The first salwart male Robin arrived a few weeks ago even though the temperature the other night was only 10F and we've had snow besides. They come early to secure the best nest sites and so far I've never seen them succumb to the weather. No worms yet as the ground is too hard but they dig around in the ground debris and find something and don't appear to be the worse for wear.
Today I'm down by the Race just outside of Brodhead looking to see if the Bald Eagles or Red-tails are hunting in a conservation area that at times is almost a marsh.
See?
No raptors. I head for higher ground.
This is the Race and believe it or not this is man made. Back in the 1850's the town of Brodhead which previously had been a very small town with a general store, and whatever amenities it took to service a few townies and the surrounding farm folk found it was in the running for a train station. Wowee!
Well if they were going to get that train they'd better have something more going for them. They decided they needed a mill. And a mill could be run by water. But not the well water they had been using. Rather they needed running water to turn a water wheel for power. They decided to dig a race from the Sugar River which was miles and miles away.
Okay, yes there were steam powered shovels back then but as it turned out, numerous portions of the race had to be dug by hand. Yup, actual guys with hand shovels, dug parts of the Race. The mind reels.
At this point I am attacked by a Blue Jay who is positive I should go home.
Sorry no pix. It's very hard to get a decent picture of something that is hell bent on pecking your head.
Though the Mourning Dove did stay around as a spectator.
Wait! Big wings! No not an Eagle or a Red-tail but rather a Turkey Vulture. Suddenly I hear the clomp of horse hooves. WHAT?
Just one of the Amish folk who live on a farm not far from town, likely coming back from the Piggley Wiggley with something they discovered they lacked for making dinner. It isn't as if one can grow nutmeg or alspice yourself around here.
I walk further.
Though the reflection is very nice, nothing in the way of raptors here either. Time to head out to the eagles nest to see if they're around.
Turkey Vulture appears again. You can't see his head as he has his head turned down looking at me. I'm going. I'm going.
I get in the car and drive. On the way,
... a pair of Mallards in a retention pond.
The Eagle's nest. No action I can see so far. Let's try some computer magnification.
Look over the top of the nest on the left. There appears to be a slightly whiter bit on the left of the bowl as well as on the right of the bowl of the nest. Hmmm. A head and a tail? Two heads? Or just the sky beyond with the contrast of the nest making those bits of sky seem whiter? Let's look at the next shot.
The full shot.
Mutiple light spots above the next. I'm thnking probably not.
Tomorrow is another day, and I'm thinking it should be used for another trip to the Eagle's Nest.
Donegal Browne
While putting gas in my car I noticed three crows (often the number of a crow raiding party) on top of the Train Station Museum across the street.
Crow One, far left, appears to be eating something just over the roof ridge.
Crow Two, in the middle, has an eye on the far right Crow Three, who has just flown in and is eating something as well.
A digression...
Crows, as some of you may remember from the blogs when Tristan and Isolde and their nest were attacked by crows, often work in threes.
One crow each to occupy each adult hawk while the third would attempt to raid the nest itself, for eggs or small eyasses. They were never successful.
In this case it appears that two crows have gone off individually and found goodies certainly not nest robbing at this time of year, but they don't appear to be sharing whatever it is.
Perhaps in this dynamic they go off individually to find food and then come back to base camp?
Two says something and looks down. Three stands up and stands with eye, no doubt, on Two.
Hmmm. One (left) keeps eating. Two (middle) takes a couple steps forward, may have vocalized and then looks down in front of himself. Three looks up. Pause.
They hold for another minute or so.
Three goes back to eating. Oh my. Two's head comes up.
Three doesn't appear to be going to share as he goes back to eating.
One keeps eating. Two's right foot comes forward and Three just keeps eating.
One's head comes up. Two looks at both One and Three, while taking a few steps toward Three who is eating faster, and then stops.
Two's right foot rises. Three and One continue what they are doing.
One goes back to eating. Two heads out at a rapid pace towards Three and Three's head comes up.
Two keeps coming. Three keeps watching with a bit of food debris on his beak.
Closer! Two's wings come up. Balance or pre-flight? Three waits....
(By the way, one is still on the other end of the roof eating though the amount of tail visible is miniscule.)
BAM! It happened so fast I can't tell you which is which but due to position on the roof I suspect that Three is on top of Two but that is just a guess.
Note on the left is just the tip of One's tail and on the right is ?. Sorry I don't know them well enough and Crows really do look quite a bit alike at first. For the rest of the foray, One stays left where she is, with slight adjustments of her tail. I suspect she is eating but keeping an eye on the other two as well. And one of the of the other two appears above the roof...and dives down again.
Then the two having fisticuffs disappear and as I'm still at the gas pump without having gone inside to pay as yet I can't exactly race across the street.
Therefore I run in to pay for my gas and when I do get across the street there isn't a crow to be seen anywhere.
Sigh. It is always something.
I'll check the roof of the Train Museum tomorrow and see if anyone is home...those smart shifty crows.
Donegal Browne
One would commonly expect a rabbit for an Easter Blog but not this Easter and it is this guy's fault.
I had an Eastern Cottontail in my camera sights. Suddenly the bunny looked up with such focus removing his gaze from me to something else which caused him to freeze even tighter.
I looked up and it was a Turkey Vulture. WHAT? A Turkey Vulture? Rabbits don't get eaten by vultures. Well not unless they are dead and therefore past caring.
I looked back at bunny. But bunny had hippity hopped at rabbit speed somewhere, not to be seen again, at least by me, since.
Then the question becomes, was bunny really afraid of those wide wings in the sky, or have I just been duped by a rabbit.
She isn't saying.
Therefore Happy Easter from the Cottontail, the Turkey Vulture and Me!
Donegal Browne
