Ah yes... one of the most beautiful sights in nature is a hovering rough-leg! Watching kestrels hover is also a thrill, but because the rough-leg is so much bigger, it is even more amazing to see how graceful such a big and powerful bird can be. Much less commonly, red-tailed hawks can occasionally be seen hovering, and seem almost as good at it as the rough-legs. Though not seen in MN, white-tailed kites are fabulous hoverers, as I was lucky to observe during travels in Texas and Mexico as a young man.
I have also needed to snap trap mice in our unattached garage, because if I don't, they find their way into the duct-work of our cars and make a big mess, even causing the fans to get clogged and malfunction, which is an expensive fix. When I sometimes see the brains and other body parts missing from those trapped mice, I've also thought that shrews were the culprits. But since I seldom notice other evidence of shrews, I checked Hazard's Mammals of MN book, and see that our woodland deer mice will commonly eat carrion. So, I suspect there is some cannibalization going on in our garage! Chuck Neil, Embarrass, MN On Fri, Nov 20, 2020 at 1:33 AM Steve Weston <swesto...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Monday I saw a Rough-legged Hawk hovering by Mother Lake on the NW > corner of the lake (Hwy 62 & Hwy 77). It was instantaneously recognizable > as it is the only large raptor that regularly hovers as it hunts. The other > raptor that hovers is the Kestrel, which is quite small. > > One day visitors in my yard in the last week include a YB Sapsucker, one or > two Tufted Titmice and a flock of European Starlings (thankfully a rare > visitor). > > This has been quite a bountiful week on my Peromyscus trap line. Whether I > am catching North American Deermice or White-footed Mice in my garage I am > not certain. I try to keep the population down in the garage so I am not > bothered by them scampering in the attic. I have no idea if it works. The > most successful trap in one corner of the garage usually contains only > partial remains of the trapped mice. The trapped mice are being eaten in > all probability by shrews. I have caught two or three species including > Short-tailed, cinereus (masked), and I believe pygmy. > Steve Weston > On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN > swest...@comcast.net > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > > During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social > distancing, and continue to bird responsibly. > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
