Interesting Day

Today was far more eventful than yesterday. Got some pictures of a Common Flicker today. Pretty good looking bird. I really like the yellow on the underside of the wings and tail. It was enjoying itself feeding on the suet and thistle and got a drink from the bird bath.







The squirrels were acting more crazy than usual today and it took me a while to figure out why. It was like every single squirrel was out running around chasing each-other for a good 3 hours. I mean a few squirrels here and there chasing each-other is normal but when there is like 11 of them running through the trees i knew something was up. It seems one of the females in the tree right next to the deck has gone into heat (well thats what im assuming). I didnt think about it until i caught a glimpse of Nubbin (a grey squirrel with only a nub for a tail, he looks like a bunny) cornered a squirrel at the end of a branch, the same squirrel everyone else was trying to catch, and mounted it.



After that Nubbin was run off by another squirrel and proceeded to stand its ground not allowing any other squirrels get near it.

(Nubbin is in the bottom right, the female is the upper left-most one, and the other male is in the middle.)


Finally the lone female made it back to her home with the last male, and the rest of the squirrels fought for position to poke their heads in the hole only to be clawed and lunged at.
The last squirrel i have seen around the nest is the Black Squirrel. He had ignored the noise for most of the day and after enjoying some sunflower seeds lazily made his way over to the tree, climbed up to the nest and with just his presence ran off all the squirrels. I guess nobody wants to mess with him.



I also got a good pic of a owl wing imprint.




I also saw a Bald Eagle flying around, i wish it would have flown closer for a better picture.

not a whole lot going on

its bitterly cold again. at least the wind has toned down today. I haven't seen too much going on in the yard and when i went for a walk today i think i saw some raccoon tracks.


I have gotten the gardening itch. I cant believe it'll be 3 months before i can get outside and start working on the garden. At least mid to end February i can start propagating some plants inside. But what i really need is to feel the grass and soil between my toes. I guess this will give me a good amount of time to figure out everything i want to do and what i need to do when.

owls and bears

Lily the black bear it seems has gone into labor this afternoon. The servers crashed earlier this evening due to a sudden increase in traffic. People are blaming the nightly news for broadcasting to the world that lily is in labor and causing the server crash. It seems plausible but im not gonna point fingers. Its back up and working now and Lily seems to be trying to sleep but is moving around more than usual. Im excited to see her give birth i just hope im around to see it. Unfortunately my day tomorrow is very busy and i will be unable to have a computer near me to watch if she doesn't give birth tonight.


Earlier around 530pm i went outside for a smoke and immediately heard a great horned owl call comming from across the marsh. So i ventured farther out in the yard to see a owl flying from tree to tree on the other side of the marsh. I wasn't certain at the time if there were two owls because the 2nd one seemed to be farther away and its call was harder to locate. Then about 10 mins ago i went on the back deck and didn't hear any hooting when suddenly i saw a dark form flying up from the marsh and landed in a tree at the back of my yard. It was a great horned owl, it started hooting for a good 10 mins and towards the end of the 10 mins i faintly heard a 2nd owl hooting. Thats when the 1st owl took off and headed back down towards the marsh. I really wish i had an infrared camera or night-vision so i could take pictures at night. But im happy enough to get to see these night critters even without photogenic proof. The only thing that does get me down is when i take walks and i look around under where i have seen owls perched i never seem to find any owl pellets. I will continue my search maybe ill come across one soon.

learn something new everyday

Ive been watching the Lily bear den cam for a few days now and had seen people mention on the facebook page that they had seen a spider crawling about but i didnt think it could be possible. Sure enough about 15 mins ago i see a spider crawling on lilys back. I never knew spiders were active during the winter. So i googled winter spiders and found this page http://www.fmr.org/mississippi/phenology/spiders-2008-02 they say spiders can infact be active during the winter. Who knew? I sure as hell didnt.

broadwinged hawk

So just a few moments ago i saw a big shadow pass my window so i got up to investigate. Perched on a small branch about 15 ft above my window was a smallish hawk. I believe it was a broad-winged hawk. I tried to grab a picture of it when it flew to another perch farther out in the yard, but it flew away when i opened the back door to the deck. I cant wait for spring/summer, the animals are less inclined to fly or run away and its more comfortable to spend an entire day or afternoon sitting out with camera in hand.


Anyways the bear cam is very fun to watch. I wonder how long before the bear does tear the camera down and try to eat it. as of right now (3:52)pm Lilly the black bear has left the den, to do what im not sure. But in the process of getting out of the den she nearly did take the camera down so we'll see what happens when she returns. Its also neat that the camera has sound so you can hear her breathing snorting moving around.

Black Bear Den webcam in Ely

I remember hearing the story about this on NPR on Friday morning on my way to work but then forgot about it until someone posted about it on the Wildlifegardners website.

There is a pregnant black bear in Ely that should give birth in a week or so, they installed the webcam this weekend and have a live 24 hour feed of the bear in its den. Its pretty neat see a wild black bear in its den on a live feed. i hope i get to see it give birth! or at least see the cute lil cubs afterwards.

Heres the link

http://www.wildearth.tv/static/bearden

Mr. Woody-Woodpecker himself

Got some pictures of the male Piliated Woodpecker.

Red Tailed Hawk

Still cold out, the thermometer says its around 10F, which is a lot warmer than it has been. Might get a dusting-2inches of snow tonight.

I finally got a good look at the hawk thats been flying around the neighborhood for the last month or so and its a Red Tailed Hawk. I feel bad for the hawk because whenever i see it its being dive bombed by crows. Hopefully ill get a chance to snap the hawks picture and post it.


