For the readers who don't go to Disapproving Rabbits but would like to hear some of the sounds rabbits can make, check out this video of Cinnamon grunting.

So much to blog and so little time! I got the word from Lorraine that the bees have landed. I was hoping that they would arrive tomorrow or Friday and I would hive them on Friday but they came today. Right now I'm trying to rearrange my schedule to install them on Thursday. I'm hoping Non Birding Bill will come and use his mad video directin' skillz to make a short on how we install our bees. I can't help but giggle and think of two years ago when we first hatched the crazy bee plan. Mr. Neil and I with visions of hexagons and buzzing and Lorraine and NBB heavily protesting. Both saying we were not going into the bee business because Mr. Neil would be out of the country writing and I would be at some bird thing and Lorraine and NBB would be the ones to have to deal with the bees and they under no circumstances would not be helping with the bees...and here was Lorraine dealing with early bee arrival while Mr. Neil was away and I was doing a bird thing.

I stopped by the bald eagle nest at the 5-8 Club to get a last view of it before the trees leaf out. The chicks have hatched and the male and female are stopping by to feed them throughout the day.

Word on the street with the banders is that many eagles are about two weeks behind from last year because of the long winter. Some banding of eagle chicks was supposed to start next week and they are now scheduled to start on May 12. Eagles are usually good with starting early, they don't need water to be open, but osprey do. I know many lakes in northern Minnesota are still frozen, I wonder if they will be late this year too? Speaking of which, the are talking flurries again for the Twin Cities this weekend--for the first weekend in May. If that happens, that means that we will have had a six month winter. Our first snow was last November 5. That's the hardcore Minnesota winter we know and love!

The weather can't put a hold on the rest of migration. We had one intense day of banding at Carpenter Nature Center today, which I will get to tonight. The towhee above is just a hint. Boy, wasn't it just the other day that I blogged about wanting to get a photo of that crazy towhee eye? Sometimes, wishes do come true in the short term.

Here are a couple of other hints: What bird hates black sparkly nail polish more than titmice hate purple nail polish?