When warblers attack!! And other actually gross creatures....

Well not really an ATTACK, but it is spring migration and they are EVERYWHERE.


I was pretty busy this week at the TRC Raptor Rehab course, so the paddock filled upt with Oak's road apples pretty quickly.  Turns out that was a good thing, since it's been so cold and all of the insectivores have been having a really hard time.  In St. Paul someone found a dead bluebird crammed in a nest box with four tree swallows--they'd all crawled in to try and stay warm, but they didn't make it.  So I was pretty happy to see our warblers chowing down on all the little black manure flies. 


Palm warbler ---from the southern US and Caribean all the way up to the boreal forest.
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Palm_Warbler/lifehistory

Yellow rumped warbler
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Yellow-rumped_Warbler/id  They have some neat adaptations that help them expand their range (they can digest certain things other warblers can't).

 

 

Bad picture but you can see the awesome flying and wing extension!

I saw my first meadowlark--pretty brilliant yellow-


(photo by Alan Murphy)

I'm looking forward to some hot summer evenings where we grab a beer and walk across the road to sit and look over the 3000 acres (and the cows). 

Every day now it seems we see new birds species-today we had gold-crowned sparrow, a pair of wood ducks and a male northern shoveler in the flooded field, and a male bluebird checking out the new nestbox G built a few nights ago. The kildeer wouldn't settle down today, likely because Oakley was in the field, and there were several Cooper's hawks around.  Within the last two weeks the barn and tree swallows have returned, the warblers have come, and the juncos have left. There is also some sort of long-billed shorebird hiding out in the dead canary grass--so hopefully I can figure out what he is, and will have to keep Oakley out of there if they are trying to nest.

These may seem like boring details to some people, but for us these observations are really part of the whole experience.  It's also sort of like our very own David Attenborough film...Watching the male grackles dance and display and try to solicit the females reminds me of the birds of paradise--it's pretty awesome--and kind of funny when the female seems to say "Meh".


I have the supplies to put together my fleece skirting table, but spent too much time this aft building a new chute and pen for the sheep, and picking ticks off Oakley.  I really can't stand their little waving legs and sense of entitlement--that's Oakley's blood you are stealing you little jerks!!


The Shepherd's Harvest Festival is this weekend, so that should be fun!  That's where I met the lady we bought our sheep from last year.  I think it would be nice to have more brown/black in the flock, since it looks like the lambs are all going to be white/oatmeal instead of moorit.  We'll have to see how the pasture is growing and confirm we have enough before adding more sheep....We are also getting Mr. Winston the QH soon, so Oakley and his huge appetite will have to share...


Well the to-do list is getting longer the longer I sit here, so off I go.  Happy spring migration everyone. Keeps those murderous cats indoors please!!!