Blog Archives
A Secret Moment
Friends, this pair of wood ducks are enjoying a peaceful evening on the small pond near our house, the female is almost hidden in the grasses of the lower left corner of the image, while the male is standing guard. These ducks arrive in the early spring and nest in the wetlands of Crex. They are extremely secretive and shy, flying at the slightest disturbance. til Tomorrow MJ
Grouse Attitude
Friends, an early morning in the grouse blind with male Sharptail Grouse dancing around us makes getting up before the sun very worthwhile, when they are tired from dancing, two males will lie down in the grasses face to face and stare at each other, these two rose up and this confrontation was apparent, the grouse on the left was all pumped up and full of himself, the right bird was giving a lecture, an attitude adjustment no doubt, I love when the birds and animals reveal their personalities and let me into their world, til Tomorrow MJ
The First Loon
Friends, The loons returned to Crex in the last week in April and just as the last of the ice was melting. The last of the ice is visible in the upper part of this image. The male and female were cruising the icy edge searching for tidbits and tasty morsels embedded in nature’s deep freeze. Soon they will start calling and doing their mating flights. Spring has finally arrived. til Tomorrow MJ
Ms Belted Kingfisher
Friends, This is a young or adult female Belted Kingfisher. The controversy arises because of the incomplete brown on her chest, if she was an adult female, the brown band would be complete. Since the band appears to have a gap in the middle, perhaps she is a youngster just arriving in the northland. The water is now open and she has found a fishing hole below this high line wire. She complained bitterly when I stepped out to take her picture, sorry I disturbed her, love her hairdo, til Tomorrow MJ
Another Bittern
Friends, this bittern is trying to hide in the cattails and sedges in Crex Meadows but the water background is betraying him, when a threat is near, he will stand with his beak raised like this so the stripes down his long neck appear like a pile of rushes, sometimes if the wind is blowing he will wave back and forth to more closely resemble his grassy background, these birds are intriguing and soon when they nest, you will not find them easily, below is a higher magnification of his head, til Tomorrow MJ
One More Grebe
Friends, one more horned grebe for your enjoyment, there are a few of these around Crex. Maybe Crex is a stopover on their migration, will be curious to see if they nest here. til Tomorrow MJ
Birds of a Feather?
Friends, A solitary bird will often try to hide when a car approaches. This Horned Grebe was splashing around inside a massive flock of Coots that was trying to stay out of the wind. No discrimination among the birds, the coots seemed to accept this grebe as one of their own, maybe because they all have red eyes, til Tomorrow MJ
Spring Bittern
Friends, this bird is an American Bittern and with his vertical striping in front is very well camouflaged against all the winter reeds. They fish in the shallows like a heron, with neck stretched out and stabbing prey with that very big bill. In the very early spring you may see a few of these birds, but later you may only hear their distinctive call. They are very secretive and the research community has not studied these birds to reveal their natural history, hmmm, a plan in the works, til Tomorrow MJ
More Grebes
Friends, a rough day on the water but sunshine and warm temperatures still motivated us to visit Crex again, we found a new grebe (for us), this is a red-necked grebe and a first for me, they were there on Sunday and gone on Monday, maybe they flew onward or maybe they are hiding in Crex somewhere, Below is an image of two birds, I am thankful that we were able to watch them as they dove for food and splashed around the ponds, til Tomorrow MJ
Dancing Grouse
Friends, the sharptail grouse are dancing on the Namekagon Pine Barrens. This boy is just getting ready to dance, his eyebrows are raised and the feathers are rolled back to expose his purple airsac , in the image below you can see his sharp tail is raised and wings spread just a little. When he is really dancing, his head will be down and his feet will be stuttering so fast that they blur. Sat in a blind with my good friend (thanks Anna) on Saturday morning, lots of male dancing and carrying on, then on to Crex to make a 12 hour work day. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 