Eagle Watching

I did all of my errands Thursday morning that included picking up groceries, Charlie Food, and visiting the meat locker.

Phew. My purchases were expensive. It was a $200 day.  I noted that most gas stations were again in the process of changing their prices. This week it has floated up .10 a gallon and dropped .10 a gallon. 

It rained hard off and on all day with thunderstorms in the early morning and then again midday. The temperatures spiked with humid, muggy, and warm conditions at 68 degrees just before dark. 

I was worried about the sudden drop of temperatures to 28 overnight and how it would effect Mica our elderly grey mule who is prone to colic when there are wild temperature swings. 

However this morning, all of the equine kids are running, bucking, and farting. Fred, the eldest is pretty stoic. He is giving evil ears to anyone who bumps into him.

This is their typical winter morning routine anyway. Run, buck, and chase each other at dawn. 

All is good with the equine. The youngest mule is out chasing crows in the winter pasture. I wish I had that kind of energy at 6am!

Yesterday afternoon we had a visitor. We often get eagles flying or roosting in trees not too far way but this one was not far out the back door. The eagle carefully preened itself just before the storms hit. 

I grabbed my camera and stepped out into the yard and tried to take photos of it. It was hard to figure out what settings to use. The eagle appeared as a dark blob against a very bright grey sky.

Thankfully I have learned a few tricks over the years. I shoot RAW with my Oly -- [now called OM] -- and sometimes it can help save some of the information that the camera sees. In this case, I brightened the exposure and the shadows. 
The eagle at this point was just hanging out and preening.

Eventually the other birds noticed the eagle and a few Blue Jays decided to harass him. He was rather non-pulsed over it. I didn't catch it, but the eagle snapped at the Blue Jay when he got too close.

The Jay eventually sat in another tree and called out the eagle's presence to everyone else.

I had to move inside and shoot through the glass door when the rains came down hard.

Here, the eagle just looks ticked off at the pounding rain. When it let up, he/she just shook.

Soon the crows started to annoy the eagle. I've seen crows actually chase eagles before so I was really curious as to what would happen.

The eagle literally ignored them and they didn't actually dive bomb him at all. I figured the eagle would take off and fly away.

After hanging out for three hours, the eagle spread its wings and...

took off.

I'd waited for hours for this opportunity to 'shoot' him/her taking off. He landed in another tree close by and I was able to move to the porch and take one last shot as he left the second tree.

I was so tickled to have been able to watch this eagle from the comfort of my back door. And to observe him for hours. 

It was the highlight of the day. 

Turkey Buzzard and birds...and hike

Either I am getting used to the heat or I chose my clothing well. Wild Bill and I decided to do a short easy hike. I chose a hike along the top of the river that was shaded mostly by pines along the bluffs of the Kickapoo River.

I told Bill I was going to call him Wild Bill from now on. He said he was not wild and I said: Exactly. That is my point. 

Below ~ Wild Bill on a bluff above the Kickapoo.

From where we stopped to chill out in the shade we could see the river's winding path. It made 3 U turns that we could see from our vantage point. That is part of the reason it is called the crooked river. It is nearly 130 miles long and doubles back on itself quite often.

This was section 43 of the Trail Challenge and is only .75 miles long. Even though it is short, it is fantastic for a scenic hike if you stop and explore both campsites that accessible by water. Those would be campsite W and S. 

Field of bluebells!

The river is prone to flooding and most campsites have been moved out of those areas that could be flooded.

Charlie didn't go on this jaunt, the heat and humdity wouldn't have agreed with him. But we survived. We saw several huge areas that were filled with bluebells. Areas in the woods looked like they were a blue haze.

As I drove out of LaFarge towards home, the time and temp at the bank read 96 degrees. Whew. I don't think it was quite as bad as it was on Wednesday, but it was warm!

Late in the afternoon Charlie and I sat on the porch and enjoyed the shade and light breezes.

I noticed something odd far off on a dead tree. It was huge!

A Turkey Buzzard! Also known as Turkey Vulture and apparently it is known by other names also.

This guy/gal Vulture creature sat on this dead tree for 45 minutes and preened its feathers. It flapped its wings and twisted this way and that as it groomed itself. I had read about these carrion eating birds and found some very cool but sort of gross facts about them. However I'll let you read about yourself.

I think it was 'sunbathing' here but not sure why as the outside temps were pretty warm. 
When I worked at the power plant these birds would sit on top of the coal pile on cool mornings just like this. It was eerie to watch them as I drove by on a gate check. They'd watch you with their giant wings outstretched.

 

I think they are pretty unique birds.

As this was going on, a hen turkey decided to walk up into our driveway and give herself a dust bath.

And finally the Vulture decided to take off.

What a show Charlie and I had from our porch!

I got out!

The weather was nice Saturday morning, so I arranged for my neighbors to be available if hubby needed something and hurried out the door before anyone could change their minds.

I was bound and determined to find some cool birds and explore an area at KVR that led to backwater Kickapoo River ponds that take a lot more effort to get to than just walking on old 131 Trail. I wanted to see some ducks and not just the Canada Geese.

