If you didn't already know, I like birds.

I know it's been awhile but it's been busy! Lots of teaching. I was a liaison two weeks ago and will be this week as well and that basically just means you have no free time. Last week is rainy and cold which kind of stunk. My Voyageur class couldn't make it back across the lake when the winds were over 30 mph, but I did give them a crazy adventure and we hiked back over Marshall Mtn. Sure we got back about 25 min late....but they loved it. 

Last Saturday the nats got a little bird banding seminar. We practiced holding them and showing off different things such as furcular hollow (fat storage), ear, listening to heartbeat. We caught tons of black-capped chickadees then at the very end we caught this gorgeous purple finch. Isn't he a stud?

Then if you weren't jealous enough... I have some pictures of me with Ruby and Hunter finally. PS I'm usually making funny faces because I'm talking.

 Isn't she gorgeous? I love starring at her colors.

 This is how Ruby gets hand fed. She has to calm down before I open my hand. Then you have to open your hand very flat so she doesn't accidentally get your skin.

 Hunter is so mellow looking, but in reality a lot of stuff freaks him out.

Look at those gorgeous and intense eyes

Owl Banding

So this isn't something normal, but it was very special. One of the second years is also working closely with banding at a bird observatory in Duluth, and he was showing off way too many adorable pictures with saw-whet owls which are way too precious. So we started begging to get in on this...and finally I got to observe for a couple hours on Tuesday night. These guys usually band all night every night for owls but we were only there for a bit since we still had to drive the 1.5 hours back and work the next day. 

So first picture is removing an owl from the net. These nets are very fine and hard to see so the bird will fly in and kind of get folded over in it. It's the same kind of net we use at Wolf Ridge for banding, but meant for bigger birds. 

Once the saw-whets are removed from the net they get stuffed in pvc pipes....they call it a six pack of saw-whets. Then they just hand out in their little pipe till it's time to be banded back at the blind. 

Back inside the blind the saw-whets are banded on their leg. Measurements are taken of the wing chord and weight. Then the tricky part is aging them based on molting patterns. They did this by looking at the primary and secondary flight feathers to see which were old and which new and it was so hard to tell the difference for my untrained eyes.  But I love how this guy is looking down his wing so perfectly posed.

And this wold be an owl ear....and that white round thing, yah that's the back of it's eye. 

I was mostly just observing, but they did allow us to hold them and then release them. We'd set them on our hand and they tended to hang out for a second like this guy, then take off when he was ready....

But they would land in a nearby tree for a few minutes to recoup and probably debrief on what the heck just happened to them. 

An even more special part of the night was catching a long eared owl which I'm hold there....you can see how happy she is about the situation. This lady was going for one of the saw-whets in the net when she got caught (the saw-whet was just fine). This is how we held all the owls, by their legs. She was a little annoyed and kept trying to pull free hence the angel wing look, but this is normal and doesn't hurt them. 

It was a determined it was a she because of the general buffiness...yah I'm not sure what that means either. Look at the stare though. They're named long eared because the feather tufts on top of the head are long...not actually the ear though if you remember the earlier picture :)

And then I got even more lucky, because I got to release her. I sort of gave her a couple bounces so she knew it was coming, the gave her a little 'toss' back into the air. She wasn't too fond of me, but I liked her. 

Cabin at Hackensack!

Loons! We stalked them for about 30 minutes on Man Lake

View from the deck. We hung out in the afternoon and did some homework/class prep. Weather was gorgeous - Sunny and 60 degrees.

Love this shot. Love this place.

Bald eagles were everywhere! They soared over us about a dozen times and we started to think they were hunting us!

We had a small adventure by the culvert. 

Places I haven't explored since I was younger.

Check out that white pine! For sale signs broke my heart. 

So glad I got to make it for the weekend. 

Eagles' nest! So cool!

I am le tired

Ok so things are pretty crazy and non-stop. Weekends have been non-existent because of weekend groups, reunion, parents visiting and homework. Every week I have at least one new class to teach and still being trained in on a lot more. So lots of prep for those along with homework for my UMD class. This Friday for UMD we're visiting a school to teach in. In will be a whole new game as far as being inside, and it's with kindergartners! Everyday I'm learning new stuff and it's hard to keep it all in my brain. Monday morning we went to look at lichens on these boulders, and it's nice to have some time just to explore and learn for my own benefit. I'm trying to take time each day to just chill out on my own so my brain doesn't explode though. 

It was nice to have my mom and dad visit so they could see what the heck I'm doing with my life. Hopefully they were impressed and I think  a little jealous too. Obviously their favorite part was Thistle. Although my favorite was watching the beavers while canoeing on Wolf Lake. I want many more visitors and any and all our welcome!

Teaching has been good and is a constant work in  progress. Every class is different, every group of kids different, and I'm trying to make my approach different every time to better my teaching. I've taught Voyageur Life twice this past week and it's a crazy class. I get in costume and am character the whole time as a Frenchmen. It's fun, but hard at the same time. I taught geology for the third time today and was also evaluated for the first time (the whole class) so hopefully get some good help from that. 

Ok I'm rambling and don't have many good stories because I'm tired. So I will leave it at that and try to make the next post as exciting as possible. 

Thanks Chris and Susanna for helping me decorate my room! I love them!

Mamma and Papa at the Ridge

Split Rock Lighthouse

Awesome hollow cedar tree.

A naturalist's backpack :)

My parents visited and these are some pictures my mom took. 

Me getting ready for class

Class along the hike. 

Class at the view

After I hiked them to death

Gooseberry Falls

Elcie

Thistle just wanting more food

I taught my dad how to belay...

Then made him climb...

Then as if he wasn't traumatized enough, I made him do the high ropes course. 

And we got our first dusting of snow!

Pictures Because I'm Too Busy To Write

Earthworks - temporary art from nature and one of the classes we got trained in on last week. Mine is pretty boring compared to others.

Wolf Lake in the evening.

Lots of beaver action on Wolf Lake in the evening...blurry  pic because he was fast and slapped his tail at us. 

Hawk Ridge is a bird observatory in Duluth, and they band birds as well as show some to public.

This along with first picture is of Northern Harrier. 

This is Sharp Shinned Hawk. 

The lake from Hawk Ridge (Duluth). 

This picture along with the next are from a view point that we hike to for class. It's called Superior View Hike (fancy that). 

Beautiful trees and fall colors make for wonderful hiking on clear sunny days. 

The weather has been perfect as of late - 60's and sunny, but it won't last long....snow is forecasted for Friday. I hope my parents packed warmly for this weekend.....