Brian's Warbler and Rivulets

These are pictures of a Black-throated Gray Warbler Dendroica nigrescens, that Brian Plathe took yesterday, Saturday, in his backyard in Austin, Minnesota. The location is important. It is a Western bird and this only the eighth recorded sighting of it in Minnesota. Ever. Birds have their own maps. By ours, it was at least two states out of it's range. Brian posted his find on Facebook, which triggered a number of requests by "governing bodies" for him to post it on their "official" sites. He has had issues with them in the past and feels they are egotistical, arrogant and arbitrary. So he pretty much told them to go to hell.

Sunday on our way home from Lanesboro we stopped at Brian's home, on the outside shot that the bird would show up again. It didn't, but we wandered around Brian's layout for a while, taking a few pictures. The rain stopped and the weather cleared to a glorious day. 

When Jutta came back from dog walking we all sat in the sun on the patio and shared beer and conversation. Nice.

Here some pictures of Brian's yard. "Yard" isn't accurate I suppose. Yard kind of denotes (or is that "connotes"?) a flat rectangle of tended lawn. Brian and Jutta's place is 3 1/2 acres of lawn, shrubs and hardwoods, with three permanent springs feeding clear cold rivulets that run down to 200+ feet of Turtle Creek shoreline. Turtle Creek is a reasonably large waterway, wide enough that Bald Eagles patrol it, regularly flying the length.

Brian and Lorna spotting warblers.

The spring fed streamlets are shallow enough to be perfect bird baths. The slopes and shallow gullies are a cool eden in May - in Summer they are hot, humid mosquito hellholes.

Look careful, all of the following shots have feathered bathers.

Milestones: Food ;-)

On Wednesday I will be 69 years old. As Lorna has dental work (root canal) scheduled for my actual birthday and a yoga retreat with friends in Lanesboro next weekend, we chose to celebrate this weekend. For us, at this point, "celebrating" usually just means dining out - this year just the two of us in Lanesboro.

Friday evening was a simple meal at the Pedal Pusher. Lorna had the fish fry and I had the hot beef, dubbed "The Commercial" which is just incredible, made with beef tips and real gravy and local potatoes. Sometimes something as simple a hot beef sandwich gets so manufactured we lose how wonderful it originally was. We split an apple crisp with heavy cream and a couple of Lift Bridge Farm Girl saison style ales.

On the way back to the cottage we passed Jon Pieper's van on the street. Jon is running for the Minnesota State House against a longtime incumbent. It's Minnesota, politicians tend to not promise more than they can deliver, so "We Can Do Better".  Perfect - vague and understated, yet confident. We Can Do Better. And the rust and dents on the car are political correct too.

Saturday morning was a beautiful sunny morning so we walked down the Pastry Shoppe for breakfast. Brett Stecher was a head chef for a number of years. A few years ago he quit and opened his own shop - pastry, breakfast, lunch and on weekend evenings, BBQ. He cooks what he wants, on his terms. And it is exceptional food. He works hard at it, "It ain't 9 to 5, on weekends it's 5 in the morning to 9 at night."

Ham and other stuff quiche/Steak, potato, onion Benedict.

We had pastry to go. I worked some piddling around at the cottage, finishing up the downstairs bathroom and doing some outside Spring clean-up. I suppose we ate something other than the rolls.

Saturday evening 7:00 at the Old Village Hall (Jon Pieper).

Salmon, brie and asparagus tartlet with pesto and red pepper marmalade.

We split a salad - organic baby greens with strawberries, sunflower seeds, pickled red onions and Bleu cheese, dressed with a berry balsamic vinaigrette - good, but no pics.

Seared salmon with a shrimp, black bean and new potato hash, and white cheddar cream

Handmade vanilla ice cream served in a bowel crafted of dark chocolate. For two. 

Lorna and Gunnar: wine warmed, well fed, and pleasantly happy.

Waitress Jamie and Chef Mike. Thank you for a lovely evening.

Not enough? Back to the Pastry Shoppe for Sunday lunch.

A simple shrimp cesar salad

Wood Warblers

First, a picture of yours truly, hot on the warbler trail. As I look at it, I realize that as I have aged and comfort has overcome style, I find myself balanced on a knife-edge, teetering dangerously between normality and eccentricity, strongly leaning toward the left - which at this point in my life suits me just fine. A chair? A chair? One just has to pace one's self.

Okay, now on to the results of the above concentration. Most of the following pictures were taken by me in the past two days here at 1410, a few by Lorna. These pictures are for those people who have never seen them, or never noticed them, and for our Brit friends who never have a chance to see them. 

American Redstart - a bird that has to be seen in
motion to truly appreciate.

Golden-winged Warbler -  uncommon and declining.

Palm Warbler

Northern Parula

A Parula dropping to a lower branch of a forsythia to

 search for insects.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Wilson's Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Blue-winged Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Cape May Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Least Flycatcher. Not a warbler, but after most of the Wood Warblers have moved on, it'll still be in Oakwood. And he is a beautiful thing.

There were a couple others that we didn't get photos of ... or Gunnar's getting tired of this editing/posting thing.

Early Spring Migration

We have a dozen forsythia bushes in full bloom on the hillside. The flowers attract tiny insects; the tiny insects attract tiny birds - in this case, Warblers and Kinglets. Earlier in the morning there were more species. Lorna probably got pictures of them before she went to yoga, I didn't.

Birding can be brutally strenuous, wading through swamps, bugs, heat, long cold hikes. A guy has to pace himself.

Yesterday, there was 8 or 10 different kinds of warblers in the yard, today not so many, but late in the day there was a really great male Redstart, maybe my favorite bird in the world. I didn't take any pictures, but again, I think Lorna did. Deligent lass that she is. Oh, I did take some pictures of a female Mallard sitting in the little water tank down in the garden, but it isn't really a "postable" bird - I was only eight or ten feet away and it completely ignored me.

It is dusk as I'm posting this and right now there is a hummingbird at the feeder outside the window, our first of the year. FOY. It is Spring.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Nashville Warbler. He hung out through a whole cup of coffee, slowly becoming accustomed to that old guy in the hat. 

This shot is for Lorna, who inexplicably likes the head-on poses. ???

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (the "crown" is seldom visible).

Peripeteia