Hummingbirds...it must be spring

Today, at long last, we had a sunny day with temperatures that reached 75 on my car thermometer. Sweet, if only all of summer could be like today! The Hermit emailed me this morning, saying he had seen a hummingbird checking out the empty feeder I had left up last fall. I emailed back, promising to activate the feeder when I got home. The Hermit had to leave on work related stuff. Sigh.

For lunch, I picked up a sandwich at the grocery store and headed to the muskie ponds to hopefully see some bird action. The warblers were a bit slow, I only saw a small flock of palm warblers and one yellow, but I was treated to one steamy erotic reptilian scene...yes, I saw a pair of snapping turtles in the act of mating! Okay, it wasn't that exciting, but it was kind of cool if you're a wildlife nerd like me.

When I reluctantly arrived back at the office after my slightly extended lunch (hey, you don't see snapping turtles mating every day!) my boss was trying to find me. The school nurse had called, Starflower was feeling ill. :( I felt bad for her, but at the same time...who wants to stay at work until 4:30 on the first decent warm day of spring! So I picked her up and arrived home early, although I still had to drive back to school to pick up the boys because Calvin had a music concert in the afternoon and I had promised I would drive them home afterwards. And I had planned on stopping at the grocery store, which I could not do when I picked Starflower up.

She's feeling a bit better now, but there is definitely something wrong there. I'm wondering if it's Lyme disease, since she has had about four episodes like this in the past school year. And I'm feeling a bit achy myself.

I did get the hummingbird feeder cleaned, nectar made (with organic sugar!), and feeder put into place, and at dinnertime I was rewarded with the sight of my first male ruby throated hummingbird of the year.

Pictures? My camera is not getting along with my computer tonight. Hopefully I'll get that fixed soon.

shorebirds and warblers

I was getting envious. Some folks on the Minnesota Ornithologist's Union listserv were going out and seeing fourteen species of warblers in their backyard and reporting shorebirds I've never even heard of from sewage ponds somewhere. It was time for action.

So this morning as I was pulling out of the driveway I noticed some activity across the road. Our neighbors have a wetland in their cow pasture which is really nothing more than a mudhole. In that mudhole, however, I saw two shorebirds. I was running late as usual, but I stopped, pulled out the binoculars, and identified two Lesser Yellowlegs, pretty much by their yellow legs and process of elimination from the bird guide. Tonight as I was waiting for the kids to be dropped off from their ride from church, I was ready. I had the binoculars, and I counted eight Lesser Yellowlegs actively foraging in that tiny mudhole of a pond. I guess this is a lifer for me, since I don't think I have positively ID'd Lesser Yellowlegs before, although I'm sure they have been here every year.

It was finally warm and sunny at noon, and I was in the office, not out pulling nets on a lake, so I decided to go for a walk around our fish rearing ponds. This is usually a pretty good bird walk; part of it is on a berm between one pond and the Grindstone River, and I have seen a Scarlet Tanager there. Sometimes there are even shorebirds. Today I saw what I think was a Northern waterthrush, although I don't remember enough for positive ID. Anyway, when I rounded the corner and came into a grove of pines and mature aspens, I was suddenly in warbler heaven. I saw lots of little birds flitting in the top branches of the trees, and they all looked different from each other. I'm pretty sure I saw a pair of Northern Parula warblers, and I definitely saw a Golden winged warbler. Both lifers for me.

These experiences remind me that it's all out there; you just gotta pay attention!

proud mama moments

#1- Calvin informed us, quite nonchalantly, that he got the best score on the standardized math test for the entire elementary school!

#2- Starflower is, at this moment, engrossed in reading Edward Abbey's A Voice Crying In The Wilderness, which is a collection of short quotes from his longer works. She picked it up herself from our abbreviated library we keep here in the cabin. Dang, I didn't get a proper introduction to Abbey until I was 19! And, I have not seen her look so involved in her reading for a long time. I hope we can have some great discussions about this!

Starflower and I saw a bobolink today as we were driving home from work and volleyball. First of year for me, and still very unexpected every time I see one around here. When I was driving Mr. Attitude to school this morning we saw a bittern "freezing" by the side of the road. So much life around here.

My Mother's Day

I spent my special day at Menard's, looking at paint colors and countertop options and electric ranges. For those of you outside the Upper Midwest, Menard's is the first big box retail lumber building supply store here, like Lowe's or Home Depot. But much better, in my opinion.

I am happy to be finally looking at finishing house details! I am leaning towards an electric ceramic cook top and oven, because the price of propane is going up faster than the price of electricity, and we are getting more of our electricity from wind and other sustainable sources these days. If the power goes out, I can always fall back on cooking on top of the wood stove.

My presents were: marigold seedlings, from Starflower and Mr. Attitude; a sun-proof, breathable LL Bean shirt, and a tank top emblazoned with the logo of my favorite local band, The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank. They even sent a couple demo CD's and a DVD as a bonus. And the package was postmarked Bruno, MN. Can't get any more local than that.

After Menard's, we went to Grandma's Sports Garden on the waterfront in Duluth for pizza and video games (and Leinenkugels for Mom), then a quick drive out on Park Point to look for birds. I saw a few flocks of bluebills, but I was too sleepy to really get out of the car and look for anything.

By the way, if you've been looking for a great recipe for black bean soup, please visit my other blog, The Deliberate Homemaker, link to the right. I don't post there as often as I'd like, so this is an event.

The house is occupied...

If you've been following this blog for a while, you may recall that Eastern phoebes have been nesting in the new house each spring. This year is no exception, even with all the roofing activity. There are still openings under the eaves for them to fly in and out, and this year they decided to nest right under the peak of the roof.

Don't worry, even if the eaves get closed in, which should happen within a week or so, I will take the screen off an upper window and leave it open for the birds. But once those little nestlings fledge, it will hopefully be the end of bird occupation and the beginning of human occupation in the house. I have tried to explain to the phoebes that we did not build this fabulous structure just so they could have a wonderfully protected nesting area. So far they are not listening.

New blue

This is the finished product. The roof I have been waiting for. I better not change my mind about the color, I'm stuck with it for life! But if you know me, I like any color, as long as it's blue.

The electrician will be here next week to run the main line in from the electric box out front, about 250 feet. From there we'll have it wired room by room, paying as we go. No more heavy duty extension cord, no more going outside on a rainy or snowy night trying to find where something flooded and shorted out the power!

I was granted a much-needed reprieve from net lifting duty today at work. My boss told me there were a couple of permits for exotic aquatic plant control that needed to be inspected ASAP, so of course I jumped on that project right away! I saw my first spring oriole in the process, and a robin sitting on a nest. And my weekend is free; no need to work! Maybe those potatoes will finally get planted.

I forgot to add...when I was inspecting one lakeshore property, when I returned from the dock the family dog, a black lab, ran up to me and dropped a tennis ball at my feet. Play ball with me! I obliged and threw the ball a few times, the dog eagerly retrieving it and returning it to me each time. I was a complete stranger, yet this dog trusted me. Dogs are funny and sweet that way.

sights and sounds

in bloom: marsh marigold, spring beauty, bloodroot, maple

leaves appearing: aspen

bird arrivals: house wren, sedge wren, ovenbird (and probably a few warblers)

frog chorus: spring peepers, Western chorus frogs, wood frogs, toads (well, not here, but 30 miles south of here)

I wish I had more time to write poetically about all these happenings, but lately I feel like George Jetson caught on that treadmill during the closing credits. Life is too busy.