3/1/04
I made 2 new birdhouses this weekend, and put them up.  One is for a screech owl, and I put it above the cliff, in the woods behind the house.  We can see if from all the rooms in the back – best from our bedroom and the bathroom.  The other I put up on the electric pole by the old farm house – for a kestrel.  Jackie says they put up a kestrel house and a screech owl house and have never had any luck with either – we’ll just try.

We had lots of visitors this weekend.  Yesterday Emmett came over to give us an ”Irish proverb” to hang on our wall.  And Jackie came to show off her new car, and Tom Schultz came to ask if he could look for “sheds” on our land.  It took me a minute to realize that he meant shed antlers.  I initially told him “yes” but as I thought about it I realized that one of the nicest things about this place is that we’re here all by ourselves – so I called back and said “no”.

Then today Perry came to look at our broken window so he can call the window company about it.  He’ll also ask them about all the ladybugs and wasps we get in the house.

On our walk this morning we saw a Red-winged Blackbird on one of the trees in the Tork’s wetland – a sure sign that spring is coming.  The birds are eating less at the feeders – there must be more for them to eat as the snow is melting. A week ago the peanut feeders would be empty after one day – now it takes 3 days and they still aren’t quite empty.   The snow is melting fast.  It’s been above freezing all weekend, even at night, and last night we had a short rainstorm.  The top of the beavers’ dam was washed out this morning, and water was pouring over it, making bubbles of foam in the pool beyond the culvert.

3/8/04
The progressive dinner was Saturday night, so this is a short weekend.  We arrived on Sunday morning.  We saw a Turkey Vulture over Lake Pepin, the first of the year, just south of St. Paul, but none at the farm so far.  We do have a Northern Flicker eating the suet and hanging out in the tree next to the deck.

We had about 10 inches of wet snow this week, which has settled down into something like 5 inches of dense packed snow that we can walk on  – even drive on – at least when it’s cold enough to be frozen.  But everything is white again, and the birds are back at the feeders.  Last night the clouds cleared out and the moon was just past full – it was almost as bright as daylight outside.

There’s a squirrel eating at the birdfeeders, but it doesn’t come very often, so I haven’t done anything to discourage it.  It’s a very furry, healthy looking squirrel.  I suppose the scrawny ones get caught and eaten by all the predators around here.  There are between 6 and 8 male cardinals at the feeders this morning – with their attendant females.  Also many goldfinches, and a flock of American tree sparrows mostly under the deck.

The woodchuck came out onto the rock shelf behind the house this morning – the first time we’ve seen it this year.  It sat there for a little, and then dived back down one of its holes in the rock – maybe it saw its shadow?

I cleaned out the bluebird houses today, so we’re ready for their return.

3/14/04
The bluebirds are back – we saw 3 on the wires as we drove in yesterday.  It was freezing rain all the way down, and then alternating sleet and rain for the rest of the afternoon.  We’re going to try walking this morning, but I think the driveway will be pretty slippery.

This has been a good wildlife weekend.  The first fox sparrow was pecking away under the deck yesterday after we arrived.  A Coopers Hawk flew into the thicket next to the deck – the cardinals sat right next to it, scolding.  It didn’t catch anything, and flew away.

We watched a coyote in East Center Valley field catch a vole – or some small dark animal.  The coyote acted like it was playing – it dug in the snow to catch it, then let it run a little, then caught it and then let it run again – just like a dog playing with a squeaky toy.  Finally the coyote tossed it up in the air a few times, and then gulped it down.  The coyote wandered across the field, listening and looking hard – clearly trying to find more.  When it got to the far end, it started digging again, but when it heard a car coming on 88 it abandoned it’s hunt, and ran for the woods.

Then, this morning, at about 4:00, we heard a saw-whet owl in the woods behind our bedroom.  It might have been coming from the new birdhouse – that would be fun.

It’s snowing today – just the thing to add a nice layer of snow on top of the ice.

3/15/04
We finished making 10 bluebird houses today, and a flicker house yesterday.  We just went out back, on the edge of the bluff, and put up the flicker house.  While we were there, I thought we should check the screech owl house, so we walked toward it, Mike with a stick so he could tap on it – and a saw-whet owl popped it’s head out!  It glared at us, and blinked one eye, and watched while we tiptoed away.  How neat to have the house occupied so quickly, and by such a great bird!

