Roadkill

This time of year there is new and from the melting snow newly exposed old roadkill along our roads…they are a feast for an Eagle…and the ever present Crows..yes Crows eat carrion too.

This is a backroad we took to the parade.  When we went there was an Immature Bald Eagle feeding. On our way back there was a Baldy feeding.

The Crows sure give the Eagles the what for.

The snow is melting slowly.  There is still 13 inches of snow at the snowstick in our yard. We can almost taste spring…the gravel roads are real muddy.

Not Spring

The calendar may say it is spring but the cold wind that entered this area the past few days will chill you to the bone.

The Bald Eagles are back in great numbers, they know the eating is good from deer that were road killed over the winter.  They can pick a carcass clean in just a day or two.

These three older eagles and one younger one I caught flying away.

Yesterday late in the afternoon we had thunder, lightening and small hail/large sleet.  It was in round balls bigger than a bb.

It made the ground white again.  I watched it fall and bounce around.  Went outside to take a few photos before lightening scared me back in …besides that someone had to protect the dog.  (he thought I was nuts to go outside)

It has not been a real productive week for projects.  I am working on Mikey’s blanket. A few more evenings and it should be done.   I am in the process of shredding a bunch of old papers from 2009.  I have been tired this week.  Far Guy too. 

I will blame tiredness on my inability to recall the numbers of our street address one day.  I finally gave up thinking about what it was and guessing numbers and looked on a piece of mail.

Far Guy’s infusion went slower than normal this week. Then he had an “oh crap” moment…he removed the needle before finishing with the saline flushes and heparin…so we had to put in a new needle to finish things up…thank goodness for extra supplies!  He said maybe we are ready for “the home.”

Wildlife

We left our driveway and saw something running.  It looked strange.  I am always on the lookout for stray dogs.  (A couple of weeks ago we returned Daisy to her owners…with a reminder to all the small children that their dog needed more attention! Daisy was walking down the center of the highway and was more than happy to go for a ride with us. ) Anyways this “something” looked like a dog…it ran like a dog.

My camera was in the case, and I had to change lenses and I had my gloves on and I knew my battery was low…how low was it?  I started snapping photos through the windshield.

Chance is watching.  Earlier in the morning when I walked him for his morning duty he pranced around like a pup and was very interested in something on the back road.  I thought it was strange… we came back to the house and got in the car and left.

As you can see it was NOT a dog.

He almost posed for a photo.  He meandered along.

The Timber Wolf gave the Bald Eagle a wide berth and took off toward the woods.  The Bald Eagle had been feasting on a road killed deer, he got up and flew away but landed close enough for a photo.  

So that was our adventure on Friday. As you can see we still have some snow, a few days ago this field was bare….it has rained/snowed since then.

Eagles

When we went for our ride last night there was a lot of wildlife activity.

A young whitetail buck was hit by a car and died near one of the ponds that the rain made in a local field.  There was a bunch of bald eagles there young and old…eight was the most I could count.  Visiting them was a turkey vulture.

Turkey vulture and a young eagle.

A young eagle and a bald eagle taking off.

Three immature eagles.

We continued on our rounds, we saw four wild turkeys and about thirty deer give or take one or two. 

Just before dark we went back to the pond in the mustard field.

Food must be scarce to see this many eagles in one area.

Laws of Nature

Strange the way things happen sometimes.

Two Bald Eagles and a whole bunch of crows.

Leaving the scene of the feast.

An Eagle flying near the tree…most likely to wait until the coast is clear. Note you can almost see where the“orange” pine trees start along this field.

Too many deer, the population is way up.  They get hit by cars and become Eagle food.  Seems to me that a death with a well placed bullet would be better than the bone shattering impact of a vehicle and then having your flesh plucked from your bones.

Immature Bald Eagle

A few days ago, I rode along on an errand, luckily on the way out of the house I grabbed my camera bag. 

As we approached the stop sign on our corner, I noticed something fluttering. 

Crows were flying everywhere…and an Eagle.

He landed.

Then he took off again.

Saturday afternoon we saw him/her again.

We disturbed it’s road kill meal… most likely a raccoon or someone's kitty cat.   It was hard to tell.   The Eagles have a nest near the lake, I am sure this is one of their young.

He can fly…he/she just doesn’t fly real far at one time.  He/she has been out on this field about a week hunting and scarfing up road kill.

