Just when I think all birds are fledged, with the bug birds well into their migration, I get fooled. Earlier today I met the Cardinal twins. These youngsters obviously fledged just within the past day or two … quite late on August 27th. I have to wonder if this is a second nesting for my local cardinals, or if the first nest failed. Regardless, August 27th is very late.

The other excitement today was a large flock of Cedar Waxwings enjoying my Mountain Ash Tree berries, or at least they will until a Coopers Hawk snagged one. My yard was bird free for a quite a while after that point, and I did see the hawk again about one hour later.

Northern Cardinal

Cardinal Fledgling (begging)

Dad arrives with food!

Prophetic words! Back on August 11th I decided I had to buy this t-shirt and anted up the cash to Amazon. Early this morning I decided it would be fun to wear my new shirt to my Cardiac Rehab appointment. The nursing staff at Essentia is fantastic, and many have become friends. Just prior to leaving I discovered today was a very appropriate day for “the shirt.” Five minutes before leaving for my medical appointment, I found out I had once again been “beared.” Here are my trailcam photographs from the past 24 hours …

With the extreme drought in northern Minnesota, which I have to assume is affecting the berry crop, bears will very much in evidence this fall. I had not been beared for over a month.

Mr. Bear (or Madam Bear) approaches

Mr. Bear tells me what he thinks of my bird feeder protection system

Yours truly working upon bear repair this morning

A close-up of the t-shirt!

Let’s check your powers of observation! These two photographs were taken seconds apart yesterday evening shortly before sunset. There is a subtle difference. Same juvenile owl … near Lake Superior in Duluth. You may need to maximize the images. I will admit it took me a while to figure out the difference, but I knew w/o knowing why the photos were different!

It has been fun to find my family of owls again after 2+ weeks of zero sightings. Over the past 3 days I have seen the juvenile Great Horned Owls many times. I suspect the parents are feeding them less and less. Thus, the owlets need to start hunting more on their own. I have even surprised one of the juveniles on the ground right at sunrise yesterday morning.