We saw a shrike in the wetland this morning – a northern shrike, I think, and we have purple finches at the feeders.

Yesterday we were watching the field again – east center valley field – and we saw an animal come down out of the woods to the road – and disappear.  I’m not sure what it was.  It was smaller than a coyote – maybe the sized of a fox.  It was dark brown/black, with a long bushy tail that hung down.  It walked quickly and smoothly.  I wish I could see it again so I could get more clues.

The woodchuck is back – we’ve seen it several times this weekend, and we saw a second one in west center valley prairie, running along on the snow.  Hibernation time must be over.

3/22/04
Yesterday a birder from Durand who is on the birdnet, came over to see the owl.  I asked Jackie and Dan to come too, to see the owl, and to meet another birder from Buffalo County. (He lives south of Durand, so he really is in Buffalo County.)  He was very impressed with our place and with the owl – he said it was the first one he had seen in the Midwest, and the first one in a nest box.

Not as many animals this weekend, but we did see a pair of bluebirds checking out the last house.  There was a junco who wanted to sit on the roof, and they kept chasing it away.

Purple Finches are back this weekend; and a Northern Shrike flew into the Box Elder next to the deck, but didn’t catch anything while I watched.  Also saw our first Turkey Vulture of the year.  There was a Song Sparrow singing on a willow in the ditch along the driveway this morning, and several Pine Siskins on the thistle socks when we got back from the walk.

We burned some of the brush we cut last fall and piled in 3 Finger Valley.  It was difficult to get the fire started – mostly wet wood – but once it got going it was great fun.  I singed my hair all around my face, so I keep smelling burned hair.  I think we burned about 1/3 of the piles – next week we should be able to get the rest done.

Mike is nearly finished with the ill-fated table.  It’s beautiful, in spite of all the trouble it’s been.  He made the top from 3 different kinds of wood – cherry, oak and walnut.  We’re going to have the “kings of praag valley” for dinner to celebrate next week.

3/30/04
We’re here for the whole week this week – such a treat.  The kids are on a band trip to Orlando, so we decided to try a week vacation at the farm.

It’s beginning to be more like spring.  The ice was mostly out on Lake Pepin when we drove down on Saturday.  There were still big floating pieces of ice in the southern part, but the northern end was completely clear of ice.

It was warm – in the high 50s – but then a front went through and it’s been cooling off.  This morning it was 30.  Yesterday we burned a brush pile on top of the ridge – in the woods behind Indian Grass Prairie.  It was still damp from the rain the day before, and we found a flat, open area, so we thought it would work.  All went well until we were just about ready to let the fire burn out so we could go off to have lunch – we looked into the woods, downwind from the fire, and saw that one of the old, half dead birch trees was on fire!  A spark must have gotten inside, and it was burning in several places inside the trunk.  We hadn’t brought much water, but we did have our two water backpacks, so we squirted until we were starting to run out.  Then I ran down the hill, filled some buckets with water, and drove the gator as fast as I could back up to the top.  I was afraid of going too fast and arriving with no water left in the buckets.  With the new water we did manage to put the whole thing out.  I climbed up an old dead limb that leaned down to the ground so I could get above some of the smoldering places.  As I slid along the branch, there was a little mouse hidden in a crack of the bark, crouching down to hide from me.  I actually slid across on top of it.  It stayed there the whole time – it was still there when I left.  We always learn a lot from these adventures – bring more water than we think we’ll need – and birch trees, especially old rotten ones, burn more easily that you’d expect.  I wish we could learn this much and not have to get so scared.

On the way to fight the fire, I saw my first moth and butterfly of the year.  The moth was The Infant, and the butterfly was a Milbert’s Tortoiseshell.

Mike finished the dining room table, and we’ve been eating dinner on it.  It’s beautiful, and he can sit cross-legged at it.  It looks very elegant.  Now he’s starting to make a small table to go between our chairs in front of the living room windows.  It will replace the small rickety one that’s there now.

We saw a flock of tundra swans honking their way across the sky this morning.