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.