Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Babies.

Today at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area, I saw lots of babies.  The trumpeter swan pair have 5 cygnets.  The common loon pair have two young.  And a whole bunch of wood ducklings were around minus one.

I witnessed an interesting behavior from one of the swans, something I've never seen.  The swan attacked a momma wood duck.  She disparately tried to distract it from one of the ducklings but the swan was determined.  The duckling would submerge for a few seconds but when it popped up the swan would lunge for it.  After a few minutes of this comical chase, the swan succeeded. It held the duckling under water and then shook it around like a dog playing with a chew toy.  It was an interesting site to behold.  Wish I would've had video and/or a 10,000mm lens.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw a Bald Eagle

Today a young bald eagle flew over my head at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area. I also saw: a pileated woodpecker, an eastern bluebird, some chickadees, heard some song sparrows, saw my first of the year yellow-rumped warbler, two common loons, one trumpeter swan, four goldfinches, four blue jays, a crow and lots of red-winged blackbirds.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw a Swan Fight

Tonight I saw a swan fight at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area. They chased each other around the lake and one managed to pull some feather out. It was dark and high ISO but I got the action.

Also saw: two osprey gathering sticks from a nearby tree, tree sparrow mating, a pair of eastern blue birds, four talkative blue jays and some ducks and Canada geese.

Toady at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Clouds and Birds

Today at the AHATS Wildlife Observation Area, I saw clouds and a plane. Actually, I saw 6 or 8 airplanes. I also saw a pair of bluebirds, about 8 tree swallows, 1 Cooper's hawk, 1 turkey vulture, 1 pileated woodpecker, 1 song sparrow and a bunch of ducks and Canada geese and Red-winged blackbirds.

The first for the day was seeing a downy woodpecker inside one of the bluebird cans.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw a Bald Eagle

Today at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area, I saw a bald eagle.  Well, I may have seen two or this one twice.  I heard my first of the year song sparrow but didn't see it.  I also saw Mr. and Mrs. Northern Harrier.  Nothing quiets the red-winged blackbirds as quickly as a harrier fly-over.  Saw a Mr. Cardinal signing, some chickadees, goldfinches and lots of Canada geese and unidentified ducks on lake Marsden.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I saw clouds.

Today at the AHATS Wildlife Viewing Area, I saw clouds. Not many birds yet. I did see two trumpeter swans flyby, but they didn't stop. The lake is still frozen. Saw four chickadees, two downy or hairy woodpeckers, one crow and a couple mallards.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Chickadees

Today at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area, I saw black-capped chickadees. I put some seed out on the bridge and a lone chickadee came by to enjoy my generosity.  I also saw some crows, Canada geese, mallards and a goldfinch.  Heard some downey/hairy woodpeckers.

Here's a video of it thanking me:

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Eagles and a Coyote

Today at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area, I saw a bald eagle. Within just a few minutes of getting setup this young bald eagle flew over head.

Shortly after that, I saw a coyote walking on the ice.



And then another eagle landed on a dirt pile on the ice:



I also saw a half a dozen crows, about 20 mallards flying over, a downy/hairy woodpecker and some chickadees.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I had a bunch of firsts

Today at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area, I saw my first indigo bunting at the site.  I also got my first photo on an indigo bunting anywhere. 



I have lots of osprey photos but this is the first photo with a northern pike.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Goats Beard

I caught the goat's beard open this morning at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area.  The butterfly weed and black-eyed susans are about to bloom.  I also saw 5 common loons, a flycatcher of some sort, one female eastern bluebird, 6+ tree swallows (think most were recent fledglings), one northern flicker, a wood duck, a trumpeter swan and heard a gray catbird yapping away. 

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw an Osprey

This osprey flew over with a fish...missed that shot. It ate it in a dead tree and then flew over me on its way back to Turtle Lake.  It was moderately windy with cool storm clouds tonight. 

What else I saw:  6 turkey vultures, 3 loons, 1 eastern bluebird, song sparrow, 3 or 4 barn swallows about a half a dozen tree swallows, crows, red-winged blackbirds and one trumpeter swan. 

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw a Song Sparrow

Today at the AHATS Wildlife Observation Area, I Saw a Song Sparrow.  I also saw a pileated woodpecker, trumpeter swan, the bluebird pair, osprey with fish, turkey vulture, one loon, lots of red-winged blackbirds, geese and two blue-winged teal.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Barn Swallows

As far as swallows go, the tree swallows usually dominate at the AHATS Wildlife Observation Area.  Occasionally, some barn swallows stop by as they did tonight.  This one rested on the wire for a few minutes and let me get pretty close.  Here's another shot of it all puffed out during preening. 

Two turkey vultures landed in one of the dead trees and I saw a green heron in a tree briefly.   A couple days ago two young bucks walked up on me.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Green Heron

Saw two green herons calling to each other at the AHATS Wildlife Observation Area.  Also saw: 2 osprey, crows, two bluebirds bringing food to the nest can, barn swallows, tree swallows, downy/hairy woodpeckers, two swans, geese and ducks.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw the Bridge

Today at the AHATS Wildlife Observation Area, I saw the bridge, a few birds and some interesting clouds.



Kind of a cruddy photo but I don't think I've posted many shots of a northern flicker at the WOA.



I also saw a squirrel...he/she probably won't last long with all the predators around that area. Saw one osprey. Doesn't look like they're nesting on the Marsden Lake pole, however.

Today at the AHATS WOA, I Saw a Song Sparrow

Saw my first Song Sparrow of the year at the AHATS Wildlife Viewing Area.  I also heard a pheasant rooster and saw some robins and a cedar waxwing.

Yesterday Near the AHATS WOA, I Saw One Less Squirrel

Hawk with Prey_48075.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

The parking lot at the Arden Hills Army Training Site Wildlife Observation Area was cleared on Friday!

I didn't make it out with my snowshoes yet but I did notice I have one less squirrel in my backyard.

(I saw a bald eagle in a tree near the WOA on Saturday.)

Yesterday Nowhere Near the AHATS WOA, I Saw a Heron and a Pelican on Ice

Pelican and Heron_42719.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

I visited the Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday. I've detailed my exploits and have a slideshow on my other blog here.

Previously at the AHATS WOA, I Saw a Tree Sparrow

Tree Sparrow_49111_.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Tree sparrow at the AHATS Wildlife Observation Area.

Yesterday at the AHATS WOA, I Saw Fall Colors

Fall Colors_49068_.jpg, a photo by Mully410 * Images on Flickr.

Saw some nice fall colors at the AHATS Wildlife Observation Area on Saturday.


I also saw a pair of blue jays.