My job is 24/7, so I cherish that time when I can get off the farm and explore.

I found a mowed trail that the duck, turkey, and pheasant hunters use. It isn't marked but in the fall, the Reserve mows a path around the marshy area and near the ponds. This is a hot spot for bird hunters. I saw the trail on the Satellite map and thought it would be cool to check it out.

I was SO tickled to follow my ears to this little marshy spot and listen to the chorus of spring peepers and frogs. I sat on a log and ate my snacks.

16 seconds of Peepers!

I did some more listening and found another pond that I could get to. No Swans, no cool ducks, but a lot of Canada Geese. Overhead several Turkey Buzzards were circling.

I imagine I could never nap like this! What balance!

I found this goose laying on her nest. I am curious if the eggs will hatch. It looks like the pond level must have risen with the rainfall? Or she wasn't a very good nest builder. I didn't notice this until I got home, but the arrow points to a turtle!!!

I just did a mini happy dance.

The rest of the day was spent digging in dirt and I got an email and a text from my youngest son. I won't go into our history, but I don't hear from him very often unless he needs something. Let's leave it at that.

He wanted to come by and say hello. He had his girlfriend and her daughter who was just a year old. 

We stood on the porch and watched the sun go down while we did some much needed catching up. Oh gosh, this little girl was absolutely adorable. 

Charlie adored her too, each time she screeched or laughed he was right there. It was so fun to hold a baby and play with her!

I threatened to keep her. But her diaper needed changing and they had a long drive to get home. 

I guess I'd forgotten how fun it is to have little ones around. 

What a wonderful day. I got off the farm and had visitors.

It sure refreshed my mood so I can face next week's weather and doctor appointments.

Have a great Sunday.

Twwweet Tweet Lil Birdies!

The dull overcast light of Tuesday's winter weather was actually pretty nice for bird photography. This is a subject I always avoided because I thought 

1. It was easy

2. It was boring

3. It wasn't exciting

I was wrong on all 3 accounts.

It is hard, interesting to watch, and challenging to get a decent shot.

 
I'd washed my windows on Sunday when it was warm and took the screens off in hopes of being able to 'shoot' through the glass. 

I was thrilled when this Titmouse huddled under the porch roof out of the pelting sleet. It took several shots but this is the one I liked because it looks like he/she has Attitude and he is staring right at me. He was also within 10 feet of the window.

None of the shots will be 100% clear and perfect. But it was a fun learning experience.

The cardinals came by to brighten the scenery too. All the birds like to perch on the same general area of the pines that are in front of the house. This male cardinal sat for a long time unlike the Juncos and Chickadees who were darting all about.

One of the things I wanted to do was get a Titmouse in flight. I watched a video on tips for shooting birds in flight. My reaction time is slower than the birds. Fortunately, after a ton of misses, I got a Titmouse launching. 

Ideally, according to the experts, I should have had the camera on a tripod and should have had  Continous Tracking AutoFocus set with the multi shot setting on. I used multi shot, but the CT-AF wasn't on. 

Oh well, it was exciting to see how they fly anyway. There is also the option of Pro-Capture on this camera which starts to take a shot before you press the shutter. I'm not sure how that works, but it is wicked fun.

And I started to watch carefully. I think I can almost predict a take off. But I miss most of the time.

The Titmouse quickly flew out of focus. 

I watched the birds interact. This Junco sat quietly on the branch for a long time before he/she decided that the Chickadee was too close.

Fight Club!

The Chickadee moved higher into the tree.

To celebrate the 2-22-22 event, I kept watching and decided to give up. I started to put the camera away when this happened!

Twos!

So you ask. How many shots did I take just to get a few? Hmmm. Do you want to guess or should I tell you?

About Birds

First let me say that I have never been a Bird Watcher.

However curiosity does get the better of me as my Grandmother was The Absolute Bird Expert.

We'd go fishing on Little Balsam. We'd sit quietly in the old boat and I'd listen to the water tap the side of the boat. I learned some very important lessons while fishing with my Grandmother.
Silence was a good thing. We could sit quietly for what seemed like hours without having to talk.

Listening to the woods around the lake was what I learned to do. My ears could pick out someone down the lake slamming a door to their cottage as it echoed across the water.
Sound traveled.

Grandma would tell me which bird was making the song we heard. I'd listen and could pick out the general ones but was always frustrated that I couldn't always see the bird.

Grandma Pearl taught me to listen. Often we'd be doing something and she'd say "Sparrow..." or "Black Cap Chickadee" or some other distinct voice in the woods.

So far this spring I have identified several birds by their 'calls'.
Eastern Phoebe
Tufted Titmouse ~ Peter, peter, peter! I do love its song!
Blackcap Chickadee
Purple Finch
Pileated Woodpecker
Redbellied Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Towhee
Barred Owl

I can't wait for the wren to start yammering at me and for the Orioles to show up and start to sing.
The Wood Thrush is probably one of my favorite songs of all.

The snow is just about all gone and the birds are finding food again.

Just color me happy.

One day I just might become a bird watcher instead of a bird listener.