Birds, Butterflies and Flowers

Wow I saw a lot of great stuff this Saturday at the park! I spent roughly 3 hours casually strolling around the outer trails but got distracted by some spring wildflowers off the trail. I usually find these Violets in the same area behind the baseball diamonds on the west side where it is typically very wet and sometimes floods. As for Butterflies, I saw a few Cabbage Whites and Red Admirals which is typical for this time of year. There are also Dandelions out already which this Cabbage White Butterfly found attractive. I saw oodles of birds including numerous bright yellow American Goldfinch, Northern Cardinal, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, lots of Mallard Chicks, American Robin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker and probably some others I'm forgetting. But possibly the most interesting bird I watched today were Black-capped Chickadees who were busy excavating a nest cavity in a dead tree. I watched both the male and female take turns going into the hole and coming out with a mouthful of wood chips. They timed it perfectly so that as soon as one would come to the entrance of the hole, the other would be ready to fly in. Their teamwork is pretty amazing and fun to watch. If you ever notice a Chickadee with wood chips on it's face, it's fairly safe to assume they've been hard at work! Oh right, I forgot to mention but the Marsh Marigold is also in bloom now near the southwest corner of the park. I just love seeing this native MN wildflower each spring as they are so colorful and short lived. I also saw numerous Painted Turtles today and also two Groundhogs as well. All in all, I took over 700 photos in total today and it was a beautiful day to observe nature :)

January Thaw

After a long and brutal cold snap, we are finally above freezing again and even the sun came out this morning! It was a great day to be at the park hiking around and seeing what could be seen. It was so nice I inadvertently did the southwest side of the park twice. On the first round I noticed a few little birds hopping about in front of me in the shade. Upon closer inspection they were Goldfinch in their winter plumage. I think there were only 2 or 3 at the most but I like to see them in the winter time. Shortly afterward I stopped at the duck pond and noticed a group of a dozen or so Cedar Waxwings bathing in the open water along the bank. This was on the other side from me so I walked around to get closer and scared them off. But after a bit they started to come back one by one and were putting on quite a show. I wished I could have got even closer but it was so thick here. While watching the Waxwings I heard all the Mallards in the duck pond making noise all at once and move quickly in a large group. When I looked up I noticed a Hawk had just swooped over the group of ducks and perched on the opposite side of the pond. It looked to be a Cooper's Hawk but was in the dark shade. I wanted to get a closer look and immediately headed around to the other side, trying not to bump the raptor. To my surprise it stayed put, perched nearly at eye level with me. As I snuck around the back side I finally got into better light and could see bright yellow eyes –indicating a juvenile bird. A mature adult would have bright red eyes. I took quite a few photos from this angle assuming it was a Cooper's Hawk but upon processing the photo I am starting to think it might actually be a Sharp-shinned Hawk. Sharp-shinned Hawks are nearly identical in plumage but tend to have a smaller head, more square-ish looking tail, and be somewhat smaller in size. Though the larger female Sharp-shinned can be nearly the same size as the smaller male Cooper's Hawk, adding yet another layer of complexity to identification. Only last year I learned how to differentiate a Cooper's from a Sharp-shinned in flight, but perched is another story. I generally err on the side of Cooper's since they are apparently far more common to find perched among the woods. But this one really made me look more than once. I am posting to the Minnesota Birding facebook page for some help and should have a positive ID soon. If indeed it turns out to be a Sharp-shinned, it would be my first ever photo ID of one! Upon walking the woodchip trail away from the duck pond, I scared up a Great Horned Owl almost right above me! I stopped in my tracks and said a few choice words to myself as I would have likely gotten a great look at it in the full morning sunlight. The bird flew a fair distance but basically traveled in a straight line away from me. I could kind of make out where it perched and followed behind, trying not to look up toward it too often. I've noticed from experience that they tend to bump again quickly if you stare them down as opposed to just looking at the ground. In fact I've come much closer to Owls when I wasn't looking for them and just happened to look up to find one right above me. As I headed closer it moved yet again and was followed by a second Owl close behind. The pair chose a familiar roost I've seen them at before. The pair is likely scoping out a possible nest as Great Horned Owls will begin nesting somewhere between late January through February.

