Out of the Garden

While Thanksgiving day was opened by a big blazing sun we weren't so lucky with the weather today.
Today we almost decided to stay at home due to the foggy conditions. We also had some rain this morning to add to the miserable conditions.

While we didn't think we were going to be lucky enough to see much of anything at our usual birding area things did start to reveal themselves to us. There were the usual Great Blue Herons. We usually can't get too close to them but with the fog almost acting as a blind we did get fairly close to some of them. I thought this made an interesting shot. Even the huge rafts of Mallards let us get close to them. Of course as soon as they realized we were so near they all took off.
One of the most interesting sights we saw today was, no not thise lovely little coot but one of its own being devoured by an adult Bald Eagle. Unfortunately when we got close enough to see what was happening we were unable to get a picture because the Eagle took off with its breakfast dangling from its talons.
All that was left behind were the feathers that the Eagle had been plucking. As we went around the SW end of the area we bird to an area we don't hit every week we were thrilled to find 8, no not 8 tiny reindeer, 8 huge Whooping Cranes flying through the air.I mean this is almost unheard of anyplace since these birds are still an endangered species. This area is right along the Wabash River which we suppose that the Whooping Cranes were following south.

We ran into a hunter that told us they had been in this area for 2 weeks. Some of them have radio transmitters on them and they are being monitered by every agency that has a concern for them.

There are two immatures in this group. If you enlarge one of the pictures you can see the cinnamon coloring on the juveniles. It takes a whole year for the juveniles to molt into adult plummage.

There they go into the fog. Just a magical moment seeing these birds come out of the fog into view.

I am so thankful that my DB took these wonderful pictures. I was way too excited to even think about it. I hope you all are having a good day too despite any foul weather.

Out of the Garden

Oh what a beautiful day! We had such a lovely day to be out and about today. We went to our usual birding area. Iknow you probably wonder why we go to the same place every weekend. It is sort of like our back yard since we have birded here so often. There is a diversity of habitat and therefore we have a diverse range of birds to find. Sort of like a treasure hunt.

As you can see we also had some color to view. I think we are a little past peak viewing here. It has been so dry that I think a lot of the trees went directly to brown or just dropped their leaves in protest of the dry weather.

'What in the world is he looking at?' you might ask. Well...

is it a mouse?

Nah, we wouldn't work that hard to take a picture of a mouse. It is the first of the season Snow Bunting of course.
This is one of my absolute favorite northern birds. They come down here dressed in their winter plummage.
This one was right cheeky with us.It posed on a rock near the water for a couple of minutes. These little birds don't stand still very long.
You have to get your pictures as fast as you possibly can.This one called and before you know it...
another came whizzing by and off they went. There were 9 of them in this group. You can see all the white in the wings of the bird coming from behind. During the breeding season they are mostly black and white. If you lived in Nome, Alaska they would be a yard bird for you.
I want to thank my DB for taking time to get close enough for a few pictures. The pictures here that are closer and out of focus are the ones I took. He took the rest of them. It was a fun day. I hope you had a good weekend too.

Out of the Garden

We had a mighty interesting day of birding today. The weather was nearly as perfect as you could ask for any time of year. We had a several first of the fall season birds today including this Lapland Longspur. It was in a most unusual place too. It was found on the break in a large lake where we bird. Quite the handsome bird with the rufous in the wing even though it is in its winter plummage.

They are normally in fields.We usually don't even start looking for these little birds until mid winter. They can be found in the fields along with horned lark and sometimes if we are lucky snow buntings. I think this one is a male since it has all that dark streaking on its breast.

Sometimes they stick around until early spring when they are molting into their breeding plummage. Either way I was happy to see them.

On the other end of the spectrum we had what I think of as late summer early fall birds, a Great Egret. It probably won't be around here after this weekend because it is to get down into the 30's tonight. I imagine it will be heading for warmer climes.
If you want to see the Lapland Longspur a little better you can click on the pictures to enlarge them. I want to thank my Dearly Beloved for taking so many nice pictures today and letting me use them on my blog. I hope you were all able to get out and enjoy the weekend.

Out of the Garden

We had an interesting day of birding today. We found a couple of Forester's Terns. Now we often have these birds during migration but the little bird you see below is the youngest one I have ever seen. How do I know this you ask?? Well, on its head, nape and back it has lots of brownish feathers. These are the left over feathers it had when very young. It was in the company of an adult. In this picture you can see the adult on the left at the foot of the Ring-billed gull. You have probably seen the gulls in your local Mart parking lot scavengering for food.
We kept creeping in to try to get closer shots. Whoops...a little too close. They are lifting off...
Goodbye little Forester's Tern. I hope you make it to your wintering grounds down south. Say hello to Meems for me if you go to Florida.
The technically best bird of the day was a Red-necked Grebe. Now these birds don't show up in our area every year. When they do show up they are usually decked out in their winter plummage. This bird was still in its breeding plummage.

It was a hungry bird because we were able to get quite close to it for some pictures. You can see here that it caught a fish.
Yummm...give it a little swish then...
down the hatch. It floated away from us after it had several more fishes for lunch. We didn't see it again after we went to have lunch.
All of these pictures were taken by my Dearly Beloved. You can click on them to enlarge to see the birds a little better. I hope you all are able to be outside and enjoy this beautiful weather.

Out of the Garden

Last weekend while out of the garden we saw a most the unusual sight of a flock of blackbirds chasing an Osprey out of their territory. The poor Osprey looked fairly beat up with missing tail and primary feathers. It didn't seem to mind the mob that was escourting him up and down the ditches lining the road. It continued to hunt with the escorts all keeping their distance unless an occasional brave blackbird would break the ranks and dive close at the Osprey. We were ever hopeful that the one spot of clear sky would eventually open over us so we would have better viewing conditions.
However we were dodging rain bursts most o fthe time. Happy Skywatch Friday.

Out of the Garden

I don't have any idea what this wild flower is but when we were out birding yesterday we drove through a sea of this white fluffy stuff. Not only was it pretty but it was like a world of butterflies and insects. I took this picture hoping to capture all the Buckeyes and Red Admirals that flew up out of the flowers. Obviously it didn't work but I thought I could show you how tall the flowers were and thick.

Does anyone know what this wildflower is? It is quite tall as you can see in the photo. It would be a good one to have if you are wanting to attract butterflies.

I had never seen such a large amount of Buckeyes in one place. There were also lots of these caterpillars. I have no idea what kind they are. They aren't Buckeyes or Red Admirals I know for sure. This one looks like one of the Wooly family.
There were also a few Red Admirals flitting around with the Buckeyes.It seems that no matter where you are at this time of year there will be some type of grasshopper. This one had reddish legs.On a bird note we had a couple of Ruddy Turnstones. They are in inbetween (breeding/winter) plummage. They are very interesting birds in that they are named so because they indeed turn over stones where ever they hunt for food. These stones are too large for the bird to turn them over but they love to pick through the crevices looking for bugs.
For another interesting look at what is found under stones you can go to Nina's blog Nature Remains and see what she found onInternational Rock Turning Day. I am sure the Ruddy Turnstones would approve. I want to thank my Dearly Beloved for taking most of these pictures and allowing me to use them.