Carpenter Nature Center

Thursday the sky was clear and blue. I had Friday off and they were scheduled to do some winter banding at Carpenter Nature Center, so I decided to check things out after work to see what I might get to see during banding. There were a lot of passerines around the feeders, mostly juncos, tree sparrows, white breasted nuthatch and woodpeckers. I took a few pics but nothing outstanding.

So I decided to head over to my favorite spot at Carpenter. In back of the buildings is this wonderful crag that sticks out from an evergreen bush. When I first saw this bush I thought that it had blown over, because the crag sticking out looks a lot like it could be the roots of the bush, but I was mistaken. The crag gets good evening light and is a natural perching location for a lot of birds.

The birds that I see in this location typically are nothing unique but even common birds perched out in the open and bathed in the early evening light can make a mighty pretty picture. On this occasion my subjects were a white-breasted nuthatch and a red-bellied woodpecker.

It was still light out so I decided to leave Carpenter and try to make another run at finding the snowy owl that has been hanging out at the MSP Airport.