Author: Alejandro Carey

Red-tailed hawks, are known for their tail feathers. A cool fact about red-tailed hawks is that their eyes change color as they grow older. Their red tail feathers form in their second year. All the photos and videos is from this year.

This is a red-tailed hawk tail feather. I found it in the summer time.

12/17/2021

Happy Holidays!

This is the book I reference a lot. This is an Amazon affiliate link. I get a small commission if you click and buy through it. Thanks for supporting my blog. https://amzn.to/3pFdeFm

Just went on a walk and I found some neat birds.

I found this female downy woodpecker in a tree this afternoon.

I found a bald eagle on a power pole, usually it’s hard to get close up pictures of bald eagles.

At the end of the walk, I saw a bald eagle circling something.

This is the book I reference a lot. This is an Amazon affiliate link. I get a small commission if you click and buy through it. Thanks for supporting my blog. https://amzn.to/3pFdeFm

Squirrels are mischievous and smart. Starting in the fall and through the winter, squirrels will start to get fat. Squirrels do not hibernate in the winter, so they may be seen at all times in the winter. However in winter they are less active, sleeping for long periods, sometimes several days at a time. At my Grandma and Grandpa’s house, they have a squirrel, who is always trying to get to their suet feeder. The squirrel, of course finds a way to get up to the suet feeder.

11/18/21

Squirrels are intelligent and funny creatures.

When squirrels bury their food, the generally remember 95% of the food. Squirrels are highly flexible, they are therefore capable of guiding their fall to land on their feet.

I learned that when squirrels are mad at something, you will hear their teeth chattering.

I’ve learned that you shouldn’t feed squirrels because they will start bothering you when you stop feeding them. They will also try gnaw or jump onto your screen door as well.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to type it into the comment section.

This post isn’t about Palmer Lake, but about the Mississippi River.

A interesting fact about Shingle Creek, is that it starts outs as Eagle Lake then goes into Eagle creek then the creek splits in to two, that are called Bass Creek and Shingle Creek. Then Shingle Creek goes through Palmer Lake and flows into the Mississippi River.

On Sunday, I went to the Mississippi River Regional Trail to bike around and I got some pictures of the river.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The Mississippi River is the second longest river in North America, starting at Lake Itasca Minnesota flowing 2,350 miles until it reaches the Golf of Mexico. The River right now is so low, that you can walk some of it. There is also a public boat access, disc golf area and a fishing dock. It is so amazing how we have all this nature around us.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to type it in the comments.

Yesterday, I found a great blue heron at Shingle Creek. Great blue herons can be up to four and a half feet tall. They nest in trees that are twenty to sixty feet up high from the ground. Herons and egrets are solidarity feeders, they also spend most of their time alone, when they are not spending time with their babies. Great blue herons can have up to two to six babies. When is is the winter time great blue herons nest in colonies, though sometimes there will be other species of herons nesting with them. The size of these colonies can be large, from just five nests to five hundred nests per colony.

When I was getting pictures of the heron, I accidentally scared it and so it flew off. Luckily I managed to get a shot of it flying off.

If anyone has any questions, type it in the comments.

I found this downy woodpecker on August 30th resting on a tree. The downy woodpecker is the smallest woodpecker at Palmer Lake. What is an interesting fact is for all woodpeckers is that their tongue is wrapped around the brain to help them from damaging it when they’re pecking. There is a woodpecker that looks similar to the downy and it is the hairy woodpecker. How you can tell the difference between them is the size and the beak.

This is what a hairy woodpecker looks like. I found this one at west palmer lake park yesterday in the evening.

So far I have seen 4 different types of woodpeckers at Palmer Lake. The downy woodpecker, hairy woodpecker, pileated woodpecker and a northern flicker.

If you don’t know what a raptor is, it is a bird of prey.

I found this bald eagle on a power pole on August 29th. Bald eagles are a rare and interesting bird that was on the verge of extinction in 1978. There is a pair of them at Palmer Lake and you can spot them on the power poles.

This is a closeup picture of a bald eagle I took. In August I went to the National eagle center up in Wabasha Minnesota, and they have three bald eagles.

• 

• 

I also found a Red-tailed hawk yesterday on a power pole at Palmer Lake. When you are looking for these raptors, you have to look closely at the power poles.

If anyone has any questions, type it in the comment section.

I found a wasp pollinating this garden yellow rocket flower at East Palmer Lake park today. There are so many kinds of flowers and unique insects at Palmer Lake.

Here is a bunch of sunflowers at the Lake.

What I found on one of my walks around the lake, is that I got to snap a picture of a monarch butterfly up close.

• 

• 

Hope you enjoyed this post.

I found these two Sandhill Cranes walking across our yard this afternoon. These two Cranes have been with us for about three years. Each year they have two colts (their young ones) they raise and migrate back with, but this year the two colts never made it. They arrive in spring and spend a few months in Palmer Lake, and the rest of the months they leave their nest and move on walking in yards. Around the end of September they migrate back to the southern states until next spring.

This is a photo of one of the cranes early this year at East Palmer Lake park.