Happy Birthday Papa!!!

We hope you have a magical, "routin' tootin'" good time on your birthday, Papa Panda! Love you bunches and looking forward to our owl hunt today!

Owl Hunt - Day 2 Palmer Lake

Day 2 I took my friend Sarah to find the owl (she's a nerd like me!) and I also brought my sister Katie and her family...Katie knew where a second nest was so we got to see 2 male and one mama on her nest.

Owl Hunt - Palmer Lake, Day 1

I was supposed to be owl hunting on Sunday, but Meg couldn't go because of a ski event, so she woke me up on Saturday morning and made me take her owl hunting in Palmer Lake Park. We have seen a bird-blogger who has seen a lot of great birds in this park, so we walked...5 miles...around the lake. Turns out of we would have gone south instead of north, we would have had luck right away! We didn't see the Great Horned Owl in her nest until we were literally a stones through from the parking lot after walking the whole 5 miles! At least knew exactly where to take my bird nerd friend, Sarah, on Sunday! (And some other bird nerds too!)

 I love Birch trees...

 From the ground this looked like an owl...no wonder they're known for their camouflage!

 Lots of woodpeckers, chickadees and nut hatches out to play today!

 Still working on my new camera, but I still like this pic of a woodpecker in the background.

 And the main attraction! Will have better shots of her from Sunday (I hope!)

 Looks to me as if the next has some human help, but I'm not sure how they do that!

 Sunning themselves in a warm spot on the ice...is that possible?

More Bird Nerding!

 Friday, we went to the Eastman Nature Center (yup, again) for an Owl Birthday Party. This is the time of year that Minnesota owls start hatching so they celebrate with a big party! Fun and a great learning field trip...for mom AND Rowan :)

 Darn squirrel was cute...what can I say?

 Love woodpecker photos...they are hard to get cuz they don't really stop moving much!

 Working on our Party Hats

 Owl impersonation?

 Wings from a Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl and Snowy Owl

 Talons from a Great Horned and a Snowy

 Talons and an owl pellet...gross!

 What a Snowy's foot looks like up close!

 Party Games

 Making a birthday card for the Owl.

 Birthday Cake...your cake has mice on it, doesn't it?

 The Star of the Show...He doesn't have a name, but some people call him Jack because he only has one eye...Apparently born that way, he was found 12 years ago by the Eden Prairie Police as an owlet and brought to the Raptor Center...He now lives at the Eastman Nature Center full time because he can't hunt with just one eye.

Arts and Academic

Thursday night was Riley's "Arts and Academic Expo" at school. (Think science fair, but their school opens up the projects to science, history and art). Riley's entry this year was a clay sculpture of Lily, our dog. It's not easy making a clay sculpture of a dog with a beard!

Swan Song...

This was our last trip to see the swans this year (they will start going to their nesting sites soon). Just glad there were actually swans this time. Riley was happy to see them!