D36 has a Transmitter

Raptor Resource Project (RRP) would like to announce the successful banding, transmitter application, and release of the juvenile Decorah Bald Eagle known as D36.

This morning at 5:50AM, RRP Board Members Brett Mandernack (of Eagle Valley Nature Preserve) and David Lynch, and Carole Mandernack (from Eagle Valley Nature Preserve), Ryan Schmitz from Eagle Valley Nature Preserve) and Kolton Loeffelholz (of Eagle Valley Preserve), captured D36 for the purpose of applying a GPS tracking transmitter and leg band. D36 was found to be in great health and was determined to be a male (using measurements of the beak, tarsus, and hallux talon) with a weight of approximately 8 pounds. The capture process went very smoothly and D36 was released back at the Decorah Fish Hatchery at approximately 7:00AM and was observed flying well later in the morning.

D36 will now join the other Bald Eagles in the Eagle Valley Nature Preserve Bald Eagle migration and travel study that has been ongoing since 1999, providing valuable data that will help ensure the preservation of Bald Eagles within the Mississippi Valley flyway, and other areas. This study had been previously funded by Kohler/Eagle Valley Nature Preserve, but the funding expired on the original study in 2019. The RRP Board of Directors and staff then voted for RRP to further fund for the purpose of gathering more migrational data from birds with a known origin/natal nesting area.

 

 D36 is my fav from this year. He came out spunky and remained so. He did not take anything off of the older ones.  This is a surprise that he got banded as the last one was D27.  I love him almost as much as D14 who will forever be my fav.  FLy high and we look forward to those postcards you send home via your transmitter.

It's a Girl

My niece is having a girl. Do you know how much knitting I have to do before January 2021?  There are so many cute patterns out there it is hard to pick one.  My dad always bought my niece girly dresses for Christmas, so I am going to make one for my great niece from my dad.  I found one I think he would approve of.  I will be posting pics as I get things done.  Babies need so many things, where do you start?

D27 has reacher her summer home

D27 has reached her summer grounds on the shores of Lake Severn in Northwestern Ontario! Over 750 miles passed beneath her wings as she journeyed north into Canada's great boreal forest. We wish her the best summer vacation ever: cool waters, plenty of fish, and other eagles to play with and steal meals from! Fly high, D27, and don't forget to write!

As always, a thousand thanks to Brett Mandernack and the staff of Eagle Valley for sharing their data, expertise, and maps with us! To follow the travels of any of the eagles we've tracked, visit our interactive maps at https://www.raptorresource.org/learning-tools/eagle-map/.

What is the boreal forest and why is it important for all kinds of birds? You can read more about that here! https://www.borealbirds.org/boreal-forest

This Is All We Can Do Right Now

My grandmother once gave me a tip:

In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.

Do what you have to do, but little by little.

Don't think about the future, or what may happen tomorrow.

Wash the dishes.

Remove the dust.

Write a letter.

Make a soup.

You see?

You are advancing step by step.

Take a step and stop.

Rest a little.

Praise yourself.

Take another step.

Then another.

You won't notice, but your steps will grow more and more.

And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.

- Elena Mikhalkova

D20 and Current

Hard to believe 6 years ago this handsome boy was rescued never to fly again. He is an Ambassador now and an adult already.  He is called Decorah now but he will always be D20 to me.  My fav has been D14 who is no longer with us and my niece's fav D18 was D20's nest mate.  If you want more information on this handsome raptor check it out here:

https://soarraptors.org/2018/05/decorah-faq/?fbclid=IwAR0QjL0d1mSrDJ-nbBYFxTbu3FvzgVvwRZFKj0hxPwPiVCWhBKMcF9b87H8

So this morning we had an oops per RRP:
A quick update - we've found some number of fledglings, although we're not sure who or how many since ID at a distance is really, really tough! One of the eaglets was seen briefly hanging upside down this morning! That most commonly happens when a fledgling either blows a landing or slips off a perch. Bald eagles have a ratcheting mechanism in their feet that they can't always unlock right away. We're not sure who it was, but they were able to disconnect and fly away safely!

I Have Lost My Mind

Every so often a pattern comes along that I just have to try.  Several years ago it was an Alice Starmore Fair Sweater, Water Lily. Her patterns are so garish in color and I don't have the skill to re-work the colors to make them look good that I did Lily because they are colors I would wear.

