Nature is Full of Surprises

As we start the early transition from winter into spring, look closely for a variety of subtle changes in our immediate area of Wacouta.  If you look closely, the surprises might include the lengthening amount of daylight, floral structures and even activity in the world of birds and wildlife.

Eastern Screech Owl

A number of years ago, we installed two wood duck nesting boxes around our backyard pond.  One afternoon in early February, I glanced down to observe an eastern screech owl occupying the entrance to one of the boxes.  This observation rekindled a very clear memory from our next door neighbor.

Cardinal Feathers

In mid-February, he was going to clean out one of his nesting boxes and get it ready for the spring arrival of wood ducks.  As he was opening the box, a screech owl poked it's head out.

Not wanting to disrupt the owl, he delayed the cleaning effort for a couple weeks.  In the meantime, he was observing a gradual decline in the number of cardinals coming to their feeders.  Finally, he cautiously opened the box to discover a couple inches of cardinal feathers lining the floor.

Blue Jay Feathers

Not wanting a repeat performance of my neighbor's experience, we kept a close eye on the box.  After not observing any activity for the next three days, I went down to check things out.

Upon opening the box, I discovered quite a collection of blue jay feathers.  Evidently screech owl are not real fussy where their next meal comes from.  Unless cardinals and blue jays find heavy cover to roost in for the night, they are easy prey for night hunting screech owls.

Coyote Photo Credit: Nancy Barth

The end of January and first part of February is when the coyote mating season begins. It is also the time of the year for nesting to begin for our local great horned owls.  Unlike screech owls who start nesting in mid-March, great horned owls are our earliest nesting birds.  

A special thank you goes out to Nancy Barth for sharing her recent coyote photo taken on the ice of Lake Pepin off Greens Point.

Immature Cooper's Hawk

For the past couple weeks, we have had a regular unwanted visitor at our bird feeders. This juvenile Cooper's Hawk has been scaring away birds on a frequent basis.

These birds are not interested in smaller birds like chickadees and goldfinches.  Rather, they are more interested in medium sized birds like starlings, mourning doves, blue jays, robins and woodpeckers.

Cooper's Hawk Close Up

In their pursuit of prey, flight becomes powerful, quick and very agile.  This allows them to weave their way through tree branches and other obstacles at top speed. When they arrive at our feeders, they seem to arrive of of nowhere. 

Downy Woodpecker

When the hawk appears at the feeder, birds scatter in all directions.  Some birds caught off guard will simply freeze where they are at the time.  This woodpecker didn't move a feather for at least 20 minutes.  When other birds reappeared to resume feeding, it started to become active again.

Weather Stick

Our extreme weather events in January gave my weather stick a real workout.

I made this stick from the very top of a balsam fir sapling.  They bend down when low pressure systems with high humidity and curve upward with dry clear weather.

Native Americans have been using these weather sticks for several generations on the East Coast.

Rooster Pheasant

In previous posts, I have mentioned receiving several reports of folks observing pheasants in the Wacouta prairie.  Those reports dropped off dramatically after Christmas with our cold, snow and rain events. Many folks have wondered if our new arrivals were able to survive those extreme conditions.  

Then on January 28, our neighbor Oliver Olson reported sighting 8 pheasants flying low over the prairie heading for our house. Just maybe they will be with us a while longer.

For those of you folks who have enjoyed our new Wacouta prairie and would like to learn more about how valuable prairies are to local environments,  I suggest you check out a wonderful interview of Minnesota Public Radio.

The interview appeared on January 30th as a part of the Paul Huttner 

Climate Cast Series.  "What impact does the American prairie have on our climate.