A Good Day Part II: Native Plants and the marsh

I have only been interested in native plants since i moved back here to Minnesota. And after last summer I am glad that i can recognize a few native plants at various stages by sight alone. Last year I had to carry books around with me.

EDIT: (may 23 2011) This is not Waterleaf i was mistaken. Not sure what it is called. But it will have pink flowers if i remember correctly.

Wild Geranium. I transplanted two of these last summer from another area of the marsh. Only one seems to have survived.

 Spotted Touch Me Not

 A Squirrel came to investigate what I was up to.

And then he jumped away after i took his picture.

The water level in the marsh has not been this high since I was a kid. The path i usually take to get to the area behind the assited living apartments is flooded.

  Its nice that the marsh is finally turning green.

Sort of pretty sky.

A Good Day: Part I: Baby Geese and Garlic Mustard

Today was a good day. No work, all play and its warm out. I dont think i could ask for anything more. I took a lot of pictures today.So im breaking the post up into multiple posts.
And well because its that time of the year, i have a bunch of baby animal pictures. 

Here is a picture of one of the Rhubarb plants in the yard. I cant wait till its ready to be cut and i can have some yummy rhubarb sauce.  On the right of the Rhubarb is one of our Blackberry patches; another edible I cannot wait to be ready as well.

This is a picture of a Coopers Hawk. They are small and very fast hawks that catch other birds on the wing. Today I was out in the yard and saw a Coopers Hawk fly out of nowhere and grab a Red Winged Black Bird down by the marsh and fly off. I wasent quick enough to grab a picture as it happened way too fast. I couldnt find where he perched to eat his kill but it was still pretty neat to see.

 I am unsure what kind of duck this is exactly. But here is a mother duck with some ducklings out in the marsh.

Here is one of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds at the feeder.

 This is Columbine. It is a native wildflower to Minnesota. We have 4-6 Columbine plants in the yard (that we planted) and only 2 are flowering. But it is better than none.

 Hairy Woodpecker in flight

 Pair of Hairy Woodpeckers in one of the Plum trees.

My first picture of the Canadian Goslings.

 One of the two nesting pairs of Canadian Geese with some of their goslings.

 Today I also took the inititive to remove all the Garlic Mustard from this one area down by the marsh. Garlic Mustard is a highly invasive non-native plant. It spreads impossibly easy and is just not a good thing to let run wild.
This is what it looks like up close.

This is the before picture of the area.

And this is what it looked like when I was done filling up two 40gl black trash bags.

Here is a bunch of Canadian geese and baby geese pictures.

An ideal day

Its warm and muggy. Was mostly sunny for the day and now is kind of over cast. I guess if there was a thunderstorm to enjoy i would be in heaven.

Got quite a few pictures today.  Be sure to check out the muskrat pictures towards the bottom.

Northern Oralie

 
Goldfinch

Crows

 Ruby-Throated Humingbird

I almost got pooped on

Found a nest. Not sure what kind of nest. And all the eggs were broken and or hatched.

 Orange Slim Mold. (pretty sure its the same type I found last year, just in a different location)

First Toad of the summer

 A muskrat got real close to me.  Got a few good pictures that I am proud of.

 And the cautious Mr. Chipmunk

First Hummingbird of the summer

So I saw it. The first hummingbird of the summer. I was headed out into the yard when i caught the glimpse of a hummingbird flying away from the Magnolia tree. So i grabbed my camera and made it my mission that for the 2 hours before i had to be at work I would get a photo of it.

And well here it is. Just the silhouette but it's better than nothing.

So obviously tomorrow I am going to get the hummingbird feeders up and will be camped out in the yard waiting to get some pictures. I love hummingbirds and they are actually great subjects for pictures (once they get to trust me).

Early Over Due

This afternoon I was doing my normal routine, coffee & a smoke on the back deck hanging with the chipmunk when i noticed something down by the marsh. Im actually surprised I even recognized it as being a bird and not a log or something. So I grabbed the binoculars and discovered it was a Green Heron hunting along the shore line. Unfortunately it was in a location where i wouldnt be able to get a clear shot and I was much to far away. I went down for a closer look but a person walking flushed the bird away from me and I also had to go do some non bird watching related things. So I was excited that a Green Heron has come back to the marsh year but was sad i couldnt get a picture of it.

Then in the last hour I got a real treat. I at least got to try and take some pictures of a Green Heron and also came to find out there are at least 4 that were hanging around the marsh this evening. Hopefully Ill get some better pictures and video.

I have decided not to share the video at this time. The wind blowing totally blocked out the Green Herons squaks.

Here is a photo of the Magnolia Tree. (forget what kind exactly, some crazy hybrid that can survive our winters.)

Close up of the flowers.

And two pictures of a Great Blue Heron I took sometime this week.