Category: birds

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Duck, Turtles & Trash - Saturday Moment of Zen

Obviously this was taken in the summer, but I was thinking about turtles earlier; what do turtles do under the ice in the winter for fun? Do they sleep all day? Raccoons & Possums are still in my trash every night and the Mallards, Wood Ducks, Nuthatches & Shovelers left a while ago — so what are the turtles & bees up to? I could check with Wikipedia, but I'm feelin' lazy and sort of like the image of the turtles playing cards and telling fish stories.

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Saturday Moment of Zen - 15 Ducklings

In remembrance of spring.

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Northern Shovelers Arrive in Minneapolis

Last Friday they showed up — bobbing on the gentile waves of Lake of the Isles. I took a bunch of pictures of them with my dubious 70-210mm Nikkor. Alas, something was wrong. I bought that lens a few months ago and was starting to notice a problem with it. The pictures I took looked horrible. What was wrong? Turns out, that great deal I got was on a film lens not a digital one. I took it back to National Camera and they took it back! That is a great company. I could save money buying things online, but I prefer seeing stuff before I buy it and getting great help. I bought the wrong lens at Roseville, but went back to the Golden Valley store to see Steve; he knew what was wrong. And I bought a new lens. That damn bird cost me $500. So here is the new and improved Northern Shoveler I shot yesterday morning with my new Nikon 70-300mm VR. There are about 30 of these lil' guys chugging around the lake dabbling away. I chased a Pileated Woodpecker for a while but he wasn't following his lighting cues.

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White-Breasted Nuthatch

Another critter joined me on my walk today. Learn more about the white-breasted nuthatch.

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Rule Number 18, Limber Up

It's the first of November and it's time for these web-footed holiday dinners to get ready for the big trip. I've been observing the canucks training since August, seeing small vees chugging across the city, but now they are forming bigger groups. I watched a thirty-something-goose-flock strafe Lake Street on my way home from Caribou yesterday. If you watch them this time of year, you can see that they are going slow and working to stay in formation. When I head South myself for Thanksgiving to Kenosha, I see several hundred-plus-goose formations on the wing, so they have a few weeks to go. In the mean time, they will be slickering up the trails and hissing at me. OK, I go asking for it, can't help myself, how often can you get a bird mad at you? Don't try this at home though, they can be pretty tough, those big wings can give you a good beating if they grab you. When I was in high school, a teacher's adult golden retriever chased the geese and they turned on him — and killed the dog. So don't mess with the geese. So what's the deal with Minnesotans and "gray duck"? Over in Wisconsin when I grew up it is was duck, duck, goose. Seems that Iowans are gray-duckers too.

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Duck Portrait

Meet the fearless duck standing guard over the entrance to the Como Zoo. She didn't mind my taking her picture, but I think she was a little upset over the lack of payment. She took it in stride though, like water off a... I must remember to bring food with me when I chase the local wild life.