Next thing you know this cross stitch patterns comes across my FB feed.  Several of my online friends received it as well so now we are thinking of doing a life long stitch along.  I can't decide which color to use. I was going to do periwinkle and white for my bedroom but putting this much work into a piece deserves to be seen. So I have a wall in my living room where it will just perfectly fit, so what color now?  My current color is terra cotta but I want to go teal, so I am going to look for teal thread to use.  I actually had a yard of white 16ct aida in my stash, I wanted 18ct but hey I have this so I will use it.  I am thinking maybe I want to go off white with the teal instead of white thread.  I am gonna go look at colors this week and see what I like.  I could do teal and gold as I like those 2 colors together and I did make the IC gala shawl in those 2 colors this year.

Here is the piece, yes I have lost my mind. 
https://www.longdogsampler.com/?fbclid=IwAR0nnRTFyBsZ058i-HLJIq5P-5mkB79tpynk-Y7ZVf3DD5cfi6044o3-b7g

Downey, Zinnias, and Rock

I love the little Downeys and caught this one on the suet feeder on the deck, he had a good meal.

My Zinnias are starting to bloom, they are one of my favorite flowers.

I have no idea what this yellow flower is.  2 years ago i bought a hanging basket with petunias, and other flowers and planted it in my whiskey barrel.  This made it through the winter and just grew last summer, this year is has filled the barrel and is blooming.  The leaves have a velvety white coating on the sage green leaves.  It is a Dusty Miller of the Silver Leaf Family.

 Dusty Miller is an interesting landscape addition, grown for its silvery gray foliage. Lacy leaves of the dusty miller plant are attractive companions for many blooms in the garden. Dusty miller care is minimal when the plant is established. Dusty Miller Care Although the dusty miller flower blooms in mid-summer, the small yellow blooms are small and not considered showy. Foliage of the dusty miller plant, however, is long lasting and drought resistant. As with most silvery, furry plants, growing dusty miller helps the garden remain attractive through the heat of the summer. It will also tolerate frost. The dusty miller plant is often grown as an annual and discarded after the first season; however, it is an herbaceous perennial and may return in USDA plant hardiness zones 8 to 10. Growing dusty miller can handle the heat, but is best planted where afternoon shade is available during the hottest months of summer. The dusty miller plant is adaptable to many soil types, thriving in acidic clay to sandy loam soils. Soil must be well draining to avoid root rot. Water regularly right after planting and withhold water once roots have developed and the plant is growing. Dusty miller care may involve a midsummer trim if the plant becomes leggy. The dusty miller flower may be removed to keep the plant compact. This specimen can grow as tall as 1 foot, but often remains shorter. Leave a few flowers to bloom in late summer if you wish the plant to self seed.

I have been working on the "beast" flower bed.  I started 2 weeks ago and the grass was waist high, this is where I am today.  Channeling my dad and putting down black plastic and then cardboard and then pebble rock.  Instead of planting in the ground I am doing container planting.  I hope this helps me keep this large bed under control.  Container gardening allows me to change pot locations, add new pots or take them away and just cover up the space with rock.  The salvia in the front is in the ground and too big plus I have had it too many years to disrupt it and lose it.  So for now it stays.  I did accidently tear off a piece so it is in one of the small clay pots and has bloomed.  I also accidently broke off a stem and it was blooming and is in water to see if it will root so I can have another start.  Now if I can only get that ugly stump in the front of the picture out of the blocks. That may be an all day project involving the chain saw.

Ditties, Tomato, Skinks

I meant to do my work today—

But a brown bird sang in the apple-tree

And a butterfly flitted across the field,

And all the leaves were calling me.

–Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947)

 

A friend of mine posts little things like this, I call them ditties and this one spoke to me, sometimes I just  like to sit outside and enjoy nature. 

So a ditty is really a song, but you could easily sing this to a tune you create in your head.  A ditty is a little song or a simple tune. When you're babysitting, you might sing a soft ditty to help a child fall asleep. A ditty might be a simple nursery rhyme in song form, or even the theme song to your favorite TV show. Ditties are easy to learn, and fairly short and effortless to sing.

 

I have one itty bitty tomato and lots of blooms, sure hope I get some good maters to make some sauce this year.  

 

 

I am putting down black plastic and cardboard and then rock in my flower bed, the beast.  As I pulled the roll of plastic away I uncovered an 8" long skink and several eggs.  I covered the eggs back up with a bit of dirt. I also saw a bright blue skink in my naked lady bed this morning.

