One Eye Open and Always Listening

Call me a curmudgeon, but I just have not been pumped up for migration this spring and often let the world of birds buzz around me without taking notice.

Eastern Screech-OwlMaybe it’s work, maybe it’s my unfinished taxes, maybe it’s the fact that the regulars have become blasé, but my obliviousness is mostly due to my OCD over ESOWs for TOBY (Tommy’s Owl Big Year).  Nights are filled with mining the data, pumping the contacts, and even prowling the woods.  There has been little time for the ordinary.  This indifference should not be mistaken for a lack of awareness of my surroundings or of the current events in the birding world.

Eastern Screech-OwlSometimes things do catch my attention requiring me to investigate matters further.

Eastern Screech-Owl

As I’ve been Screeching lately, some of the ordinary birds have stopped me cold–only because I thought I was taking machine gun fire.  Turns out it was just a Good God Bird.

Pileated Woodpecker

Screech-Owls love tree cavities.  So do Wood Ducks.  Still, I was astonished to find no fewer than six pairs of Wood Ducks in the treetops in two small city parks.

Wood Duck

Wood Duck

The Eastern Screech-Owl focus has been pretty laser-like, but I am still doing my due diligence when it comes to listing/chasing.

I recently went after a lifer Red-throated Loon in Brainerd which had a decidedly not-red throat and even more decidedly un-Loonlike appearance, as in it didn’t appear at all.  The consolation was a small flock of Bohemian Waxwings under a blue sky.

Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwing

Also in recent birding adventures, I picked up MN #299, Mountain Bluebird, after two attempts. I even have a crappy photo to prove it.

Mountain Bluebird

A nearby American Tree Sparrow was slightly more accommodating.

American Tree Sparrow

At the county level, progress on the list has been steady, albeit unexciting. Ross’s Goose was a solid add and bonus points were earned for a three-Goose photo.

Ross's GooseAnother overdue addition was American Woodcock, peenting style. (Turn the volume way up)

Though not a new county bird, I continue to document the rare ones, like the Mute Swan, for eBird.

Mute Swan

One only knows what more will show up this migration.  One bird that migration won’t drop in my lap is the Eastern Screech-Owl.  For that I must fight the good fight and play the numbers game.  I’ve got two months to figure it out.  The truth is I love the focus of a singular goal, even more so when it’s a challenging one. Bring it on, Screech.

Eastern Screech-Owl

November Birds

Last Monday’s blizzard didn’t get its fill of bullying as it stayed on into Tuesday.  School was canceled for the second day in a row.  While kids rejoice with such news, we adults face the reality of the miserable work of digging out from the storm.  One upside is that a blizzard brings on a frenzy of birding activity in the yard.  Natural food sources get covered up, and many birds head to the easy pickings of a feeder.  The activity was so hot that all of us found ourselves looking out the window at one point or another to see the feathered fray outside.  Here are the highlights:

A FOF (first-of-fall) American Tree Sparrow showed up.  It is such a good-looking sparrow and a great bird to have in the yard.

American Tree Sparrow

Blue Jays continued to delight even if they were having bad hair days.

Blue Jay

Previously a shy bird for the October Birds post, the Hairy Woodpecker decided to show up along with a couple others! We had a record-high count of three in the yard.

Hairy Woodpecker

This next bird has long been a family favorite, and on this day our normal pair of Eurasian Collared-Doves doubled!  It was another record-high count for the yard.  ECDOs are quite uncommon and seldom seen in most of Minnesota, so we are quite fortunate to have them in our yard.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

This next bird isn’t exactly a highlight nor very rare, but it is rare to see a European Starling in the yard. Normally I don’t photograph this bird, but it showed up during the photo shoot, so what the heck.  And actually, it’s kind of cool-looking.

European Starling

Another bird that missed last month’s photo shoot and that never gets old to see is the Northern Cardinal.

Northern Cardinal

The male, though, was just not very photogenic, always sitting in seed trash or posing with food in its beak.  Typically overshadowed by her mate, the female stole the show on this day proudly displaying her beauty with subtle hints of red.

Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal

Northern CardinalClearly this female has had enough of being sidelined by photographers and male Cardinals alike.

Northern Cardinal

What could be better than a pair of Northern Cardinals in the yard? How about TWO pair! This was another record high-count brought on by the storm.  Woohoo!

Northern Cardinal

The males did NOT share feeder space.Northern Cardinal

Not pictured in any of my posts are the hordes of House Sparrows that we feed.  I would guess over 50.  I actually don’t mind them because I consider them bait for something bigger, better.  I was in my bedroom folding laundry and not paying attention to the incessant noise of all the sparrows and other birds at the feeders when I heard a huge WOOOOSH as all these birds flushed simultaneously and a loud, collective “CHEEP!” which I’m pretty sure is bird-speak for “Oh S#$%!” I knew a predator had finally come in to nab a meal.  I raced to the window, thinking I’d see my Northern Shrike return.  To my amazement, a huge raptor swooped in and landed in front of our living room window.  It was a Cooper’s Hawk! I hollered for Evan to come see it, but he was in the basement and didn’t hear me.  I got out to the living room and saw this guy perched just 6 feet from the window.

Coopers Hawk

I left this next photo uncropped so you could see just how close it was – you can see the soffit of my house in the upper right of the photo.

Coopers Hawk

This was a cool sighting.  Too bad it didn’t grab a sparrow or two before it tried to fly into my living room and then leave.

Another highlight bird that showed up a week after this stormy day was a Fox Sparrow who was very late but still very much the life of the yard party.

Fox Sparrow

Storms are fun if you’re a birder.  It turns out that the day that brought us the Varied Thrush also delivered a duck gift to Minnesota on Lake Superior.  This news would start a week-long internal storm of sorts for this birder.