A Bloy and his Blog

After a delicious Easter brunch at my brother Steve’s house, some of us decided to head outside for a walk. Below, Mike, Adam and Wil Bloy demonstrate that yes, waiting is hard.

read the rest of: Easter walk

No pictures on this post, just a story about an encounter with a bald eagle and the photo that didn’t get taken.

While on vacation last week, I was biking the trail along Trout Lake, hoping to get some photos of loons. That portion of the trail runs along the lake shore, with a buffer of trees of about 10 feet. The trees make for a decent blind, so the birds don’t get scared away. I had seen loons (fairly close by) along that section of trail in the past and I was hoping for a good shot. I had my camera setup with its telephoto zoom lens, ready to go in my bike’s saddle bag. At one point I did see some loons off in the distance a bit. I took a few photos, but they were a little too far away. Back on the bike I went, continuing to scan the nearby shore. Suddenly, a shadow overhead caused me to look up. There was a bald eagle swooping by, about 20 feet above me.

read the rest of: The one that got away

While at work today, in the middle of a snow storm, my co-workers and I discovered two Northern Harriers (also known as Marsh Hawks) perched on a birch tree in front of the library.

read the rest of: Edgewood marsh hawks

I just got back from a week camping in Northern Wisconsin. One of my favorite things about that area are the bald eagles living there. While camping this year I saw the most bald eagles I ever saw in a week’s stay. On one occasion I saw a congregation of four eagles soaring over the same lake looking for food and twice I witnessed eagles diving down and snagging a fish out of a lake! I had never seen an eagle do that in person before so I felt quite fortunate to have it happen before my eyes twice in one week.

read the rest of: Camping with the Eagles

By now you’ve probably figured out that I enjoy nature and the outdoors. Because of that I also like having a couple of bird feeders on my deck and watching them. About a month ago I was happy that goldfinches (one of my favorite birds) discovered my feeders and were regularly coming over to have snacks. Recently I’ve been getting some new visitors. Starlings have figured out how to perch themselves on the finch feeders (which are designed to feed the smaller birds) so they can eat. Being the bigger and more aggressive bird, the starlings chase all of the other birds away and end up hogging all of the food. For those of you that don’t know, starlings are an invasive species from Europe. Mother Nature never intended for them to be in North America.

This morning I found about ten starlings all perched on my deck rail, waiting for their turn to eat all of the finches’ food. “This means war,” I thought to myself. Tomorrow I’m planning a trip to the garden center to purchase a starling proof bird feeder. Stay tuned…

One of the best things about being in this area of Wisconsin are hearing the loons calling at night. There’s nothing like falling asleep while listening to that haunting wail they make. One night I woke up about 3am (my bladder was calling me). After I finished my urgent business I must have stayed awake 20 minutes or so listening to the loons. No, they weren’t keeping me awake, I wanted to just lay in my sleeping bag and listen.

Bald eagles have got to be one of the most majestic animals on the planet. Through conservation efforts, the endangered bald eagle has been making a comeback, especially in Wisconsin. Recently, my local public television station has been showing live scenes from a bald eagle nest in Northern Wisconsin in between their regular programs. The folks who operate the camera have also set up a web site where you can watch live video from the eagle’s nest. Over the past few days, two eaglets have emerged from their eggs. Activity at the nest should really get interesting now.