 

 

 

 

Plants and Sunrise

The day lily is finally blooming, it is such a bright orange. The hosta that is beside it is beyond yuge this year, I may have to move it to it's own bed if it keeps this up.

The sunrise this morning was just gorgeous, one of the reasons I love to get up early.

Empty Nest Syndrome

Yesterday I went out to take a pic of the baby finches, and found the nest empty. I kind of panicked and looked all over the flower bed, no feathers or birds or nothing.  I then got to thinking maybe they fledged and I was just not paying attention to the days.  They hatched May 31st so it would be right for them to fledge and they do so 10-14 days after hatching.  So I hope they are ok. Now will there be more eggs next weekend?

My dad always had a patch of asparagus. I have a hard plastic whiskey barrel that I have moved under the eaves of the house and am planting my asparagus in there.  So I will haul some dirt around front and fill it and plant it in hopes I can have asparagus next year.  Next year the rhubarb goes in, cos dad always had a patch of it as well. 

Mr Hawk has been around a lot lately, this morning I was working in the front yard and he buzzed over my head, kind of freaked me out.  It got very quiet, somehow the birds know when he is around. I found bunny fur in the front yard so either he had a meal or the feral female did. 

Fire Ants, Hostas, Day Lily, and Yellow Rose

Yesterday I cleaned out the new hosta bed.  I have a small bed under the deck and I want to put hostas in there cos the one hosta bed maintains itself for keeping weed free.  They are so huge weeds can't breathe.  I had moved 2 baby hostas to this bed cos they were total shade out front and weren't doing well.  They have since felt better and are growing.  I got 2 more hostas yesterday and last night planted them.  I first cleaned out the bed and then at the end closest to the street I saw this huge mound of dirt.  What on earth is that, I pulled the weeds off of it and it began to fall upon itself and here they come, hundreds of fire ants.  Oh crap no.  So when I watered the new hostas I poured the rest of the water on the mound. I then proceeded to see what I could naturally kill them with.  They bite and be deadly. I am not quite ready to go yet, and certainly not by ants.  So I found a cup of baking soda and powdered sugar each.  I poured the whole recipe on the mound, no rain for days and it is hot and muggy. I found their 3 entry ways and covered them as well.  The sugar they love but the soda will kill them.  So now I wait.  Never know what I will find in my yard, I have my own zoo.

 The Hostas are out of control this year.  They all bloom various shades of purple,yes my fav color. I have a bright orange day lily and a orange/yellow rose bush in the midst of them. 

Hummingbird, Finches, and D27

It is hard to see the hummingbirds because they fly quickly in eat and they zoom off.  This morning Mr was just sitting at the top of the tree surveying the land.

 Dad Finch was feeding the kids this morning.  He sure has a lot of red-purple color on him.

From RRP:

D27 finally headed north! We thought she might decide to stay home this year, but she headed north early on the morning of June 3rd! Brett pointed out that she had a good workout between 10:37 to 13:36 on June 9. She covered 76 miles in a three hour span, averaging over 25 miles per hour!

As of her last postcard, she was up in south western Ontario and appeared to be heading for last year's vacation spot. Stay safe, D27 - and don't forget to write!

I asked Brett why subadult eagles migrate. It's been really interesting to see how eagles from the same nest and same parents can be so variable in their behavior: choosing very different summering or wintering grounds, traveling extensively or hardly at all, and even varying the timing of their arrivals and departures. Brett warned me that this was a very brief overview ("Books could be written on the subject!"). He said:

"If the young eagles hail from the north country, i.e. Canada, the reason is pretty straight-forward. They, like adults, head south from that summer range to stay with available food. Snow and ice up north cover nearly everything which makes foraging much more difficult. A few eagles may stay on their summer range, but the area cannot support the usual summer population. Also the sometimes frigid conditions of the north country can be ameliorated by heading south where milder conditions prevail. Young eagles from the southern states perform extensive northward migrations for the summer months, perhaps escaping the heat of the south.

