Super Moon Harvest Moon Tonight!

 Lucked out with this shot in 2014 of the eagle nest, dad and son!

Our Deck

 Flowers from Brown's Nursery, Florence. Friend Bob Ehrhart from McMinnville, Oregon. Horticulturist - Tom Davis.  Dreading that first hard frost and they all go away. Until NEXT spring!

Just Now

Happy Monday!

 

Dragonflies!!

 

White-tail

 A deer right in the yard in the last BLOG.  Looks like I forgot to post for a week...oops.

This Morning

 

Peeking Woodpecker

I was just getting ready to paint some etchings here in the office and heard a "knock knock knock" on the side of the house. I thought it was Tom alerting me of some action in the yard, but found this male Pileated Woodpecker making the rounds, pounding on the house and peeking in the window. So funny when he tried to land on the metal Gyrfalcon sculpture out back and slipped down to the ground. Here he is, spying in the window and Nico the dog at my feet ready to pounce. 

Mischa at 3 Months Old

For comparison sake, the brown plumage that first year.

 

Mischa All Growed Up

Our beloved Peregrine Mischa is almost finished with the molt, from a "brownie" to adult plumage. Sub-species anatum or Continental Peregrine, she is Sibley's cousin and now look-alike. One-year-old in May, she will be flying very soon. Training involves a motive=food and she has been chowing down on quail all summer as those feathers grow. Next she will be on a diet=organic chicken meat. If she is anything like Sib, food means little and it's a bonding (imprinting) that keeps her hanging around. Not very falconry-y I know and we shall see. Looking forward to the season, and lasts until the end of March.

Cool Coops

Adult Cooper's Hawk on the chicken coop. Okay, pigeon coop, and been hanging out the last few days. She's standing just above the one-way door that the pigeons use to re-enter the loft after flying around the neighborhood for a while, several times a day. The aluminum bar allows them in but not out. Their larger cousin the Northern Goshawk caught one years ago. I have seen the racing pigeons put on the brakes and have predators fly right by, fooled by their "food."  

Turkey Yard

These two hen turkeys have been hanging out with their offspring, and the dogs pay no attention. An introduced species,  the first transplants to Montana were in the mid 1950's from Colorado and Wyoming. An exotic gamebird, and two hunting seasons - spring gobblers and either sex in the fall. I am glad that Sibley the Peregrine has never paid any attention to them on our ex-exercise ground (we were kicked off by the new owner who wants to make a cattle ranch like Kevin Costner. Don't get me started...)

Sonora the Aplomado Falcon

We love Sonora and she is currently perched right here on the bookshelf while I replace the pine needles in her building. This is a photo of her at the Missoula Art Museum in June, Birds and Art Camp with young artist Isla. Sonora is thinking "I can't wait to get home..." and at the bottom it says, "and she got lost in Idaho." Which she did, flying her in falconry as a youngster fresh from the Peregrine Fund - 2013, trying to catch Eurasian Collared Doves. She flew from our neighborhood to the Idaho border, two nights out, chasing every bird that flew by. So no more flights (outside) for her.

Just Off the Printing Press

 A sign of my improving health is this new etching of Simone the Red-tailed Hawk, just completed and will submit to the Missoula Art Museum Auction. This is 4 months to the day since I had total knee replacement surgery and sick ever since. I have had major blood tests, treatment for anemia, CT scans, echocardiogram, and one more ultrasound test for cancer. My sixth sense says that ain't it...My surgeon assured me that this was an allergy to anesthesia. He told me that had I been in surgery for three hours instead of just 40 minutes, I would be sick for a year. Unbelievable. So still fatigued and naps, but not every day.  Next, paint some more Red-tail prints in the little edition.  FUN!        Dry-point etching, gouache paint.  10 1/2" x 7 1/4 "

Our Deck