Brown Thrasher

Georgia State Bird

Here in the U.S. we have always been a country that is in to symbolism. The proud bald eagle was chosen as the bird that would represent our country but each state has also chosen a bird to represent it as the Official State Bird. The most commonly chosen state bird is the northern cardinal, seven sate have the cardinal as their state bird, followed closely by the western meadowlark, which has six states, and the northern mockingbird, which represents five states. The southern state of Georgia is represented by the brown thrasher.
The brown thrasher can be found through out most of the Eastern half of the United States and south east portions of Canada during the breeding season. They migrate to the south eastern US during the winter where they mix with a population that stays in the southern states all year round. They are typically found in habitats with a lot of scrub and brush and place their nest in shrubs or on the ground. They are a ground forager and can often be heard rustling through the leaves or the bushes before they can be seen. They are an omnivore so they are typically foraging for seeds, nuts, berries, insects or worms to eat.

Birding Carlos Avery

The third weekend in June I spent a lot of time outside taking pics. I spent one day up at Carlos Avery. There was not a huge variety of birds that day but I did find a few to photograph.
I found several Canadian geese pairs that had chicks with them near the road. They were still cute back then, I am sure by now that they are almost as large as their parents.
The only other waterfowl, besides the geese, that I found was a mallard sunning on a small island in one of the many pools.

Although the sandhill population did not look to be as large as it is over at Crex Meadows I did spot a couple of large groups feeding out in the tall grass. All in all I probably saw about 50 sandhills.
The swamp sparrows were out letting everyone know that it was a beautiful day.
I also caught a quick glimpse of a yellowthroat before it disappeared into the reeds.
I stopped over to try and get some pictures of the bank swallows that Ivar over at Ivar's birds had been photographing. Unfortunately they were not in a perching mood when I was there, so I was unable to get any pics but I did spot one of the brown thrashers that Ivar had photographed in the area.
I also spotted a red-tailed hawk keeping a eye on me. Now I know what prey feels like.

Medicine Lake NWR Passerines

Friday, May 15th, the day that we were out at Medicine Lake was kind of an anniversary for me. It was one year, from that date, that I was diagnosed with diabetes. I think that it was one of the reasons that our 2007 Yellowstone trip did not go as well as other Yellowstone trips. Taking insulin and trying to figure out what I could eat and what I couldn't and how much complicated things a bit. This year it was not a big deal at all. Probably because I pretty much have things under control. Since I was diagnosed a year ago I have lost 20 pounds, which is not bad considering that I was only a little over weight to begin with. When I was diagnosed my A1C, a test that measures the average of your blood sugar level over the past several months, was at 13.9. Since you are supposed to be under 7.0 mine was pretty high, which is why they put me on a 24 hour insulin as well as pills. On my last visit my A1C was 5.4. Along with the drugs I have altered my diet and I am getting more exercise by hiking through parks chasing after birds and other wildlife with my camera. That Friday we also saw quite a few birds in the fields that surround Medicine Lake.
I am not really great with my sparrow identification so someone please correct me if I get one of the sparrows wrong. I believe that the one above is a vesper sparrow.
I think that this one is a clay-colored sparrow. Sparrows are the hardest type of birds for me to ID. They are all small and mostly brown with very subtle differences. Maybe after shorebird class later this summer I can find a class to help me better ID sparrows.

We have horned lark here in MN but mostly I see them from a distance on the side of roads during the winter. This horned lark let me get some nice shots.
Brown thrashers are a bit more common in the eastern US. The 3 or 4 that we spotted at Medicine Lake were in the western part of their typical range.
Once in a while we will spot a yellow-headed blackbird mixed in with red-winged black birds in the eastern portion of Minnesota but they are more common in the western half of the state. Out in Montana there were more yellow-heads then there were redwings.
The western kingbird is the cousin of the eastern kingbird that we typically see in Minnesota. However the range of the western kingbird has been moving east and now includes parts of western Minnesota.
We saw, and heard, quite a few western meadowlarks in the park and most of the places which we traveled through in Montana. In eastern Minnesota we can see either the eastern or western meadowlark, but these days, with most of the large open field being devoured for development, I rarely see either type. It is too bad because it was really nice to hear them singing as we were driving down the road.

First day of fall at Wood Lake

After spending a couple hours looking for the immature yellow-crowned night heron at Lake Hiawatha I decided that I did not want to waste this beautiful first day of fall so I headed over to Wood Lake Nature Center to do a bit of birding. I decided to do a figure eight around the park that way I get to do a double trip through the boardwalk in the center. I started by checking out down by the water at the visitor's center. The dock that goes out over the water was partially flooded but in the brush on the side of the path I spotted something.a brown thrasher was thrashing around in the brush. I moved around to try and get a less obstructed view and then he flew.

Luckily, for me, he flew to a bird house a short ways away and posed in the open so that I could get a good shot.

The next thing that I spotted where a couple of female cardinals playing tag in the trees.

They looked a bit scraggly with patches of feathers missing on their face due to their molting.I saw song sparrows all over the park.Out in the middle of the park I came across this chipmunk who had stopped to eat.Seeing the chipmunk chowing down reminded me that it had been quite a few hours since I had last eaten and I was hungry so I headed home to eat some lunch.