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.

Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

Was out in the yard looking at the milkweed and seeing how my cucumbers were fairing when I came across this little guy.

Then I found this bigger one on the ground. So in the interest of science and my own need to know I brought it up on the deck so i could take photos and look it up.

There was another one, so I guess this year its the year of Tussock Moths and not Monarchs, which is too bad. Hope I get a photo of one when it grows up.

Persistent spider

So this past friday night i was actually home and was on the deck. I noticed this small spider who had built a web over one side of the deck and picnic table. The next morning/afternoon came out to find no spider or web. Tonight i was on the deck and saw the same spider (significantly larger) building a web in the same general location and waited till it had finished to get a few pictures of it.

I am not certain but i do think it is a Barn Spider (like the one that had built a web in the back deck area last year). I can only assume that it rebuilds the web every night. Either birds, bats or people knock it down by morning.

I will try to take more pictures as it grows. Hopefully it will continue to build the web and nothing will kill it in the meantime.

Here is a picture of a Swallowtail Butterfly on Beebalm

First Spotted Touch me not flower

A few pictures of a Female Ruby Throated Hummingbird

It seems i have created a monster

Native plants make me happy!

I took these pictures actually mid to end of June but forgot to upload them. I also wanted to wait until i could identify them. And with the help of the wonderfull people at wildlifegardeners.org I think I can correctly state what they are. Sorry the photos arent of the best quality, it was windy that day. I found these flowers in the protected open space on the south side of hwy 96 on the NW side of Snail Lake.

With the help of wildlifegardeners.org we have identified this as Stachys palustris or marsh hedge nettle. Its native to MN. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=STPA

This we think is Packera paupercula or balsam groundsel. Which is also native to MN
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PAPA20

Here are some other pictures from that day.

I snuck up on a white tailed deer. I got a photo before it ran off.

Some painted turtles on a log in the pond behind the community center.

Some kind of Grebes i think

Painted Turtle

One of the lil bunnies in my yard

The last time I saw the only monarch caterpillar in my yard

Speaking of monarch caterpillars, i only have seen one this summer. I have made sure to keep as much milkweed in the yard and even in my veggie beds as possible. I havent seen another caterpillar in at least a week or more. 

Some sort of spider

And a pic of the lil bunnie. he got tired and laid down for a nap.

Loons

Was just outside when it started to rain. Was about to head inside when i hear some loons calling. Im glad i had my phone with me. Not good video but great audio!

Variety of plants, animals and bugs

Some pics ive taken over the week

First monarch caterpillar on milkweed

Bittersweet Nightshade

possibly a 13 spotted lady bug. (native)

Fleabane (native)

Dragonfly

Damselfly

Yellow Goat's Beard(non-native)

And a terrible picture of a Great Crested Flycatcher (i was stalking this bird for a few hours but it spends most of its time high up in the canopy so i couldnt get a good shot)

A doe, a bunny and some baby geese

Went out into the yard this morning and scared off what I think was a Doe (not sure). I didnt even realize it was in the yard.

Deer

Video of a young bunny in the garden.

Pair of Canadian Geese with their goslings.

House Wren Video

Here is video of the House Wren going back to the chickadee nest in the bird house to continue his pillaging and wrath of destruction...

Not in anyway graphic. He only pulls out some feathers that most likely were nest lining. Interesting how he keeps looking back at the camera... like he knows he is being watched....

The darkside of the House Wren......

Earlier this week I was reading on Wildlifegardeners.org a thread about House Wrens attacking and killing newly hatched Chickadee's.

TO read the original post: http://www.wildlifegardeners.org/forum/birds-other-than-hummers/8545-house-wrens-chickadee-predator.html

I was interested because I couldnt believe it to be true and also since a pair of Chickadee's had moved in to the bird house that the House Wrens had lived in the past few summers.

I went out and took a look and found some terrible things. I cant say for sure if it was the House Wrens who did it but evidence points in their direction.
Chickadee hatchlings

Chickadee Egg

 This is where the suspected murderer lives.

Early morning and Tadpoles!

Long story short I was up before the sun.
I took some pictures and videos of the tadpoles down in the marsh.

Some videos.



For some reason, either its just in preview mode or something else, the embeded links to the other 2 videos are not showing up. So here is the direct links instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Sk7trnOcj4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiORJNCYLlY


Also grabbed a picture of some Spittlebugs (yeah as in "spit". its because of the bubbles they make to surround themselves)

Also found what is either a dead mole or vole.