It sure feels like spring today. The temps today are in the mid 40's and the snow is melting leaving large brown patches of lawn. I saw a small flock of Canada Geese fly up the St. Louis River this morning and as soon as I finish this posting, I am going to head over to some spots along the St. Louis River to see if any Grackles moved in or Red-winged Blackbirds.
It was sad to read that Noel Wamer passed away last Sunday evening. I guided out Noel a few winters ago along with his wife. His wife passed away a couple of years ago and when I talked to Noel last September he told me he was in poor health. Noel recently did most of his birding on the computer since he wasn't able to get out much because of his health issues. All I know from guiding Noel, was that he was a easy guy to talk to, he laughed and joked around quite a bit with me and my memories of him are good ones of Noel.
The above photo was taken by Giles Forrest of Yorkshire England. This photo is one of the best photos I seen of a Boreal Chickadee. What is very sad about this photo is that the spruce tree that this chickadee is perched on is now cut down and the wood from this tree was turned into toilet paper! This photo was taken on Owl Avenue in Sax Zim Bog and from what I was told that all along Owl Ave. 100 feet of bog was logged down on each side of the road and in some areas it was logged out wider. Very sad!
I see that Laura Erickson's blog on Blogger.com was taken down and all the contents were removed and I assuming she is working hard to create another blog somewhere else like Wordpress or Live Journal. I visit her old blog and noticed a lot of the photos, links and other stuff were removed from the site. I hope Laura's wishes were granted and got her stuff back from Netshops
My Lake Superior Boating Trips will have a 1/4 page ad in the next issue of MOU's Birding Newsletter. Tony Hertzel created the ad for me and did a hell of a job with the graphics! Thanks Big guy! My first trip is on May 19th and for all you Minnesotan birders, this is a very good trip to signed up for. Mid May out on Lake Superior should be very exciting and most of all we should have a very decent chance for some of the target species I am looking for. Those targets include; Arctic Tern, Red-throated loons, Red Phalarope, and hopefully a Little Gull. What is more interesting about these trips is that I am the only birder that is actually using a boat searching for birds on the Great Lakes. You think someone else would be doing boat tours off Lake Erie or Michigan where gulls concentrate in large numbers. There is so much to learn about the Great Lakes and bird migration patterns.
I wish I had time this year to listen for owls at night. I like going to northern Lake Co. and listen for owls along Stoney River Road. This road is very good for hearing Boreal Owls. Last year Tom Auer and myself had a male Boreal Owl sing along this road and the year before we heard two along this stretch of road. This year I will not be able to make the trip up there. Other than Boreals, you can hear Great Gray Owls, Long-eared Owls, Barred Owls, Great Horned Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owls
Well its time to get off this chair and head to work! Many of you know that I work part-time at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church and I received news from our priest that a small group of parishners are demanding a parish council and that is fine with us but the people who are demanding it are the assholes who do nothing but whine about everything about the church. We need a parish council and hopefully those elected will be the positive people who want to do good things rather than use the council for their own agendas. So our priest is very worry about this and so am I because if these assholes get in they will be be putting the priest under their thumb and will have more control on what I do around the church
My good friend Tom Auer is currently in Colorado and eventually Tom will be in Arizona working a bird project in Yuma AZ. We had lunch the other day and its been over year since we saw each other and I was happy to see him again, even though we talk 1-2 times per week. Hopefully Tom will get hired this spring guiding birders at St. Paul Island in Alaska. This sort of work will do wonders for him and open doors for him to get hired for large companies like VENT or WINGS. Good luck Tom!
Well other than that my NCAA college bracket is a mess and my best bud Paul is kicking my ass with his bracket picks. Well tonight is American Idol and I am pulling for two people to win it all, Melanie Doolittle and Jordin Sparks. I know Takisha Jones has a decent chance to win it all with her strong voice but last night she dissapointed me with her song pick as did Stephanie picks. I am praying as hell the voted are going to knock off that india kid with the long locks because he looks like Michael Jackson and sings so damn bad! For the guys I like Chris Sligh. Why? Well he's chubby, wears horned rimmed glasses and has a great sense of humor! I know -i know MIKE what in the hell are doing watchin this freaking show? I blame it on my wife and daughter! Oh by the way I also love watching Top Chef and Girls Next Door!
