My Big Month - Day 12

Today was a beautiful day, a little warmer and a lot less windy than yesterday. After seeing so many beautiful Warblers yesterday I wasn't sure what to expect today. I thought just maybe I'd catch a glimpse of either the Chestnut or Magnolia Warblers again but I never saw either of them. It's possible that they've moved on already or maybe they've just taken to the trees instead of the ground to find food. I did end up seeing a good variety of birds though regardless of two less Warblers. In fact I spotted 2 other birds today that I rarely see at the park. The first was the pair of Sandhill Cranes who were walking out in a field on the northeast side. I caught a halfway decent photo of one that I'll put on my flickr page later. The other unusual bird I saw was (a pair again) of Turkey Vultures soaring overhead just a short time later. These birds are probably just as large or larger than Sandhill Cranes when they're flying so it was unique to see two of the largest birds I know of when I was out in search of the smaller Warblers. My choice of photo to post today is not a Warbler at all but a White-crowned Sparrow.

I've seen only a handful of them at the park before and until today have never had such a good opportunity to photograph one. I'd thought I'd caught a glimpse of it's distinct black and white striped crown poking around in a pile of dead branches and so I patiently waited for it to come out and pose for me. I just read in my Birds of Minnesota Field Guide from Stan Tekiela that this particular Sparrow does NOT nest anywhere in Minnesota and is only a migratory visitor.

Total species seen today: White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, House Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Mourning Dove, Black-and-White Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tree Swallow, Chimney Swift, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Wild Turkey, Sandhill Crane, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Mallard, Gadwall, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Canada Goose, American Robin, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Phoebe, Least Flycatcher and American Goldfinch.

Conditions: 55 degrees, mostly sunny and a slight breeze.