15 Birds, 2 Mink and Some Insects!

I can hardly believe it is only late November now as the weather we've had since our first snow on the 10th has felt much more like December or even January. We've already dipped below 0º and had a couple more snowfalls and it's not even December! This Saturday was slightly warmer and I was anxious to hike around the park. I started tallying up the number of bird species that I spotted because it is just so slow this time of year. After watching some Chickadees and Juncos moving back and forth from the cattails, I spied a small group of Cedar Waxwings picking at the Buckthorn berries. The light wasn't so good and especially shooting upwards like this but I like this picture non-the-less. When I got over to the "duck pond" I started to see all sorts of birds including a few House Finches and Goldfinches. I always enjoy seeing or hearing Goldfinches in the wintertime as they remind me very much of Summer. I'm guessing this one might be an adult male in his winter-time plumage since he shows a bit of very bright yellow still on his face. The Mallards have been slowly growing in numbers since the first snow and I always stop to check out the group just in case there's a stray duck of a different species among them. So far now luck. I did try my hand at catching a picture whenever one would bathe or stretch it's wings and this was the best of the bunch. I'm still no good at catching movement and not having it appear blurry. My very best photo of the day however would be taken just minutes later after I spotted a handful of Cardinals –males and females– moving around low in some dogwood. I crept closer very slowly and positioned myself perfectly on this male somehow without spooking him. He had clearly just eaten something as evident by food left on his bill, so he must have been content just to sit there for a while. So I took advantage and popped off numerous shots and got a couple of very sharp ones. For me, a decent photograph of even a common bird can make my whole day of bird watching well worth it. And at this time of year when everything outdoors starts fading into black or white, a bright red Cardinal is very appreciated! In a short while later I spotted another flash of red, this time being on a Red-bellied Woodpecker. It was here in this same area on the wood chip trail bordering the duck pond that I spotted the majority of the birds I saw today. I believe I had roughly 15 total including:
1. Dark-eyed Junco
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. American Crow
4. Mallard
5. Blue Jay
6. Northern Cardinal
7. Cedar Waxwing
8. Downy Woodpecker
9. Hairy Woodpecker
10. Red-bellied Woodpecker
11. House Finch
12. American Goldfinch
13. American Tree Sparrow
14. American Robin
15. White-breasted Nuthatch
Aside from these birds, I actually spotted not one but two different Mink! One nearly ran into my foot as I hiked along the wood chip trail on the south side of the park. I could hear shrieking in this area and at first I thought a Raptor had caught a rodent of some kind. But I quickly learned it was indeed a Mink moving through the cattails at a hurried pace –possibly with another one chasing it, though I only saw the one. Then on the complete opposite end of the park, I spotted another one. This time bounding up the banks of the drainage ditch under the northern most paved trail that leads out of the park. Neither one stayed put long enough for a photo of any kind. However it was here that I spotted something interesting –flying insects! There were 2 or 3 of them flying through the air and landing on dried Goldenrod plants. I could hardly believe what I was seeing considering how cold it has been. Simply amazing what nature can withstand.

