Attack Continues

This morning, I spotted the female American Kestrel carrying a bird wing in her beak. It may be a cached body part, stashed somewhere up in those cottonwood trees, and the Tree Swallow didn't like it. I located the nest, which is unfortunately on the back side of a broken-topped tree, in the shadows and leaves and bummer. Out looking for other nests and not much luck this spring. Our friend Rob Palmer in Colorado has been photographing fledged kestrels for weeks, on a different schedule down there it seems.

Bobolinks!

One bird has evaded me for years and finally some photos of Bobolinks. I have seen these males hanging out together on several trips through the Metcalf Refuge. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology BNA account says "they look like they are wearing a tuxedo backward, leading some observers to refer to this species as the 'skunk blackbird.'" The extraordinary life of the Bobolink: females may have a nest of eggs fertilized by two males, perhaps these guys. After breeding, the males molt into Basic plumage, looking like the brown females and even changing the color of their beak.  Then they all migrate to Argentina and Uruguay, more than 12,000 miles round trip, and we wonder why they do it. I have all new respect for our summer residents, so go look for them in their spring finery.

Nest Robber

I just got these photos of a male kestrel and a beheaded baby Tree Swallow, under attack by it's former parents. Like kestrels, this species of swallow nests in natural cavities and nest boxes, and the prey item a young, non-flighted nestling. So the kestrel either reached in the opening or climbed in to get the baby, a mystery and in my observations not a common food item. They usually stick to rodents and insects.

Flock Of Kids and Birds

Okay, in the close-ups we have two Red-tails, two Peregrines, a Saw-whet Owl (Owen and his nest), a Bald Eagle, Great Horned Owl, Ferruginous Hawk, three American Kestrels and last but not least, two  Confucius ornis's that Allan will add to his extinct animal collection.

Final !!!

Yes, that's a Spectacled Owl sculpture on the far left...More photos on the way!

Birds And Art

Today is the last day for our annual Birds And Art CaWorkshop at the Missoula Art Museum, 20 kids making paper mache raptors. Bev Glueckert and I have been doing this almost 50 years (it feels like...)
The students' sketched fill the wall in the background. Final photos on the way!

Mother and Daughter Last Night

Power-Wash Day

...Or warsh, as my Mom would say. All of those clean, beautiful pickup trucks yesterday were an inspiration, and today I had the massive spring-cleaning power-wash of the bird buildings. Chesty just flew around the yard when her enclosure was blasted, and the rest of the raptors had some quiet time in kennels in the shade. And while you're at it, cope (trim) those bird's beaks and then install new astroturf on the perches and pine needles below. Hey, why not also warsh the Subaru, gumbo and dust from the Rocky Mountain Front trip last week. And what about all of the sculptures in the yard and associated bird poop. Yea, go for it! This is a photo from years ago of our rehab raven Danica standing on the metal raven I welded with her as a model. Some folks the other day were handed off a bunch of photos as gifts and this was their favorite. They liked it better than the eagle shots, I guess.

Old Pickup Show

Seventy-five trucks! What a turnout for the second annual North Valley Old Pickup Show. Fantastic  restored classics and beat-up old working rust-buckets. WOW. We sure had fun today. I was the emcee doing interviews with truck owners and heard some awesome stories about carburetor modification and drive-in movies. This will definitely be on our radar for next year.

First Friday in Stevi

The taproom will be packed tomorrow for First Friday celebrations and a photography show at Blacksmith Brewing Company, downtown Stevensville. I just installed this show of 30 photographs, the back wall filled with birds and my favorite, a giant print of a tiny hummingbird. Sib the falcon and I will be there starting at 5 pm, pointing and gesturing at these new images, most of which were taken 10 miles from where you will be standing (if you can make it.) Otherwise, they will be up all month, so write a check, pull them off the wall and take them home. Then Saturday, join us for the Old Pickup Truck Show in Florence starting at 9 am at the high school. Fire up that old rig and enter in the second annual gathering of lovers of American working trucks and a few restored beauties. I am the emcee along with Allie Bethea from Z100 rock station and a fun day of vehicle banter, competition and a barbeque. What a HOT couple of days!

Just Back from The Sibley Workshop

Pine Butte ROCKS! That's the Rocky Mountain Front and here is Sibley and her namesake, David, after a PowerPoint and bird program. We then tried feeding her a quail egg, but she declined, favoring a nice quail leg. I had a wonderful night by a raging fire in the cabin in the background to awake at 6 a.m. to find the car coated with ice. But a great day of birdwatching with The Master and home by 6 p.m. 

Off To Choteau Tomorrow

Our seventh year in a row for the David Sibley Birding Workshop at The Nature Conservancy's Pine Butte Guest Ranch on the amazing Rocky Mountain Front. For the second year David is joined by his great friend and painter, Keith Hansen, and absolutely guarantee this will be a ball. This class fills up in about two seconds when it is announced!

Flag Pole?

Budding Artist

Here was a gift from our young friend Sage, a painting of a male kestrel which he worked on until way past his bedtime. He attended our Seeley Lake program on Saturday with a few hundred other birdwatchers. In the PowerPoint, he learned that raptors have fast brains and see events much closer together in time that we can. The human brain sees 20 images per second, television and film is 25 images per second that we process as motion. Raptors can see 70-80 events or images per second! And I showed this photo of a kestrel feeding on a dragonfly that I saw her catch in the air. Here's the take-home trivia - dragonflies see up to 300 events per second! Talk about a high speed world and we are just chugging along, slow-mo. This is called Flicker Fusion Frequency. Look it up.