Rafferty Reservoir Today

My friend Barry Dies supplied a couple of photos of Rafferty Reservoir from this afternoon.

It's been raining in the area for two days.  This is the boat dock. 

Refresh your memory of what it looked like on April 28 - my post at http://stilllifewithbirder.blogspot.com/2011/04/rafferty-dam_28.html 

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Very early yesterday morning, this handsome male showed up in my back yard.  It's my first Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus) of the year.

We used to have several pairs of these grosbeaks come to our neighbourhood each Spring, but for whatever reasons, I haven't seen any in at least two years so this one was an even more welcomed visitor.

Click on pix to enlarge, if you want to.

Rafferty Reservoir This Weekend

Water continues to pour into Rafferty from Boundary

Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) have just arrived. There's much more water and much less nesting space under this bridge this year.

I swear this pelican was simply having fun surfing the fast current

And elsewhere, an American Avocet  Recurvirostra americana

A Willet  Tringa semipalmata

And a Yellow-headed Blackbird   Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus

Click on pix for larger and clearer, if you want to

Struttin'

I'm not even going to say much about this finely feathered dude.  (click on pic for bigger and clearer)

He was gorgeous in the morning sunshine.

Definitely struttin'

Tail-less Mourning Dove

A Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura), sans tail, has been in the area for a week or so.  I know little about their moults - how many per year or when; they always have their lovely new breeding plumage by the time they arrive up here in the Spring - such as this handsome, long-tailed fellow.  (click on pix for larger and clearer, if you want)

This one, however, has no tail feathers (or retrices)

Are those pin feathers?

Yes, they are - these pix were taken several hours later in the evening

Following morning photos

Haven't seen this bird in the past few days.  I hope it comes back.  I want to see how the new feathers look.

Pelicans at Rafferty

All right, I'm tired of all the 'disaster porn' with the local flooding, the April 30th snow storm, etc etc - no doubt, I will be posting more about the state of local places in some near-future posts.  Sigh.

However, I really need to get back to the birds....  As it happens, American White Pelicans serve to distract and please quite adequately. 

I took this series of photos sometime last week - out at Rafferty on a nice, warm, sunny day, obviously.

Here are Pelecanus erythrorhynchos  (click on pic to enlarge for clearer photo)

And two more fishing the rapids

And another flying away

Divide County, North Dakota

Divide County is the most NW county in the state of North Dakota.  It is directly south of where I live.  So Divide and the adjacent counties experienced the same nasty storm we had on April 30.   [Since Blogger no longer posts hi-def photos, you have to click on the pix to enlarge and see anything clearly!]

Unfortunately, some 360 power poles went down.  So no electricity, and very cold.   Power was restored to Crosby area by Sunday night.  The grocery store was busy with people - mostly talking about The Storm...

Crosby is the Divide County Seat.  I've been going to this little town my entire life - well, except for those 30+ years I lived elsewhere in Canada and far away from dear old Divide County hugging the International Border. 

The main drag yesterday about noon.

The Courthouse

A peaceful, but snowy street

As of yesterday, the city of Williston, 50-60 miles south and west was still without power.  Some 30,000 people.  It's one of those unfortunate wake-up calls about how reliant we all are on electricity.

More Trees Down in Estevan

Awww, two more neighbouring spruce trees came down - smaller ones.  Across the side alley from me (my garage).  I truly loved these two trees.  If Ruby-crowned Kinglets came around, these are the trees they liked to be in. 

Even more amazing that my tall tree is still standing!  Larry's too.

Bill said there's a lot of trees down in Carlyle; that they had more snow than we did.  It's all about the wet and heavy snow at this time of year. 

Return To Winter

A nasty, nasty storm invaded our space for the past 24 hours and counting.  A lot of wet, heavy snow and very high wind.  Power has been out some places.  I just got my cable & internet back on (6:00 p.m.)

At my neighbour Marian's place across the street, two huge old spruce trees came down on her house early this morning.  Thankfully, she (an elderly lady) was not hurt.  The yard next to her also had a spruce come down. 

View from my front door late this afternoon.  Snow drift.  I can barely get out my back door.  

The lower branches of my spruce tree

An early morning foray to my garage to get some seeds out for the poor, cold, wet and bewildered birds

And some of the birds feeding outside my windows during the day - Pine Siskins

A brightly coloured male American Goldfinch against the dull whiteness of Winter...

A male House Finch

A somewhat philosophical looking Chipping Sparrow

A Yellow-headed Blackbird popped into town for a feed

And, I guarantee the Eurasian Collared Doves are even more tired of crappy Winter than I am.  I'm sure a lot of them died when the spruce trees came down in the night. 

I'm so upset, but it isn't as bad as a tsunami or tornados....

Crab for Lunch

What is better than fresh-caught crab for lunch?

Nothing, as far as this little one is concerned

It's a mink - a wet mink; officially, an American Mink  (Mustela vison)

You know, there are always people who have to stop and gawk when they see someone with a camera, obviously trying to take a photo.  I had just spotted this little mink.  It had just snaffled a big crab and was settling in for a good meal.

There was an older gent slowly driving along the causeway at Rafferty.  Sure as heck, he had to stop - and create a loud noise - like accidentally leaning on the car horn.  Mink gave me a quick, miffed sort of look and decided to take its' lunch to some quieter, more private spot. 

Bye & bon apetit