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While driving around Lime Kiln Park in Grafton, one or our favorite parks in Wisconsin, we came upon a goose on the side of the road. I slowed down to a crawl. The goose started walking toward the car with it’s head low and it’s neck curled, he made a run at my car! He opened his mouth and almost tried to bite my car! As I inched along he kept walking away and back again, each time coming very close to hitting the tire. I finally got by him and he made one more lunge, hitting the back quarter panel behind the left-rear tire. I checked through my rear-view mirror, he was alright. Now this park is small and the only road is dead-end. So we had to turn around and run the gauntlet again. There he was, waiting for us as we came back up the slight hill.

For the next 5 minutes, he made several runs at the front tires, each time lowering his head, curling his neck and opening his mouth. We could not see another goose or anything he/she was protecting.

The river was running fast due to several days of rain, which is what brought us to the park.  We went back a few days later and we saw a goose near the spot of the attack, but his/she was closer to the river, probably near the nest.

This is the first year I’ve watched geese jockey for position and it’s been very fascinating.  Usually, there are too many geese and their numerous droppings make for some very messy areas.  I thought they were just a nuisance, but they have a way about them that’s fun to watch and hey, I’m just a birder from Wisconsin!

While traveling to Minnesota last weekend we saw 2 bald eagles.  One near a lake, low in a tree and the other flying high over the St. Croix river, which separates Wisconsin and Minnesota.  I could immediately identify the flying eagle.  I rarely see one, so it looked so different it was easy to see it was an eagle!  We also saw 25 wild turkeys, several dozen deer grazing on the non-snow covered farm fields and plenty of red-tailed hawks.

I know this is a short post, but it’s late and I at least wanted to get the eagle story on the site.

Last weekend I saw two pairs of redtail hawks about a mile from each other.  I haven’t researched it yet, but I’m guessing it’s getting close to mating season and they’re getting ready.  The hawks were hunting of course, but they were sitting about a foot from each other on the same branch.  I watched the first pair for about 15 minutes, drove around to the other side of the tree and watched them for another 10 minutes or so.  I was far enough away not to disturb them.

I was actually looking for that dark morph hawk I saw several weeks earlier, trying to figure out exactly what type of hawk it was.  Haven’t seen the dark morph again.  The last time I saw him he was being chased away by an adult redtail.

Switching gears…..

I thought I saw a rather large chipping sparrow at my backyard feeder.  After careful examination and a quick look at my Audubon Field Book of North American Birds, I realized it was a tree sparrow.  This guy is about an inch bigger than a chipping sparrow, and the markings are very similiar.  The tree sparrow lives in upper Canada and winters in the midwest, as well as other places across the U.S.  I’ll follow-up this post with some information from the book.

Have regularly seen a red-breasted nuthatch at my suet and of course, chickadees, cardinals and finches at the feeder.

The Great Backyard Bird Count got me back into birding!  I stopped putting food out about 2 years ago because we had a problem with mice, although I would provide the occasional suet.  Well, the mice are always going to be around.  Our backyard is always active with cardinals, robins, chickadees and more, but without the feeder going I would only catch glimpses of them.  Now I can watch as different birds jockey for position at the black oil sunflower seeds.  I’m planning on putting out some thistle this weekend.

I tried to get a picture of the immature dark-morph redtail (not sure if it’s a redtail, but it’s a good bet).  Driving around near the highway and we spotted him.  He was being chased by an adult redtail and flew out of view.  Hopefully he wasn’t chased from his territory and I can get a picture this weekend.

I think we have a fox that cruises through our yard.  I saw tracks in the snow and I don’t think it’s a cat.  I’ll have to put a bell on him!

Being amazed by birds, I’ve always wanted to learn more about them. What better way than to create a blog where I can read, watch and listen and then post what I find. And hopefully, learn something from other birders in the process.

I participated in my first Great Backyard Bird Count yesterday and hope to count more birds today. I stayed in my yard and counted the usual cardinals, dark-eyed juncos and finches. While driving around I spotted a dark morph hawk and I couldn’t decide what it was. It looked like a broadwing. I need another look and I’m going to try to take a picture.

I found an excellent site by Patrick Belardo called The Hawk Owl’s Nest. Check it out. I hope to be spending some time there and maybe I’ll even contribute.

Time to get counting!