Birds of Prey

The birds of prey have made short work of the deer carcass that is down the road.   Someone hit a deer about a half a mile from our house.  Chance and I scared the Eagles feasting one evening.  We waited for them, there were two, to settle back in..there was too much traffic..I could see them landing across the road in the field every time a car disturbed their feeding.  When the traffic was sparse we drove really slow and stopped right in the middle of the road and got this photo of one of them in the field waiting to visit the carcass.  They must have feed at night, because in just a few days..there was nothing left but a puddle of brown and a rib cage.

The other day, next door neighbor Jo and I saw a turkey vulture.  This is the first one I have ever seen in Minnesota..I didn't get a great photo because he flew away.  But it definitely was a turkey vulture, this is the same area where the wolf was sighted, perhaps there is a deer carcass in that area also.

The birds of prey seem to be more active this week, we have seen lots of hawks and many eagles flying over the fields looking for mice and rabbits and what ever else inhabits the grasslands.  Perhaps their young are very hungry..

Last Sunday when we were up on Cass Lake and we were out on the lake tubing, I saw an eagle fly in, I hollered at all the kids to look, and then the eagle barely touched the water and came up with a fish.  Andy had been dumped off his tube and was in the water when the eagle flew right over him.  I have witnessed the eagles keen fishing ability before, but this was a first for the grands:)

Straight Lake: Legend of the Collars

I have just a few of these legends to share.  I shared the Legend of the Cap back in March.

Back in 1986 when we moved back here the first time, to raise our girls in the country and to try to make a living owning a resort while Far Guy commuted back and forth 180 miles a day to a job with a real paycheck.   I had two dogs, Shelties..Misty and Moses, both registered Shetland Sheepdogs.  We had various cats, as our oldest daughter had many boyfriends and each new beau would give her a kitten.   The Shelties had a litter of puppies, about that time the Eagles started to take up residence in the trees in our yard.  I wouldn't let anyone out of the house if the Eagles were in the tree.  I would step out side and holler, and run toward the trees like a wild woman, the Eagles would fly away and I would let the dogs out..including the pups when they were old enough.  The Eagles stalked my puppies.  I believe that one of Trica's cats by the name of Midnight narrowly escaped an Eagle one evening, he came back wet with his long hair freezing stiff as a board, something apparently tumbled him into the freezing water in one of the open springs. Sure he was kind of lovable ditsy cat and could have just fallen in by himself..but after that he didn't want to go outside at all.   I was convinced he was attacked. I told everyone that would listen that the Eagles were being a pain in the butt and they were attacking pets, everyone said that I was crazy ..the Eagles only fish and eat on road kill deer.

The Eagles Nest has always been very near the lake in an old pine tree.  We have watched them come and go, we have watched one of them give flight lessons riding the thermals and calling to their young. 

 Now for what we heard.  We heard that there were no Eagles nesting in that same old spot on the lake this year.  The DNR wanted to investigate the nest, they did and reported back to the property owner that 27 collars were found in the nest.

Twenty seven dogs and cats with collars have been a snack for these glorious creatures.  I am sure not all their catches wore collars either.

Chance weighs well over fifty pounds, it is doubtful that he will ever be taken as Eagle food, or Miney either when she visits.  But Little Elvis..he sticks out like a sore thumb..being black and weighing only about ten pounds he is the perfect size for Eagle food:(

Someone nameless reports that it is a good thing she got the tetanus shot in her butt, because the grapefruit sized swelling is much less noticeable there than on her arm:(

Sloppy Fishermen

In Minnesota in the winter, if you find open water it means that you just might see some wildlife.  We stopped  at a creek just north of us. 

Someone had been fishing without a license.  Not only that he was a sloppy fisherman.  He killed some fish and left them in the icy depths of the creek.

Chance had to investigate..yup dead fish..perfect to roll in..nope we stopped him just in time. 

The Bald Eagles sure do leave a mess.  I have never understood these creatures..I suppose they were interrupted and will come back later to clean up their mess..they weren't anywhere in sight.  They are pretty much a useless bird in my opinion, and their numbers are increasing.  There used to be only one pair in this area, now there are a number of pairs. Soon they will give up on fishing and concentrate on road killed deer as soon as the snow starts to melt in the ditches and the dead deer are uncovered. They pick the carcass clean until there is nothing but bones left.    Yup..perfect national symbol:(