End of April, but not the end of winter

So we hit 70F for a few days. It was wonderful! But I was exhausted from work to get out and do much yard work.

Here are some pictures of the yard. We took the hay off the roses, I think we have lost quite a few.

I am pretty sure this is a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

A Yellow-rumped Warbler

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Week of April 16 to the 24th

So its been not so spring like. Two snow storms in the past week, no leaves on the trees, no flowers, it looks more like Novemeber than April.

Here is a bunch of photos from the past week.

Northern Shovelers

Purple Finches?

Dark Eyed Junco and another bird i need to ID

Osprey

Pileated Woodpecker

I also heard and saw a Belted Kingfisher. I was so startled by its rattle that I dropped my phone. And by the time I got the camera on and found it it took off. 

Coyotes?

I was sitting outside just a bit ago and was caught off guard by some howling from across the lake. People around here have said they have heard Coyotes howling before but I never have.

Here are 2 videos of howling. Couldnt see anything across the lake so its just a shot of the sky. sorry for background noise.

first video



and the second one

An exciting afternoon!

Earlier I saw 2 Swans out on the far side of the lake. Went and got some suet and corn for the birds and squirrels and decided to go out with a camera and binoculars and see what else was around.

Here is the best i could get of one of the Swans. (center of photo, there is a canadian goose to the left)

Great Blue Heron

Hermit Thrush

And this one I was not expecting, an American Woodcock! This is the 2nd one I saw right after I flushed the first out (by accident) from some near by grass.

Bald Eagle (molting)

And this I think is an Osprey

So today was pretty neat!

A chubby bird (Hermit Thrush)

So spring is well not really happening here in Minnesota. I feel bad for the birds and animals because with the recent snow and cold temps food is scarce for any migrants returning.

But yesterday I saw a chubby bird perched in a small tree in the yard not too far from the deck.
I am currently unsure what kind of bird it is. My first guess was a Brown Thrasher (just stuffed with eggs) because it was much larger than a sparrow. But I dont think its a Thrasher because its tail is short and its bill is too short. So maybe its just a very egg-stuffed Sparrow. Or it could be Some kind of Thrush. It did not sing or make any sort of calls when I was watching it.

EDIT: Thanks to penelope11 on reddit for the help. Seems it could be a Hermit Thrush.

Hopefully I will figure out what it is. Here are some pictures (sorry they are not the best quality).

Hooded Merganser, Great Blue Heron, Turkey vulture, Killdeer

Saw 11 Hooded Merganser out on the lake. 

Great Blue Heron 

Turkey Vulture 

Killdeer

Great Egrets

Saw 2 Great Egrets yesterday. Saw 3 today.

Got a few pictures.

More Sandhill Cranes

Well I am 90% sure these are sandhill cranes. It sure sounded like them. They were flying pretty high up. Its hard to hear their calls due to other birds/traffic noise and an airplane.

Here are 2 videos I took.

and the second one a bit longer. A second and third flock of birds right after the first.

Sandhill Cranes!

I stepped outside and noticed some big birds on the ice in the marsh. Looked through my binoculars and they were 3 Sandhill Cranes! unfortunately they took off a few moments later so i didn't get a picture. Hopefully they will stay in the area and maybe i'll get a photo later.

Spring is trying very hard to begin here in MN. Snow still covers quite a bit of area in the yard. The ground seems to be pretty frozen still. We may get snow on Friday.

September

Well, my plan to keep this blog updated throughout the summer didn't really happen.

Various reasons mainly i have been busy but also the yard hasn't been as exciting or interesting as it has been in past years. My veggie garden didn't really start doing anything until August.

But here is a picture of some veggies i picked today.

Some russet potatoes. A bunch of cherry tomatoes. 1 big boy tomato. And after thinking that i was never going to get any, green beans. I really thought they were never going to bloom, but finally about a week or 2 ago i noticed some blooms on them on the trellis.

So far i have just had a bunch of basil and i have had 1 eggplant and a handful of cucumbers.

All my beets well started off strong and then didn't grow very much at all and then the rabbits found their way into the veggie bed and ate the little beets. The rabbits also ate my broccoli, lettuce and parts of my Brussels sprouts.

The deer have been causing a lot of damage to everything this year. And with the lack of rain for the past 2 months the yard is well struggling.

Hopefully ill keep getting a good amount of veggies in for the rest of September and i hope we don't have our first frost or snow until October.

native Blue Flag found down the hill at the marsh

A really bad picture of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak

2012

It has been quite some time since I have posted.

We had an early spring. It was quite warm in March, a week of 70 degree days was nice, but I didn't want to believe the cold was over so I didn't really take much advantage of it. I mostly cleaned out one bed that i had let go last summer. I still have another bed to clean out as well as the trellis and terraced beds.

I am unsure about the amount of time I will have this summer to grow vegetables, but my parents say they will help. I think I am going to go with the usual, tomatoes, beets, lettuce, cucumbers, green peppers, squash and parsnips. I think i might try some peas on the trellis and put my cucumbers somewhere else.

As for wildlife its been kinda quiet. There are signs of the deer passing through. A few weeks ago I found a bunch of fur in patches all over the yard. I came to the conclusion it was deer fur because it was in such random places, and i found some around deer droppings and also next to what looked like a deer urine mark. I will try to post pictures if i still have them on my phone.

Here's a list of what birds i have seen so far.

Black Capped Chickadee
Nuthatch
Cardinals
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-Winged Blackbird
House Wren
Kingfisher
Mallard
Wood Duck
Great White Egrets
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Coopers Hawk
Red Tail Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Goldfinch
Robin
Canadian Geese
Swans

The chipmunk is back, and there is a second one that i think was the baby of the pair that i fed last summer. Its quite skiddish, and wont eat any seeds or peanuts i toss towards it unless it lands directly in front of it.

I haven't seen any rabbits and haven't seen the turkeys. I think found some fox scat but it could be raccoon scat.

I have seen muskrats swimming in the marsh.

I will try to update my blog throughout the summer.