Phone update

This past Wednesday morning a Qwest technician came buy to hook up my phone line as promised! Well, it is now up and running...

iPod battery

My 3g iPod is about 5 years old and w/n the past month or so the battery would not hold a charge. Everytime I tried to play it, the iPod would simply die! I know that the older iPods have had battery problems but my was pretty good until recently.

I did not want to buy a new iPod so I decided to get a new battery. I went to ifixipodsfast.com based on a recent newspaper article and purchased a new battery. The battery came with a pry tool that allowed me to open the iPod and replace the battery. Well, I am happy to say that the iPod is now happy again!

photo of old battery

More birds identified...

My bird life list continues...
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Sparrow
Killdeer
Snowy Egret
Barn Swallow
Hairy Woodpecker

VoIP update

Since my last post, my VoIP service has been up and down. Just called Qwest and they said that my phone number should be tranfserred by Wednesday. I hope this is so as Qwest does not have the greatest track record when it comes to getting phone service to new customers.

VoIP phone down

Yesterday my phone service died a painful death when SunRocket abruptly shut down without telling any of its customer, including me! I am scrabbling to get phone service up ASAP, but I fear that it may take at least a week. As much as I hate doing it I signed-up with Qwest...

White-breasted Nuthatch

This past weekend I saw my first White-breasted Nuthatch while at the Minnesota Zoological Garden and then I saw a pair at Prescott, Wisconsin.

image from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Garden Photos

Three photos showing the progress of the garden from May, June and mid-July...The garden includes pumpkins, zucchinis, beans, sunflowers, peppers, basil, tomatoes, and tomatillos.

May


June


July 15th

Killdeer update

We recently returned to the Killdeer nest and discovered that the nest, eggs , and Killdeer are all gone. The only thing left is an impression in the dirt where the nest once rested.

Killdeer photo...

Here is a photo of the Killdeer incubating its eggs (there are four):

Killdeer encounter

This past 4th of July, while waiting for the fireworks, my family saw a Killdeer bird. The bird was highly stressed due to the great number of people walking near the nest. The Killdeer was making very loud noises and even spread its wing as unsuspecting people walked next to the nest. My son started to warn people to stay away...Needless to say, after the fireworks the bird left the nest and the four eggs. My boys were worried about the Killdeer and the eggs and had to return the next day. Fortunately, the Killdeer returned to the nest day. The boys even said the Killdeer started to do its broken wing dance when they approached the nest!

image from Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Bird Book

A few months ago I discovered a really good guide for identifying birds. If you are a beginning birder, like myself, and live in Minnesota, Birds of Minnesota, is a great guide to have on hand. The guide is by Minnesota author and Naturalist Stan Tekiela. The guide is organized by color of bird, which is wonderful as I am new to birding. Before purchasing this guide I tried to use another basic bird book, but was frustrated many, may time over because I could not identify the bird...My son and I both use the guide on a daily basis...


Here is a link to bird books for other states by Stan Tekiela.