Friends of Palmer Lake Park Spring Bird Hike

This Saturday I saw another dream come true for the Friends of Palmer Lake Park group. In a partnership with Tiny Footprint Coffee located just across the street from PLP, we held our first ever "Spring Bird Hike!" We have done a couple of nature hikes in the past but those had happened in August when there are far fewer birds to be seen. We started off first with a tour of the Tiny Footprint Coffee plant which was fun and interesting. I can't believe all the different countries that produce and ship their coffee beans right to Brooklyn Center! Afterward the group of about 25 people walked across 69th Avenue and broke into groups to hike around the park. I had my camera with myself but spent a lot more time talking to people and thus did not take a lot of shots myself. As we entered the woods on the north side I pointed out to the group that we were getting into "Rose-breasted Grosbeak territory." And when one appeared just ahead of us only moments later I felt like I really knew this park. Back at the coffee factory, the owner had just told us that he had seen this same species of bird while on trips to the Mindo Cloud Forest region of Ecuador! We saw at least a few Warblers on our hike today and two that I remember are a Chestnut-sided and this American Redstart who looked a little different than most I see. At first I assumed this was a female but someone later pointed out to me that it's only the males who sing and not the females. Thus it is likely a young male who has not yet developed his full plumage. One more bird I stopped to photograph myself today was this Gray Catbird who was posing nicely against a green background. He's a bit in the shadows but I like how it feels. Thankfully others in the group were keeping better records of the species we saw and one even submitted a checklist to ebird.org. That person counted 41 species total and you can view the checklist here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S18536367