Growing Families of Birds

Bird watching can really slow down in August –at least at Palmer Lake anyway. So I'm kind of surprised to have 6 photos that I want to share from my visit this Saturday morning. The first is a Downy Woodpecker that I was able to get very close to. This male Downy (as evident by the red patch of feathers on his head) was busy looking for insects inside dried up cattail and other weed stalks. Compared to pounding into a tree I'm sure this was much easier! I saw him poke a hole into it and even saw his long tongue come out once. Maybe it's because I was close but I thought for sure that this was a Hairy Woodpecker which is about 3 inches larger than a Downy. But with my photo I was able to catch a small detail that helps a person distinguish between the two nearly identical species. Notice the small black dots near the tips of the white tail feathers –something a Hairy Woodpecker does not have! In the same general area were lots of Goldfinches coming and going and making plenty of noise too. I've been trying for weeks to get a nice photo of one and am coming to realize it's just not that easy. Here and there I could see one or two through the tall green grass and this was one that did not seem shy of me. To me it's brownish coloration reminded me of how the males will look in winter. But why did it look this way now in the middle of August?It puzzled me enough to ask other birders and it turns out I overlooked the most obvious answer. It is a juvenile! Whilst standing here watching, I finally spotted a bright yellow male but there was not a clear view of him through the tall grass. Eventually he worked his way upwards and grabbed a hold of a blade of grass to bend it over. At the time I didn't notice but in the photo now I can see there are little green aphids on the grass. I don't know for sure if that's what he was after or not. I didn't watch closely enough to see if that was the case. There was one more little yellow bird that I saw today further along the wood chip trail to the south. This was a female Common Yellowthroat who teased me with only a partial view from behind some cattails. I often forget that this species is a Warbler, seeing as how they are here in our area for almost the entire summer season and how easily they can be found through their constant and loud songs. Though I've heard plenty of them lately, I've seen only females in the past few weeks. Later on the north side I spotted a bird that I've not seen in some time now –possibly since spring. I first noticed a patch of bright red against white which usually means one thing, a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak. They are one of my favorite birds but every year I notice that the males in particular become very scarce in the summer. After trying for a while to coax it out of the thick buckthorn, I noticed movement which I followed to another tree. Finally it was out in the open where I could get a photo. But as I did I quickly realized it was not the same bird. This was in fact a juvenile and more obviously a juvenile male! This is something I've never seen before and was quite exciting. It still had many of the characteristics of an adult female –the striped brownish head and even the rusty orange breast with small speckles. But in the middle of that breast was the bright red patch of an adult male. This photo was lightened up considerable to show some of those details. Its great to know that this bird is possibly nesting in or near the Palmer Lake area! Finally, on the northeast side of the park I had spotted what looked like a Song Sparrow fly down from a perch and start following another bird very closely. When a bird shows this behavior of following another around and opening it's mouth for food it can only mean one thing –that it is a young bird or "fledgeling." Indeed this odd looking Song Sparrow with some yellowish coloring on it's face was being fed by the adult which was a neat sight. I took quite a few photos but hardly got any focused shots of the action of feeding that happened so quickly. After getting it's meal though, the young bird would still be very close to the adult giving me multiple good photo opportunities of the pair.

A Few More Birds than Normal

I'm not even supposed to be in town today but due to a major change in holiday plans, I was at the park again today –the day after Christmas. It was just a tad warmer than it's been lately, and with my back brace still helping, I was eager for another walk around the entire park today. For whatever reason I was on a mission today to note and remember every bird species I saw and my total list ended up a bit longer than usual by at least 2 species anyway. One of these was a White-throated Sparrow that I spotted on the south side of the park. He (or she) was busy feeding on a dried plant along with a bunch of Junco's. I've not seen a White-throated in quite some and I typically don't see them at the park in the winter time at all. According to the range map in my "Birds of Minnesota" field guide by Stan Tekiela, it looks like the Twin Cities Metro area might be just on the very edge of their winter range. I wasn't able to get a decent photo but good enough to confirm the sighting anyway. This particular area was a great spot to watch birds all Summer and Fall. There were many different varieties of plants and even now the dried and withered vegetation continues to attract birds. It is testament to just how important it is to leave vegetation to nature's own course versus cutting it all down in the fall. I've only recently learned to do this in my own back yard –leaving dried seed pods as natural sources of food for wintering birds. The area provided me more than one good shot of a Junco today! I've come to really enjoy these hearty little winter birds and the variation of color in their plumage. This one in particular reminds me of fur on a dog. Another common but not-seen-lately bird for me today were Goldfinches. I could hear them plainly near the north end of the park, and after calling back to them with some pre-recorded calls, a group of 6 to 8 appeared in the trees above me. They never really came down to eye level but it was fun to see the hints of bright yellow around their face. I think this one is probably a female as there were slightly more yellow-colored birds off to the side. I've made up my own mnemonic to remember their call. They make one in particular that I imagine them to be saying "Look-at-Meee!" I'll try to remember now my entire bird list for today: White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch and Mourning Dove. I was surprised to not have seen any Robins. Near the end of my walk I ran into some good friends of mine and one reported to me that he'd seen both a Red-tailed Hawk as well as a Red-shouldered Hawk!