It was sad to read that Noel Wamer passed away last Sunday evening. I guided out Noel a few winters ago along with his wife. His wife passed away a couple of years ago and when I talked to Noel last September he told me he was in poor health. Noel recently did most of his birding on the computer since he wasn't able to get out much because of his health issues. All I know from guiding Noel, was that he was a easy guy to talk to, he laughed and joked around quite a bit with me and my memories of him are good ones of Noel.
The above photo was taken by Giles Forrest of Yorkshire England. This photo is one of the best photos I seen of a Boreal Chickadee. What is very sad about this photo is that the spruce tree that this chickadee is perched on is now cut down and the wood from this tree was turned into toilet paper! This photo was taken on Owl Avenue in Sax Zim Bog and from what I was told that all along Owl Ave. 100 feet of bog was logged down on each side of the road and in some areas it was logged out wider. Very sad!
I see that Laura Erickson's blog on Blogger.com was taken down and all the contents were removed and I assuming she is working hard to create another blog somewhere else like Wordpress or Live Journal. I visit her old blog and noticed a lot of the photos, links and other stuff were removed from the site. I hope Laura's wishes were granted and got her stuff back from Netshops
My Lake Superior Boating Trips will have a 1/4 page ad in the next issue of MOU's Birding Newsletter. Tony Hertzel created the ad for me and did a hell of a job with the graphics! Thanks Big guy! My first trip is on May 19th and for all you Minnesotan birders, this is a very good trip to signed up for. Mid May out on Lake Superior should be very exciting and most of all we should have a very decent chance for some of the target species I am looking for. Those targets include; Arctic Tern, Red-throated loons, Red Phalarope, and hopefully a Little Gull. What is more interesting about these trips is that I am the only birder that is actually using a boat searching for birds on the Great Lakes. You think someone else would be doing boat tours off Lake Erie or Michigan where gulls concentrate in large numbers. There is so much to learn about the Great Lakes and bird migration patterns.
I wish I had time this year to listen for owls at night. I like going to northern Lake Co. and listen for owls along Stoney River Road. This road is very good for hearing Boreal Owls. Last year Tom Auer and myself had a male Boreal Owl sing along this road and the year before we heard two along this stretch of road. This year I will not be able to make the trip up there. Other than Boreals, you can hear Great Gray Owls, Long-eared Owls, Barred Owls, Great Horned Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owls
Well its time to get off this chair and head to work! Many of you know that I work part-time at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church and I received news from our priest that a small group of parishners are demanding a parish council and that is fine with us but the people who are demanding it are the assholes who do nothing but whine about everything about the church. We need a parish council and hopefully those elected will be the positive people who want to do good things rather than use the council for their own agendas. So our priest is very worry about this and so am I because if these assholes get in they will be be putting the priest under their thumb and will have more control on what I do around the church
My good friend Tom Auer is currently in Colorado and eventually Tom will be in Arizona working a bird project in Yuma AZ. We had lunch the other day and its been over year since we saw each other and I was happy to see him again, even though we talk 1-2 times per week. Hopefully Tom will get hired this spring guiding birders at St. Paul Island in Alaska. This sort of work will do wonders for him and open doors for him to get hired for large companies like VENT or WINGS. Good luck Tom!
Well other than that my NCAA college bracket is a mess and my best bud Paul is kicking my ass with his bracket picks. Well tonight is American Idol and I am pulling for two people to win it all, Melanie Doolittle and Jordin Sparks. I know Takisha Jones has a decent chance to win it all with her strong voice but last night she dissapointed me with her song pick as did Stephanie picks. I am praying as hell the voted are going to knock off that india kid with the long locks because he looks like Michael Jackson and sings so damn bad! For the guys I like Chris Sligh. Why? Well he's chubby, wears horned rimmed glasses and has a great sense of humor! I know -i know MIKE what in the hell are doing watchin this freaking show? I blame it on my wife and daughter! Oh by the way I also love watching Top Chef and Girls Next Door!
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