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I Received a Nibble

I submitted to a publisher that was highlighted in the Children's Book Insider newsletter and received a response that they were interested in my submission.

They are a small publisher and they're taking their time on making a decision.

It's so hard waiting -- close to four months so far.

I was hoping to mention it here sooner, but I haven't signed on the dotted line yet.

My book is about my experience with banding young peregrine falcons on the top of a power plant smoke stack.

Hopefully, some day I'll be tweeting about if with great gusto! 

Small Warbler Wave

This time of year warblers start to gather in anticipation of migration. Where I live there are at least ten warbler species that nest in the National Forest.

An exciting species is one that has been considered for listing on the Endangered Species list. The Golden-winged Warbler is rarely encountered in big numbers in most of the nation, but northern Minnesota is one of its strongholds.

I am lucky enough to have them nest nearby and a family visited my yard. They were gathering to take a dip in my bird bath, but weren't brave enough to come down.

SCBWI Winter Conference

 I am so excited I get to attend the SCBWI Winter Conference because it is virtual this year.

Since the two national conferences are in New York and Los Angeles, I don't think I'll ever get to go. They are too far away and beyond my budget.

The place and the price are just right this year.

Hope to "see" you there!

A New Visitor

 

After viewing the same feeder birds all winter, a small flock of different birds descended on the scene.

These visitors don’t show up in our state (MN) every year. They are what is called an irruptive species. They only show up when their food is scarce in Canada.

The Common Redpoll is a bird the size of an American Goldfinch with a red cap, black chin, and some streaking on the side of the breast. Some have blush on their breasts, especially the males.

Since these birds normally roam the woods of Canada, they do not fear people. They can be approached easily. When you fill the feeder, they don’t fly away.

It was nice to see a bit of variety popping up among the everyday birds.

Alien Rarity

I just happen to look out my window at my suet feeder and spotted two birds eating suet. They looked like the typical House Sparrow, but House Sparrows will usually eat as individuals and will not tolerate each other on the feeder together.

As I looked at them through binoculars, I discovered they weren't House Sparrows, but another introduced cousin, the Eurasian Tree Sparrow.

These birds are considered "casual" in my state and I hadn't ever seen them before. Having studied birds for close to 45 years, I knew exactly what they were because of their distinctive black patch surrounded by white on their cheeks.

I grabbed my camera and clicked away before they flew away, never to be seen again.

I uploaded the photo to my state's birding website and provided documentation because of their rare status.

It's truly exciting to see something rare and new, especially in my own yard. You never know what you might find! 

An Angel She’s Not

In my previous post I talked about how a winged-angel flew into my life. Well, not quite.

I mentioned that she is not hand-tamed, but you would expect after working with a pet bird for four months that she’d come around.

Not! This “angel” is sweet but psycho and she’s literally an angry bird.

She will intentionally walk over to me to bite me. She has a little weighted plastic parakeet in her cage that she beats regularly. I haven’t seen anything like this. I seem to have a bird with anger issues.

It appears country music brings her pleasure, so there is some happiness in her life, though I’m not a fan of the stuff.

I’ll continue to work with her, but I’m not sure if success is in our future.