When September Ends

After a rainy day yesterday, it was perfectly clear and sunny this Sunday. It was just a great day for a birding hike around the park and I saw plenty of them, including; Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, Black-capped Chickadee, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch and even a Cooper's Hawk. One of the first interesting things I spotted was not a bird though. There were TONS of these fragile, thin mushrooms growing out of the wood chip trail on the south side. They were in clusters of 5 to 20 or so and had just the faintest hint of pale blue coloring. Many of the tops were not flat like a disc but rather flared out like a flower. I have no idea what kind they are and couldn't find any good information online either. One of the birds that I probably saw the most of today were White-throated Sparrows. They are just everywhere you can find standing weeds yet and I'm assuming they are looking for seeds in the dried up foliage. At first glance these look pretty much like any other sparrow, only just slightly larger. If you can catch a glimpse of them from the side or front, you'll see a little patch of bright yellow and a kind of "furry" looking white patch on their throat for which they are named. Here in the same patch of weeds I spotted this Goldfinch who was looking rather pale and fitting in with many of the leaves that are now just starting to turn a dull yellow.

Friday the 13th

I got a "free pass" of sorts today as our offices unexpectedly closed up early and I found myself free on a beautiful late afternoon. The weather was simply awesome today as cooler weather had finally arrived. It was sunny, cool, dry and calm –everything a Minnesotan rarely has! I was tempted to go birding at the cemetery near my workplace but chose PLP instead, thinking I'd have a better chance for migrating fall Warblers. And I did see one right off the bat –a Northern Waterthrush bobbing his tail up and down on the muddy shore of a small pond near the east side. I was hoping for a better photo but I'm happy to spot this bird at all as they blend into their environment extremely well. In fact I put an arrow in this photo so you can locate him easier. This would prove to be the only Warbler I spotted today but I'm always happy when I'm able to see a Bluebird. I heard this one singing long before I found him atop the chain link backdrop to the baseball diamond on the west side. I was hoping his position would give me enough leeway to get close to him and indeed I did. I was able to get right up underneath this male and snapped a funny shot of him looking suspiciously at me. I'm wondering how much longer the Bluebirds will stick around before heading south. I really took my time walking the rest of the way as it was just so nice outside. As the sun was setting I found myself standing out in a field of tall ragged weeds, still hoping for another Warbler. Instead I caught this Goldfinch peering down at me from a Buckthorn tree.

Wet and Humid Middle of July

This Sunday afternoon at the park was another warm and humid day. I saw a fair amount of birds today including a Cedar Waxwing, Song Sparrows, Common Yellowthroat, Downy Woodpecker and the first American Redstart I've seen in a while. The strangest thing I saw was a little Chickadee feeding a young Cowbird that was twice it's size. I tried to get a photo of this but missed the moment. Interestingly, Brown-headed Cowbirds don't even build their own nests. Instead they lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species and let that bird raise the young ones! In the past I've also seen a Cardinal feeding a young Cowbird. One bird that is hard to miss this time of year are the brightly colored male Goldfinches. It would seem they are at the height of their plumage this time of year. I caught a small group of males and females on the ground of the baseball diamonds on the east side. You can see a blurry Chipping Sparrow in the background here. Due to the persistent rains we've been having, the outfields of this ball field and the paved trail that goes behind it are still flooded. This area goes underwater to some degree almost every year and it's funny to see the different types of birds that can be swimming right in the outfield. Today I noticed a Great Egret walking through the water. I would assume he was looking for fish but I doubt any would have spilled over from the lake. On the south side I spotted yet another "shorebird" a Green Heron. You usually see these on the ground near or even in the water but this one had just landed up in a tree just off the wood chip trail. After he landed and stood very still I realized how easily they can blend into the scene of the treetops which struck me as kind of interesting since I typically don't see them in that setting. I generally hear these birds more than I see them and they have a unique kind of one-note squawks that can be pretty loud.

