which feathers have been molted recently, which helps determine age of birds caught.<br />
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It gives a chance to see the brilliant blue that these birds have on the upper part of their body.<br />
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By looking at these feathers it was determined that this bird was an after second year male, which means it hatched in 2012 or earlier.<br />
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With the habitat restoration project leaving many forested areas in Springbrook more open, bluebirds will have more areas to nest, and may increase in numbers over the next few years.<br />
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I hope so, as they are always a pleasure to see and hear.Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-361872438034627344.post-22772556610485358882014-04-24T11:12:00.000-05:002014-04-24T11:12:00.303-05:00Black Capped Chickadee Nest Cavity Making<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Black Capped Chickadees are cavity nesters, and they were making their nests yesterday at Springbrook Nature Center.<br />
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I found this one yesterday actively working on this cavity. I don't know if the hole was started by the Chickadee, or if the Chickadee was just remodeling a pre-existing cavity, but he was very busy.<br />
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The mate was close by calling and watching.<br />
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I think Chickadees must have some woodpecker DNA, as they seem very capable of excavating cavities in dead wood. <br />
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One big difference is that Chickadees are very tidy, and don't want any wood chips near the nest, so they carry all the wood peices away some distance. This one would be inside for two or three minutes, then cary several loads of chips away, and then back to work. This must be a way of reducing predator curiosity of why the wood chips are present.<br />
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Woodpeckers generally just throw the woodchips over their shoulders as they work away at their nest cavities. <br />
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Hopefully, in a few weeks I can photograph this pair of Chickadees feeding their babies.Treeclimber100http://www.blogger.com/profile/15550422561170159420noreply@blogger.com0