Bog Lecture; Owls to Orchids

Last night a sibling and I went to the MRVAC (Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter) for a lecture.  We had to go all the way to Bloomington to find the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center which, interestingly enough, is just a couple short blocks from the "Park-N-Fly" where I leave my car when I go to the airport.  Would would think a wildlife refuge was so close to the airport?  When you walk out the door of the wildlife refuge, you see the Hilton and Embassy Suites across the freeway.  Sparky Stensaas was the speaker.  My sibling said she wanted to go just to see what a guy named Sparky looked like.  To me, he looked 20 or 30 years younger than I thought he would.  Most birders are way past 60 years old.  Sparky was young and enthusiastic about bogs.  He said bogs fill in from the top down where swamps fill in from the bottom up.  Bogs have organic material below while swamps have mineral matter below.  A person could get wet and stuck in both of them.  And the mosquitoes from a bog bite just as hard as the mosquitoes from a swamp.  Sparky is a naturalist, a photographer, author, publisher and a writer.  He showed a film he made called "Owls to Orchids."  He had scenes from the Sam-Zim bog which is located near Duluth.  I've been there in the fall when the tamaracks were in beautiful golden orange color.  Sparky had amazing footage of the bog in all four seasons.  Besides the beautiful landscape, the clouds and the stars, he showed us gray jays, boreal chickadees, redpolls, great gray owls, northern hawk owls, ermine, frogs, voles, orchids, pitcher plants, sundew, spruce and grouse.  His film was nicely done with close up shots of owls turning their heads, blinking, hunting, feeding their young, eating, yawning, and burping up pellets.  Sparky is a big fan of the Sam-Zim bog and is leading the effort to expand the bog and build a visitor center.  Right now there is really nothing at the bog, not even an outhouse, which makes it difficult for visitors.  He'd like to see some trails put in and more prime bog land purchased.  At one point during the movie he switched from background music (mostly Enya) to a loud chorus of frogs.  Suddenly all we hear is "keck a heck, keck a heck."  Those are wood frogs.  We both had a good time at the lecture.

Some Potatoes Are More Appetizing Than Others

I put the potatoes in my little red wagon to bring them into the house.

I planted russet potatoes and some blue potatoes.  The russets turned out fine.  Some were small but overall it was a good crop.  This particular strain of blue potato is not as appetizing, in my honest opinion.

These look like something a cat leaves in a cat box.  I hope they're more appetizing when they're mashed.

Comments

I got seven comments when I misspelled the title and the picture was blank than when I write a blog entry.  What does that say about me?  What does that say about you?  Maybe I should do that more often.

More Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Pictures

The picasa slide show isn't working on some computers so I chose some photos to display separately.

Dawn at the refuge.  See the mist hanging low to the ground?

The sun rises.

Sandhill cranes wake up and go to the corn and soybeans fields for the day.

The cranes appear to be illumated from below.

These cranes will leave within the next two weeks, gather in Indianna before heading to Florida for the winter.  I wish I could go with them.

Sandhill Cranes at Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge

Frustration

Migwe, my canary, is looking pretty fine in his new coat of feathers but I am sick and tired of sweeping up feathers.  This molting thing is for the birds!  The wing feathers and tail feathers aren't so bad because they are heavy enough to stay where I put them.  It's those downy under feathers that keep escaping.  I try to sweep them with a broom and the feathers scatter away as the broom approaches.  I pin some downy feathers under the broom bristles and carry them out the deck door.  As I let them go free, some feathers rise in the air and go back into the house ahead of me.  I go back in and trap more between the broom and the dustpan.  I set them free on the deck railing. Some rise into the air on invisible air currents and soar into the basswood tree or up and over the roof.  I am glad molting only happens twice a year because cleaning up feathers is frustrating.

Got Up Early This Morning

This morning I got up early.  I had to be at the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge by 6:30 a.m.  I met some friends there.  About 30 people carpooled to a spot about 5 miles away.  We parked in a field and stood outside waiting for the sun to rise.  As the light increased, we could see fog in the distance across the prairie.  An orange glow shimmered through a stand of bare oak trees to our left.  We stood and watched as the day began.  A robin flew across.  Three crows chased an immature eagle.  Mallard ducks formed big "C's" in the sky.  And then another bird flew by.  This is what we were waiting for.  This bird flew effortlessly with a graceful and stylish flick at each upward stroke; a sandhill crane.  Camera shutters whirred and clicked.  Flocks of birds flew right toward us until they could see us standing there and veered off to the right or to the left.  More ducks flew by.  A noise behind us drew our attention.  Grackles were chattering and moving behind a barn, across the road and into the woods.   They looked like a black river in the sky.  We could hear gun shots to our left.  As the sun rose above the horizon, the cranes were illuminated from below.  Some cranes were so close we could see their little black feet stretched back.  Many of the cranes were silent.  Some cranes made their typical pterodactyl sounds.  Young cranes made an awkward peeping noise.  As we stood for an hour and a half we saw at least 300 cranes, 200 ducks, 50 geese, 2 trumpeter swans, one eagle, one robin, 3 crows, 8 cedar waxwings, and a bazillion grackles.  I hope some of my photos turn out.  Birdwatching with others, a great way to start a day.