Paper Earrings!

Confession: I joined pinterest a couple weeks ago and have become obsessed!

If you don't know what this website is, check it out. You have virtual bulletin boards and as you wonder the internet, you "pin" things up on them. You can also see what other folks are pinning up. This has lead to me spending more hours than I want to admit looking at things - especially all the little crafty things. I have 2 main boards. The first is called "For my Someday Apartment" and is full of fun things to make when I finally get my own place. The second is "Cute Gift Ideas" which is full of things I want to make and could probably give to someone.

Today, I felt inspired so I picked a project and tried it out. Paper earrings!

Step 1: choose a piece of paper

Step 2: glue to cardboard and seal. Let dry

Step 3: add earring back and voila! you have a pair of earrings :)

My finished pairs

Next time, I am going to try and figure out a way to make them shine a bit more and maybe add a bead or something for a little more personality. All in all pretty easy. Now, lets just hope I don't waste too much time on this website :)

Fish Printing

For the past several years, I have been hoping to fish print a couple tote bags. The problem was, I just couldn't find anything in the size I like and with handles I liked. Right before Christmas, I found one that would work and bought 2. I made one for myself and one as a gift to my sister.

Walleye

Bluegill

They turned out great! I even let my inner dork show and put the latin names of the fish underneath on my tote. :)

P.S. No fish were hurt in the making of the totes. The center I work for has several rubber fish that we use with school groups to do fish printing. I also used fabric paint so I can wash and use this tote without wreaking the print :)

Gibwanasii!

Meet the newest member to the education team at the Audubon Center. Its a male American kestrel! He came to us through a rehab center in Utah. Somewhere along the line he became imprinted and was turned into a rehabber after coming down to see construction workers repeatedly.

Since we just got this bird on Monday, he is still getting acclimated but so far its looking like he will be an awesome education bird. We named him Gibwanasii, which means American kestrel in Ojibwe. I can't wait to start training him!

Snowy Owl!

In the past week, I have gone up to Duluth in search of Snowy Owls on 3 different occasions. I got skunked a couple times but yesterday I finally spotted one!

My First Snowy Owl!

Take 2: Not the best but decent considering we were on a major bridge in a moving vehicle

This year is what people are calling an irruption year for snowy owls - they are coming down from the tundra where they are normally found in large numbers. There is some debate over the precise reason that owls are coming down this year but it is generally tied to food supply. Duluth happens to be one of the areas frequented by the owls.

If you are not familiar with this owl but read Harry Potter, Hedwig is a snowy owl. Only, in the books Hedwig is female and in the movie Hedwig is played by a male. Actually 7 male owls. Probably because the males are smaller and were easier for the actors to handle.

A bridge to Wisconsin over Lake Superior

Ice on Lake Superior

The rest of the snowy owl spotting team

It was a great day hanging out in the city. We saw 2 snowy owls - the one in the pictures on the bridge and another flying down by the grain elevators. I also got Starbucks and some shopping in. Just amazing :)

Saw-whet!

View of the St Croix River on the trail

I went hiking in Interstate State Park yesterday. This park gets its name because both Wisconsin and Minnesota have parks on either side of the St. Croix River. I walked the trail along the river to the potholes - which is what the park is most known for.

Pothole

The potholes were fun to see but certainly not the highlight of my day. That goes to the little fellow I found along the trail. When you are hiking along the trail and see a pile of bird poop and pellets, look up. Someone is probably using the tree as a roost.

Can you see the owl?

 

 

Northern Saw-whet Owls are the smallest owl in Minnesota. They are about 7 inches tall and weigh in at about 3 ounces. When they call, they sound a bit like a truck backing up to me.

The owl stayed in the tree the whole time I was snapping pictures, completely confident in its own camouflage. I sat on a rock and took a bunch of pictures, then went on my way. This is the first time I have come across a raptor in the wild that sat and let me get some good pictures. 

If you know me, you know I think owls are overrated. But considering that the falcons have all moved south for the winter, this was a great sighting. It was also my first wild saw-whet! It was a fantastic find to end the past couple weeks of crazy awesome bird things. In the past 10 days I have seen a Northern Shrike hunting, got bit by a raven in the face, saw a white-phase gyrfalcon and harris hawk (both falconry birds) and now the little owl. Hopefully the trend continues into the new year!