July Wildflowers

One thing I've come to enjoy about this time of year are all the wildflowers. Much like with birds, I am coming to appreciate the wide variety of unique and colorful wildflowers and plants. Even what many people would quickly write off as a "weed" can have beautiful flowers that are beneficial to birds if left to grow long enough. Thistle plants are just such one of those plants that most people don't like because of their prickly stems and leaves. I don't know much about thistle but I believe there are both native and non-native varieties found in the park. It made a nice colorful photo when I spotted this American Goldfinch land on this clump of purple thistle plants and begin pulling out the white strands of the dried up flowers. Another tiny but beautiful flower I look forward to now each summer is from the Jewelweed Plant. This plant is native and can grow "like a weed" as it name implies in wet places. In summer they will produce tiny little flowers in solid yellow or yellow-orange that hang like "ladies earings" or "jewels." Despite how small these flowers are, they will attract Hummingbirds like crazy and I've often watched Hummers spend a long time seeking out these flowers in the park. Probably even more neat than the flowers of the Jewelweed are the seed pods they produce even later in the year. These seed pods are why Jewelweed is also known as "Touch-me-not." If you find a nice, plump seed pod and just barely squeeze it or brush up against it, it will "pop" dramatically, sending the seeds inside flying outward to ensure the growth of new plants. Still another beautiful flower I've been seeing a lot of lately are Marsh Milkweed. They produce brilliantly colored clusters of pink flowers that are far more intricate than meets the eye. You'll need to study them close up to see what I mean and they are quite extraordinary in my opinion. Though named Milkweed, I don't think these are the variety that Monarch Butterflies lay their eggs on. I believe that is a different variety altogether but I don't know the official name of that yet. Still learning quite a bit on my plants –so check back in a few years!

My Big Month - Day 15

I had just an all around crummy day today -despite having a great walk at the park this morning. I would tell you about it here but it would take too long. But the cherry on top of my crummy day is that my vehicle is completely shot. After a $500 last ditch effort to save the transmission just 2 weeks ago, it is now wholly unreliable. So I have no idea how I'm going to be able to go birding every day from here on out. So with that said I'd better tell you about my early morning walk this morning as I can't say when I'll get another one in. The weather was absolutely awesome. It was still cool enough to throw on a vest over my sweatshirt and it felt just perfect. There were no clouds and the lighting is so great in the morning that I was just praying to see birds in certain areas that would have lent to a great photo. But birds never make things easy for you -which is part of the challenge that I like about photographing them anyways. I saw a lot of great birds today including an over-abundance of both Gray Catbirds and Goldfinch. They just seemed to be everywhere I looked and were also the two species making the most noise today.

Other highlights were spotting one of the Sandhill Cranes way out in the middle of the park, and then seeing a group of Wild Turkey's with a male that was "displaying" his fanned out feathers. One of my better pics of the day was of this American Goldfinch I saw on the southwest side. This male was so occupied with singing loudly that I was able to sneak in a little closer behind him for this shot.


Total species seen today: American Goldfinch, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, Gray Catbird, Baltimore Oriole, Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Northern Cardinal, Wren, Sandhill Crane, American Robin, Wood Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose, Red-breasted Grosbeak (female only) and Wild Turkey.

Conditions: 52 degrees and sunny. Little to no wind.

Early Spring and TWO Brand New Species!!!

