It's been nice returning to Minnesota, if for no other reason than the birds. The drought of the past several years has broken, at least for now, and young birds are in evidence, even if indirectly in some cases.
The first one - singular - I noticed this year was a sandhill crane colt with its parents in a field adjacent to Highway 8 between Forest Lake and Chisago City. Even if I tried to tell you which field, it wasn't in that one again for any of the subsequent times I drove by. Steve and I looked, of course. We'd see turkeys occasionally, but only adults, and other cranes, but again, only adults. At least we didn't see my worst nightmare, a family of four strewn along the highway as victims to some motorist, about 8 years ago. So far this year, none. A couple roadkill turtles of course, but no cranes.
The next sighting was right over our front door while staying with my youngest as we have every summer we've headed north from Sun City. We have a deeply recessed entry between the house and what used to be an attacked garage, now converted to a 4th bedroom. One of the first years after the house was built, barn swallows built a nest taking advantage of the tiny lip of the front door fame to anchor their nest onto. It was predictably messy. Still is, as over the years a few other nests were built in the same location. My son built a wooden ledge with dividers and mounted it up at the top side of the entryway, and occasionally another family of barn swallows took temporary residence. The issue with all of them is us, passing way too close as we enter and leave the house. Somehow they persevere however.
This year it was a robin family, with what turned out to be 5 young, countable as they outgrew their nest. I cleaned the glass front door windows, braced the screen door open, and got a few pictures from inside the house, until they fledged one night during a thunderstorm.
Just a couple days prior their eyes were still closed, but with bills wide open in wait we could see a fringe along the side of the bill. Our best guess is that helps keep food, once latched onto, inside the mouth until swallowed. The entire family relocated after that storm, and sometime in the future the trailing nest will be removed so another one for whatever bird family can be built there.
We have a lot of coming and going these days, and it eases the conscience a bit knowing we're no longer disturbing the nest. However, there are new families at our new home. And we're doing a lot of coming and going there as well, in preparation for our final move in. I'm hoping to catch the younger new family before everything is disrupted with hours of hauling in furniture and boxes. But it took a few days to finally identify them.
There are a pair of old bird houses on a single pole lining the sidewalk from parking space to front stairs. Both are in need of paint, aesthetically. I'm not sure the parents agree, because they settled in for the duration despite the "property values" of the houses. Or was it because of them?
On the day in question, my first sighting, we were having some pieces of furniture moved into our new home. We needed places to sit, and had thrift-shopped our way to possession of a nice sofa and a recliner. Family was helping us bring them in, since of course we two can't move anything much bigger than a multi-roll of TP in size, especially up the 5 steps to get in. But the exterior plantings had been neglected for a while and bushes were growing over most of the width of the sidewalk. It had just rained and brushing those bushes soaked whatever touched them. Out came the pruners, planned for ahead of time. First the tallest bush, spreading out almost over the hole in the tallest birdhouse. Snip snip snip. I noted a young tree coming up the middle of the growth, to be tackled later, but after stepping away for a respite, I noted 3 young house sparrows hopping into the newly revealed opening in their bush, waiting for their next treat.
Too bad. I had more work to do. In the interim, that family moved out. The adjacent bush was not only wet as well, and draped across the sidewalk, it was a rose bush, full of thorns to snag at furniture and those carrying it. Especially me. I could not touch a branch, however carefully I tried, without getting snagged and/or stabbed. Not only did I have to clip them back, I had to finish that in time to remove the clippings off the pathway. I did note buds, yet another tree, and a low bush long since covered by bigger neighbors which was still trying to bloom (later identified as a bleeding heart). I decided to allow the rose to finish its blooming, but then it is going to go away, along with the weed tree and most of the largest bush. We needed a clear sidewalk, especially for later when Steve had access to his scooter again.
As I stood for a moment, I saw a different bird fly to the roof of the lower birdhouse, then up through the door of the taller. It was terribly skinny, no appreciable belly at that time, though it has apparently caught up on feeding itself along with its offspring by now. In that brief moment I saw black, with what appeared to be a white stripe heading back over the top of its bill and another under in the chin area. What little time I had left before it disappeared allowed me a good view of a bright yellow caterpiller in the bird's bill, kind of rough textured and much like a one inch long yellow wiggly toothpick with tiny legs.
After that I finished my clearing and cleaning, got busy with the new furniture coming in, and saw no more of the bird. Still, it's weird shape and pattern baffled me. I tried googling by what I remembered of its description, asked a knowledgeable relative and checked her suggestions out, and was still stumped. The only way was to take the camera along for future visits, sit in the car, and wait for better sightings. Days later, along with many bad photos including many with the bird just gone into its door or flown away coming out, I finally got a sequence that worked.
Too late! But we will be sure to either stay in the car a few minutes or hurry past on our own business. Welcome to our yard, guys!
Chic-a dee, dee, dee, dee, dee.
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