Category Archives: Year 2

Days 352 to 354: Under the Weather Birds

Year 2,

The title to this post is a bit misleading. I am the person under the weather with a rip-roaring case of the flu. Not wanting to venture to far from a bathroom, my birding ventures were somewhat limited. However, given I am this close to the end of my project I could not let a nasty flu defeat me. Thus, I bring you under the weather birds!

One minor comment … I discovered that I made a counting error early on in my blog posts. Thus, the correct day is now associated with these birds.

Day 352: Winter Goldfinches
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Day 354: Black Capped Chickadee trying out my new suet feeder.
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Day 351: Trumpeter Swans Winter on the Mississippi River

Year 2

I had the privilege and thrill to watch these Trumpeter Swans just after sunrise this morning on the Mississippi River a bit downstream from the Monticello Power Plant. Given these swans almost went extinct in the 1960’s due to DDT, it is hard to believe I saw hundreds of these beautiful birds! However, one would not refer to their singing as melodious, but they do sound like trumpets! The video found at the end of this post is less than 90 seconds long, and will let you experience a bit of my frozen morning! It was 0F (-16C) when I took these photos and video!

Ice Rise Over the Mississippi River
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Some Courting Behavior
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The Start of a Disagreement!

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Trumpeter Swans … The Video!

Days 348 to 350: Frozen Fingers Photography!

Year 2, ,

Each morning for the past few days the weather has dawned with temperatures of -10F and worse (plus 20 to 30 mph winds for even worse chill factors). Birding has been tough, both of me and the birds. I still try to get out shortly after sunrise as birds are most active right after the long cold nights as they search for feed to replace energy expended keeping themselves warm. Thus, here are a few photos from the last three days where I braved the elements, and often got extremely cold … finger hurting cold.

For the last photo, I can not resist …

Would you like to swing on a star,
Carry moonbeams home in a jar?
Or would you rather be a duck?

My apologies to Bing Crosby … here is the classic tune.

Day 348: White-Breasted Nuthatch
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Day 349: Blue Jay
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Day 350: Goldeneye during an “Alberta Clipper”
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