As noted in yesterday’s post: Battling Birds – Part 1: Tree Swallows, I hiked into the Great Blue Heron Rookery. Until the bugs drive you away (the flies, not the mosquitoes), hanging out in the swamp is amazingly fun. The sights are fantastic.

Battling Birds: Part 2!

Loosely translated this heron is saying “get away from my woman”. This was one of the few nests out of 20+ which already had an incubating female. The others had bachelors waiting for ladies to migrate in north (see video … link for email subscribers).

High Rise Apartment

Domestic Bliss

Waiting for Godot

I hiked in to the Canosia Wildlife Preserve Great Blue Heron Rookery this morning. There is a fantastic swamp / pond that has been formed by the HUGE beaver dam. Birds and other mammals love the handiwork of the beavers (many generations).

In the story of bird migration, it is almost always the males of each species which return to summer nesting grounds first … followed by females later in the spring. Two Tree Swallows found a drowned birch tree … perfect for a nest. A Battle Royale was joined … very fierce and very short (less than one second). This battle was repeated many times as each male tree swallow desired the optimale nesting hole. Enjoy!

The “challenger” lands just above the defending champion, who notes his presence.

The Battle! (last image is of the challenger falling away and giving up for the moment)

The “champion” post fight with his nest hole!

Near the end of Mary Poppins – when the blue bird of happiness a-wing -there comes a shift in wind direction. This was important because Mary Poppins had agreed to stay only until the wind changes. With the weathervane’s spin, it is time to leave.

Birding is a bit like the Mary Poppins movie. This morning the winds blew strongly out of the south for one of the first times this late winter. When I went out birding this morning I saw numerous bald eagles migrating north on the south wind. This evening I will drive over to Superior, Wisconsin in search of Snowy Owls. The same strong winds which brings Bald Eagles back to the Northland, will drive the Snowys up to the Arctic. Today is a changeover day.

Bald Eagle taking off in the Canosia Wildlife Area.