For eagles in our region of the Upper Midwest, things get more variable. As we have seen with our small sample of transmittered Decorah eagles, migration tendencies vary from regular trips north in the summer and back to NE IA for “winter” (Sept. through May or so), to short and/or quick jaunts north, then back “home”, like D-24 has shown, even though his data is sporadic. Some years the birds may not leave their natal area at all. We have seen them move a short ways south to SE IA for winter, for example, then return to NE IA for the summer. The next year they may head into Ontario. The “why” part for these Midwest birds is speculative, in my opinion. Our Decorah birds certainly have enough food in NE IA the entire year to support them, so food isn’t the driver. It may just be to check out other areas that could be their summer range somewhere in the future. I’m not so sure about this, however, because some transmittered eagles have shown the tendency to establish a territory near their natal area, so why would they bother checking out new territory

Finches and Milk Weed

The 5 babies are all cozy packed down in the nest, it is very windy today and they are hunkered down.  This time next week they will be leaving the nest and it will be interesting to see if there is a new hatch in a couple of weeks.

It took me a couple years to get my milkweed going. Finally this year it has really taken off only to have no caterpillars. I did not have any last year either.  That is ok cos I am gonna plant more seed and fill in the row in the front of that bed. 

Dear T-Mobile

Why do you even have stores anymore.  Your employees provide no customer service at all.  Now the doors are locked and you have to wait outside on the sidewalk until they see you and come out and ask what you want.  It is as if we bothered them doing something important and how dare we need anything.  And locking the door it is not like you are Manola Blahnik where the shoes start at $600 and go up over $2200. 

I have been a customer for over 20 years now but I am thinking I need to take my business elsewhere.  I noticed over the weekend the left side of my phone was coming apart.  I went to the store and was met by a snotty employee who took  my phone, left me standing outside, then came back and said your battery is swollen, here is a card to call and file a claim cos you have insurance.  Can't we do that here, NO.  And she went back inside.

Your claims website sucks.  I tried 4 times to get past entering my phone number.  I finally called the phone number on the website, well that was a huge disaster.  The automated guy thought I said my phone was lost or stolen and wanted to suspend my number when I said my battery was swollen.  Why is it companies won't let us talk to anyone.  You are saving money with these automated systems but they never cover what the customer needs.  I finally called the phone number on the card which btw is different than what your claims website phone number is.  After going through several automated questions I finally got a real person.  However they spoke broken English and she could not even understand when I spelled things out for her.

I received my phone yesterday, tried my best to get the fricking sim card in and gave up and went back to the store.  The kid came out and I told him what was going on and he looked at me like I was stupid or something.  Really don't give me attitude cos I have had enough of the world right now.  I asked him if he could put it in for me and download from my old phone to the new one. OMG he got all freaked out, I can't touch that. Why not, you have a mask on go put gloves on and do this, I pay for service which includes you taking care of what I need to make my phone work.  Nope they don't that service anymore.  I went off, then what the hell are these stores for? Only if you want to purchase a phone, otherwise you are on your own.  He walked me through the sim card, well seems the sim they gave me was too big for myphone so I pulled the one out of my old phone and put it in. He told me to use smart switch to transfer data.  So back home I went and spent the evening doing what he should have been doing.

Needless to say I was pretty pissed when I got home.  Once again I wrote a not so nice email.  I doubt they care cos most businesses don't care about customer service anymore because there are so few choices.  But they need to know that I have been loyal and they treat me like crap now.  And their employees are snotty little snowflakes.

So when I am done with this phone I will be taking my business elsewhere.

Popsicles

I love Popsicles, have ever since I was a kid and still do.  I found a recipe for pineapple lemonade and thought i can turn those into popsicles.  So take 4 c lemonade, 2 c pineapple juice, and 2 c clear soda (I used Sierra Mist because it is not too sweet).  They are in the freezer now and I have a lot left over, you could half the recipe and have lemonade to drink as well. It is to be in the 90's and the heat index well over 100 so who doesn't need something cool to eat.  I taste more pineapple than anything but that is ok cos I love pineapple. 

Happy Donut Day

My fav is a glazed raised followed by a jelly donut.

Today the WW1 Museum had a  Zoom on Donut Day.  These are some pictures from the lecture.  Click on the picture to see what they are about and read the information.  I think I could have been a donut girl.

Peek A Boo

Mom was feeding the babies and one little fuzzy head peaked over the nest.  The grow so quickly, I need to get out and get a picture and see if all 5 have made it.  It was pretty crowded with 4 in there cant imagine one more.  Look under the hook just to the right of the bend up and you see 2 eyes and a fuzz head.