Brown Family Environmental Center

Today Lyndsey and I went hiking at the Brown Family Environmental Center. We covered about 3 1/2 miles in little over an hour. On our way we passed several of the Bluebird houses placed by the BFEC. We took a peek in a couple boxes and the pictures below are what we saw. Not all were Bluebird nests but I have not had a chance to figure out exactly who or what has been visiting the boxes.

Bathing Bluebird Beauties

Thank you Annette for the wonderful Bluebird pictures. Just today a bird bath arrive on out door step. My wife set it up tonight. Hopefully we will have bathing beauties to photograph soon.

Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Woodpecker and mosquitoes

Caleb and I moved our chairs off of the patio this evening and sat close to our feeders near the tree line. Just before the mosquitoes carried us away we had a chance to take a few pictures. Caleb was really excited to see the Black-capped Chickadee. I think he really just likes to say Chickadee, Chickadee, Chickadee.

The other pictures are of a Blue Jay and a Woodpecker. I can't quite tell if the woodpecker is a Hairy or Downy woodpecker.

Red Tailed Hawk and Harley Davidsons'

Today Caleb and I were coming home from our high school football scrimmage and our neighborhood Red Tailed Hawk was out visiting again. We stopped along the road to take a picture. I wasn't quite ready yet. I had to get the camera out of the bag, attach my lens and then take the picture. I thought I was doomed for sure and we would miss our chance. Caleb was yelling, "give me the camera" from the back seat, while the truck was in reverse moving backwards, and then 26 Harley Davidson motorcycles came screaming by very loudly. Through all of the commotion we still had a chance at a picture.

Red Tailed Hawk - Take two

On the way to work yesterday morning I finally followed my own advice. I grabbed my camera as I headed out the door hoping to get a picture of the Red Tailed Hawk that has avoided me the last few days. Low and behold he was in the area just across the road from where I had seen him before on the Martin house. I got a couple shots of him on the fence and then he flew up to a power pole. I like the power pole picture. Even without much color the silhouette is interesting.

Indigo Bunting

Our friends at MoBugs sent these pictures of an Indigo Bunting. Caleb and I have been trying to get a picture of a bunting each time we visit the Kokosing Gap Trail a.k.a. the bike path. We frequently see them on the trail which is only a 1/2 mile from our home but never at our feeders or nearby trees.

Thanks for the pictures. They are great!



I did a little research and found the following interesting facts about Indigo Buntings at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Cool Facts

• The Indigo Bunting migrates at night, using the stars for guidance. It learns its orientation to the night sky from its experience as a young bird observing the stars.
• Experienced adult Indigo Buntings can return to their previous breeding sites when held captive during the winter and released far from their normal wintering area.
• The sequences of notes in Indigo Bunting songs are unique to local neighborhoods. Males a few hundred meters apart generally have different songs. Males on neighboring territories often have the same or nearly identical songs.
• Indigo and Lazuli buntings defend territories against each other in the western Great Plains where they occur together, share songs, and sometimes interbreed.

Red Tailed Hawk - life lessons

I saw an interesting sight today on my way home from work. Just down the road from the school there are two martin houses in a small field adjacent to a farm house along the road. Perched on one of the martin houses was a Red Tailed Hawk. The martins were going crazy flying in all directions. The smaller birds are actually what caught my attention first. I raced home to grab my camera and when I returned I was happy to see the hawk was still there. I pulled off the side of the road and stepped out of my truck hoping to capture the moment - but then my door slammed shut.

Lesson 1. Always carry your camera in your vehicle.
Lesson 2. Never slam your truck door when you expect to take a picture of a bird.

You guessed it. The hawk flew away before I took a single picture; but there is always tomorrow.

Bluebird Photos

Please send me your best Bluebird photos. I would like to create a slide show of Bluebirds from all our friends. You can email the pictures to rgallwitz@gmail.com.

Thank you.

This is an awesome picture of a Heron that Kim sent to us. She took the picture while visiting Florida. The bird liked to steal their bait when they were fishing.

Thank you!! The beach looks very inviting!