Merlin

Yesterday, we had an orphaned merlin come in. It was ADORABLE and I fell in love with falcons all over again. It was even giving little "killy, killy, killy" calls.

Teeny tiny merlin!

Check out the feet - definitely a falcon!

The merlin was found in someones back yard next to an already dead sibling. They must as fallen from a nest high in a pine tree because when this little fellow got down to the raptor center, it had to be euthanized because its injuries were severe. It was a treat to see - they normally don't breed in this neck of the woods. I also learned a few more things about falcons along the way.

Banning

Today, I went out to Banning State Park and hiked. I had the trails to myself and luckily the rain held off until I made it back to my car. It was a nice walk and it was fun to see the rapids in full force!

Wolf Creek Falls

Hanging out above some of the rapids

Jay Cooke State Park

Yesterday, I volunteered up in Duluth at the Great Lakes Aquarium. After a few errands, I headed down to Jay Cooke State Park. It was only a slight detour and a lovely day to be out. I walked a couple of the trails and found the swinging bridge. I think I may be stopping here more often on my drives from Duluth. Sitting on the rocks along the river with a book would be a perfect afternoon.

view from the swinging bridge

view from an overlook

Eagle Eyes

Check out page 2 of the latest Audubon Center of the North Woods newsletter! I wrote the article and took the picture :) Its called "Eagle Eyes" and is all about raptor vision.

http://www.audubon-center.org/Newsletter_Summer2011_LowRes.pdf

St. Croix State Park

I finally bought a Minnesota state park sticker for my car. I have lived in Minnesota for nearly 2 years and have not explored any of the parks properly so that I what I am working on this summer. First up, St. Croix State Park. Its near the Wisconsin border and about 20 miles from my house. This park is HUGE - it is the largest state park in Minnesota and I barely saw any of it. The weather was beautiful today so I got out to hit the highlights of the park.

The view from the top of the fire tower

Me at the top of the fire tower. If you look close, you can see the bruise on my left arm. That is my eagle bite...

The Kettle River - it is high from all the rain. I love watching the quacking aspen along the river!

Highlights

Its been a busy couple weeks but here are the top 5 highlights:

1. I caught my first fish last week! The nice sized bluegill was the first of 4 that I caught that afternoon :) I will post a picture soon.
2. I am now a pro at gutting rabbits.
3. We gave west nile vaccinations to the birds this week. It went well, if you don't look at my arm. The eagle bit me on the upper arm and it HURT!
4. I really dislike raccoons. We have had to get rid of 2 with distemper in the past week and a half because they have been hanging around buildings. Without going into to much detail, I will say that one of them was the nastiest living thing I have seen!
5. I accidentally brushed up against some stinging nettle - it makes you itchy.

Yep, some of these highlights are also some (obvious?) life lessons I have learned. Anyways, I finally have a couple days off and nothing too big planned. I am diving Saturday in Duluth and I bought a Minnesota state park sticker to do some park hopping. Fingers crossed that the weather is nice and sunny!

Hawkweed

Went for a walk today on site and took some pictures along the way. It's going to be a buggy year - I had a swarm of mosquitoes following me and of course a bunch of ticks hitchhiking. That said, I did have nice walk on a lovely day and saw a bunch of beautiful birds, dragonflies and other critters along the way.

Field of bright orange hawkweeds

Swallowtail on hawkweed

BAH!

Its that time of year again folks - the end of the school and the start of summer! This means that I have been crazy busy with teaching and trying to enjoy some of the splendid weather. I don't have any new pictures but over the course of the past week I have mumbled sentences I never thought would come out of my mouth.

My favorite example "We do not put our ticks on our friends." Yep, this was said right after I saw a student freak out about having a tick on his pants. Instead of brushing it off, he picks it off and sticks it on his friends back. That sure is as nice "friend." Tomorrow marks my last class of the school year, I'm going frog hunting with the students :)