Guttenberg 2025
Richard Rathe, Summer 2025 (Birds, Flowers)
This year I came and went three times due to other trips and obligations. Starting in May to open up the place. Then back in late July for the RAGBRAI and family reunion. Then back after trips to Brimson and the BWCA in September.
The River & Big Spring
I don't have photos from the reunion because I got COVID for the first time. The various trips I planned all went wrong in some way (cycling: to hot!, kayaking: safety issues, BWCA: storms & winds). That said, the sun continued to shine and the birds continued to sing—and I continued to take photos. 🙂
This year the Army Corps of Engineers finally decided to dredge along the back side of the island.
My brother found these abandoned pieces of concrete in a pile of rip-rap. This was one of my Father's airplane tie-downs that I signed in 1969 (age 14).
Signature in Stonefrom 1969
(click any image to view or advance)
Birds!
The first morning I was there this Cuckoo must have hit a window. Probably because I opened the shades for the first time. He must have recovered because I looked away and he was gone.
I was late putting up my Purple Martin house this year, but they found it within 15 minutes! The housing stock
on the island has decreased due to construction and neglect over the years. We are going to put up another, larger house somewhere between the two houses.
For the past few years I've noticed unusual migrating birds over the river… most notably Black Terns. In addition this year there were numerous Nighthawks over the river and airfield for several days.
As has happened in the past, Killdeers just plopped down and laid eggs in our driveway.
Neston the Driveway
This was the first year I'm sure I got to see the new birds fledge! All of a sudden there were about double the number of birds flying around the house. And they stayed around for something like a month. Very nice! When I took the house down and cleaned it, six of the eight cells had nests—a 75% occupancy rate. 🙂
(click any image to view or advance)
