Sunset Nov. 27, 2017 out our kitchen window.

Tufted Titmouse, Lansing Iowa area.  We have had these at our feeders but only one every 4-5 years.  They are about the size of Chickadees and often hang around with them.

Sunset Nov. 20, 2017.  Fillmore County, Mn.

Female Hairy Woodpecker enjoying the suet.  The Hairy is a larger version of  the Downy woodpecker.  The males have a red spot on each side of the head and the female do not. 

Amish corn shocks, Canton, Mn.

Bald Eagles.  We saw over 20 eagles in a 25 mile stretch south of Brownsville, Mn.  Should be more arriving soon, as we have seen over 100 eagles in that same stretch in late November.

Greater Yellowlegs-Mississippi backwaters, New Albin, Iowa.  This one better head south soon.

Mallards, Mississippi Backwaters, New Albin, Iowa.

Adult Tundra Swans are white, while the young are somewhat grey.  Note how large the swans are compared to the ducks.  Go to Gary Erickson's facebook site to see and hear a short video of the Tundra Swans on the Mississippi.

Tundra Swans, Canada Geese, Mississippi River, Brownsville, Mn., Wed. November 8, 2017.

Good numbers of Tundra Swans have arrived.  Hard to estimate but at least 5000.

Tundra Swans in flight, Brownsville, Mn.

Tundra Swans land with a flair of grace.

Common Snipe, Mississippi backwaters, New Albin, Iowa.

Blue Jay.  We have about 8-10 at a time at our feeders now.  This one loaded up on 10 sunflowers seeds before it took off. 

Purple Finch, female.  More Purple Finches are showing up, mostly females which is typical for the early arrivals at our place.  Had one male the other day but could not get a photo.

Found this fresh kill of a Deer Mouse this evening on our driveway.  Most likely an Owl kill, for when hunting is very good owls will behead the mice and eat only the brains.  We have seen this before, especially with Screech Owls. We have three species of owls at our place: Screech, Barred, and Great Horned.  We hear our owls far more often than we see them.

Screech Owl in our old barn about 2 years ago. We hear them more often than see them.  They really do not make a screeching sound-more like a horse sound.

Osprey in the clutches of a Bald Eagle.  Today was as bad a day for photography as you could order up, but we saw something special.  As we were driving down a floodplain road just outside of New Albin, Iowa we saw 8 Bald Eagle chasing an Osprey about 1.5 miles off.  When we got about a mile off we jumped out of the car and took this shot as an immature Bald Eagle hit the Osprey.  The Osprey dropped into the water and stayed there for about 5 minutes.  It then managed to get up and fly to a nearby tree(see photo below).  We did not see the finial outcome of this battle as we then noticed that our front tire was about 60% flat.  We made a mad dash for town and did manage to get the tire fixed.

Bald Eagles sitting above the Osprey, waiting for it to fly, so they can attack again.  We have seen Bald Eagles attack Osprey before, but only to get the Osprey to drop a fish it had caught.  This attack was aggressive and looked like it could be deadly for the Osprey. All of this took place almost a mile away from us on a hazy, dull day, and stretched beyond the limits of our lens, but we wanted to share it anyway.