Other birds i saw today at the feeders are the usual visitors:
- Male Cardinal
- chickadees
- 4 downy woodpeckers. 3 of which were taking turns at the suet feeder and then the 4th flew in just to chase the others around.
- a pair of juncos
- Red Bellied Woodpecker
- white breasted nuthatch
- American goldfinch
- robin

as for the non feathered friends
- grey squirrels
- our neighborhood black squirrel (grey squirrel variety, its mother was a white albino)
- red squirrels

Out in the yard the only tracks Ive seen were bunny and squirrel. The deer haven't been through the yard since the last snow and no sign of the foxes or the turkeys.

2010 is cold

so after the snow storm on during Christmas the temperature has been incredibly cold. for the past few days its been -15 to -10 during the night, and during the day barely breaking 10F. So i haven't made it outside so much. The downy woodpeckers have been enjoying the suet I've put out and so have the squirrels. Nothing too interesting or exciting has been going on in the yard but i wouldn't expect much activity with the weather like its been. Hopefully it will warm up to the teens by the end of the week and this arctic air will move itself away from here for a bit. Its only January and im pretty sick of the cold, only 3 1/2 - 4 months left.

Lots of snow, and some deer

Well its still snowing, and im loving it. We got somewhere between 5-12inches (i knows its not very exact but i forgot to go out and measure before i started shoveling). Theres still more snow on the way which is neat. Talk about a super white christmas this year.

So last night, well actually very early this morning around 230-300am me and a few friends decided to go sledding down the hill at the back of my yard. We got out there and i looked over in the neighbors yard and we saw 6 white tail deer. What was amazing is that they stayed and watched us sled for about 30 mins before moving on. I bet they think we are silly creatures going up and down the hill at that hour. It was great fun and was very nice to see the deer out and about. I hadent seen them in a week or more.

I would be taking pictures of all the snow but my parents took the digital camera with them on their trip to Texas. All i have is a old 35mm film camera and probably no film. Maybe if i decide to go out and about again today ill pick some up and post pictures when i can get it developed.

Short-Tailed Weasel

Monday afternoon I saw a Short-tailed Weasel down at the bottom of the hill. I didn't get a picture i didn't bring the camera with me. So im going to try to find it again and get one over the weekend hopefully.

There was also some sort of hawk flying around the neighborhood monday, im not sure what kind of hawk it was because it was being chased around by crows. It did call out when being dive bombed by the crows and it sounded like a eagle but im sure it wasn't an eagle.

Its starting to snow a little bit and we have a huge storm on its way. I'm kinda of excited only because i dont plan on leaving the house in the next few days and plus shoveling would be some good exercise.

Squirrels

Well all the grey squirrels are pretty active today. All of them seem to be focused on the same task, collect as many leaves to line their nests. I wonder if that means we are going to get alot of snow. Theres something headed this way on the radar.



(gif from noaa.gov)

Anyway the squirrels are always fun to watch, its just too bad i cant be outside and watch them, they have become very unsure of me now that its been cold out. In the summer they didnt mind me standing on the deck, now they climb up into their nest and watch me. They also didnt mind me walking through the yard, they would just stay on the other side of the flower beds, now they run off to the neighbors yard or up in the trees. Makes me sad, but i understand they are focused on survival and now isnt the time to risk anything.

Great Horned Owl

So about 30 mins ago I went out on my back deck for a smoke and saw an owl fly from one of the trees nearest to my deck to a tree in my neighbors yard, i guess i surprised it. So i grabbed my binoculars and tried to locate its shape amongst the branches, which didn't work out i couldn't find it. But i did hear it hooting. So after 10 or so mins listening to its call i came in to look online for what kind of owl it could be based on the call i heard. Well it seems it was a Great Horned Owl making a pair call. Pretty neat though! i wish i could have gotten a good look at it. It would of been super awesome to get a picture of it but its too dark out.


Here's a link to a page with great horned owl info and calls.
http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Bubo&species=virginianus

Bald Eagle

About 20 mins ago i was driving north on Lexington Ave (that runs along the ammunitions plant) and saw a Bald Eagle fly low over head. Its always great to see them around. Back in high school i was always amazed to see them up in Grand Rapids on Lake Pokegema, but its very cool they are down here in the burbs.

We got about 3 inches of snow last night. The temp is back into the low teens and tomorrow we are only supposed to have a high of 5F.

Bird Sightings and Whistling Swans

The last 2 weeks i had seen 2 swans flying over headed in the direction of the ammunitions plant (flying from the south east to the west-north-west). I'm fairly certain they are Whistling swans because the only black i could see on them was their beaks. Today i just happened to be looking out the back door to the deck and saw a flock of about 12 swans flying in the same direction. Maybe one of these days i will be able to get a photo of them.

Other birds seen in the yard today:
-A flock of about 30 American Robins - eating berrys on various trees
-Chickadees - too many to count
- Blue Jay
- Female Cardinal
- White Breasted Nuthatch - 4
- 2 American Goldfinch - i hope more return i usually see groups of 5-10 on the thistle feeders
- Downy woodpecker
- Red Bellied Woodpecker
- Common Flicker
- Crows (unsure which kind)5

The temp today has been around 15F so compared to the last few days of snow and single digits the animals have been a bit more active.

I also went for a short walk down along the marsh to see what tracks i could find. It seems the squirrels and mice are the most active animals. Maybe 1 or 2 sets of rabbit tracks. There were no deer tacks that i could see so im assuming they are waiting for it to get a bit warmer before venturing out very far.