Snipe Hunting

I can remember as a teenager the fad was to go snipe hunting, since we never saw a snipe and probably didn't even know that they really existed I was surprised to here that Wilson's Snipes were seen north of the East View Christian Church in Normal or is that Bloomington. I Googled Wilson's Snipe and sure enough they exist and a picture was available. Early this morning I went back out to see if I could get a few pictures as the pictures taken last night near dusk were pretty poor.

These are Wilson's Snipes taken with the sun to my back.







This is a Wilson's Snipe taken facing the sun.

Long-Eared Owl or Great Horned Owl

Well tonight was a little better night to get the Owl's picture.

Look out world we have a wedding coming in May!

Our youngest son left for California and school several years ago and he left behind his sweetheart. After three years of long distance romance the two are to be united in marriage in May.
Jane and I have been privileged to have Jessica live with us for the past two years. Having three boys we have been involved in a couple of weddings, but never had the privilege of being involved in the day to day planning activities that parents of the bride get to enjoy. Things like sending out invitations, planning the meals, decorations and watching the glow in her face as she brings home the gifts after friends and family hold wedding showers for her.

Here are a couple of pictures of Jess holding gifts from her last wedding shower.





The pictures below are of a Long-Eared or a Great Horned Owl roosting in Normal. It was a cold late afternoon and the wind and chilling rain made it miserable, but these are really two of the pictures I got of the owl. A couple birders said it was a Great Horned Owl so I guess they are right. I couldn't see it well enough to distinguish. Wish I could have gotten closer as I was about 90 yards away from the owl. Maybe another day I can get closer should the owl and its mate stay a few more days.

What is a Chukar?

This morning I received an email from the Central Illinois Birding and a Heyworth member took a picture of a very unusual bird in his neighbors yard. Immediately 3-4 members of the group identified the bird. I thought viewers would like to see this unusual bird and here how it might have appeared in Illinois.

It's a chukar. Sibley says they are occasionally seen in many locations in
Eastern North America near where they have been released for sport-shooting
but that there are no established wild populations. Is there a hunt club
near you? If so, that might explain the bird's presence.

You would think it was the middle of Summer

While it is always fun to see a new bird arrive in the back yard those times seem to be few and far between. In the mean time the squirrels are always entertaining. We have a bungee cord that has two screws which we can attach ears of corn. Depending on how we attach the cord to the fence we can control the height of the corn from the ground. It is amazing what the squirrels will do to get to the corn! I saw one of them leap up and grab hold of the corn and franticly bite a grain off the cob before dropping to the ground to finish eating the corn.

We have one squirrel that defies all means of protecting the bird feeders from squirrels. We have yet to find a method of detouring this squirrel, but we will keep working on the idea. Then when we get used to all of the chasing and leaping and activity we are entertained by the couch potato squirrel.









This is one of the Fox Sparrows that have been gleaning food from our yard the last few weeks.

Funks Grove Trip

Yesterday we traveled down to Funks Grove area first visiting the Sugar Creek Nature Center where we observed various kinds of wood peckers and a few other birds. I was able to get a few pictures of the wood peckers and a yellow bellied sap sucker. The off to the church and cemetery area where we were able to see a couple of hawks sailing over head and then gently into the tall pine trees to a nest. While we were at the grove we observed hundreds of cans attached to the maple trees waiting for the sap to drain into the cans to be used in making maple syrup. In all the years we have been to Funks Grove this is the first time we have seen the actual cans used to collect the sugary sap.

As we drove back home on old route 66 I spoted this huge black bird up in a tree and quickly turned the car around to take a few pictures of my first view of a Turkey Vulture.

The pictures above are a few of those taken yesterday.

Turkey Strutting its stuff

My sister from Indiana sent me a picture this week of a resident Wild Turkey that struts its stuff in Danville, Indiana. A young man from their church was able to capture the above picture in the school yard of a public school.

With Spring coming the birds are once again appearing at the feeders. The squirrels are here year round and one is a rather pesky creature that loves to annoy the dog and myself. Only one squirrel can reach the bird feeder know as "Dad's Feeder" because the feeder use to sit in Dad's back yard. This pesky squirrel will climb the milk jugs and pole with out hesitation and then either the dog or I have to go out and chase him off. He comes down rather quickly, but only goes to the picnic table to turn and watch are next steps. Almost like a challenge to come and chase him.

Have you ever watched a squirrel during rain, cold or wind and noticed that they flip their tale up over their body to cover themselves from the elements. How about the Gold Finch that during the winter months is almost colorless but when Spring arrives the yellow color begins to return and by summer they are bright yellow.