At this time last year Spring-like weather had been in full swing for nearly a month already. Last January felt more like February, February more like March and March more like April. But this year has been nearly the opposite -seeming like our weather is one month behind instead. But after today it feels like Spring has finally arrived after all. Very early in the morning we awoke to claps of thunder and lightning which led to a steady downpour of rain most of the early morning. I was itching to go for a bird hike so badly that I put on my full rain suit top and bottom and grabbed my old "pocket-sized" camera instead of my newer DSLR which is impossible to keep dry. By the time I arrived however it had completely stopped raining and I could just tell how much stuff was going to be out today. You could just feel it in the air -and hear it as well! I drove back home, ditched my rain pants and grabbed my newer camera -and boy was I glad that I did. Sometime during the week a LOT of other Red-winged Blackbirds have found their way back to the park and they could be heard abundantly today -though all males so far. If I were to define Spring with a "sound" it would be that of the RWB. I was very hopeful that today I might catch a glimpse of at least one returning species of bird -and it didn't take long until I did. The first were Tree Swallows that were zooming all over the cattails on the north side. There were maybe 4-5 of them and they just continuously flew back and forth, climbing and diving over and over again. I waited for a long while hoping to catch one perched for a bit but they never took a break. So to prove my first sighting for the season I had to attempt to catch one in flight which proved pretty difficult. Along the way I had already heard lots of Goldfinches chirping away but I was finally able to spot a group of them feeding on seeds from last year's plants. Though Goldfinches might not completely leave our state during the winter, they don't always stay around the park in the winter. In fact I'd say you are more likely to see a Robin versus a Goldfinch at PLP in the wintertime. I'd already spotted a Goldfinch last weekend that was quite yellow already but didn't get a shot of one until today. There were both males and females in various stages of "yellowing up" for the season -yet another sure sign of Spring. When I got to the bridge over Shingle Creek I could see lots of waterfowl way downstream through my binoculars. They were very far away but I thought I caught a glimpse of something interesting like a Goldeneye maybe. I also knew that Hooded Mergansers had been spotted a couple weeks ago already up at the Coon Rapids Dam area so I was hoping I might see some of them as well. I decided to hike downstream along the banks of the creek, attempting to avoid the loud, crunchy snow wherever I could. After making lots of noise and pushing all the waterfowl further downstream I finally made it to the last big Cottonwood and kind of crouched behind it for a while. From here I could tell that there were quite a few Hoodies and Wood Ducks on the water but I had to let them forget I was there and then hopefully they would move in closer to me. My plan worked when after a while a pair of male and female Hoodies decided to swim right past me. I just absolutely love seeing the males -especially when they lift their crown all the way up. This one didn't do so as they swam by but it was quite awesome to see them so closely. After I was satisfied I'd gotten a decent photo in there somewhere, I waited for another long while just in case more came back upstream. I was getting tired of waiting when I popped my head around the corner of the tree and was shocked to see a beautifully colored duck that I'd clearly never seen before! It had beautiful silver sides, a strangely patterned black and white bill, and very bright yellowy orange eyes. This was likely the same duck I'd seen from a distance and guessed was maybe a Goldeneye. Right when I saw it, the duck had just come up from underneath the water with a little fish of some kind in it's bill. Of course when it saw me it immediately turned the other way and kept getting further and further away. I wildly snapped as many photos as I could but of course I was not holding as steady as I should have in my excitement. I did not know at the time that what I was seeing was in fact a "Ring-necked Duck" per my new Stokes Field Guide. You can just barely make out the faint brown "ring" around this male's neck for which they are named. A completely brand new species for me! I was so happy after seeing this that the rest of my walk could have been in the dark for all I cared. BUT, as I was heading back to my vehicle I couldn't help but notice yet another interesting bird wading in an area flooded by melting snow and hopping from one clump of grass to the next. As the time of year seemed right, I assumed I was seeing my first Grackle of the season. Grackles are not quite all that interesting or uncommon but I do like their iridescent blue-purple heads so I went in for a closer look. I watched a pair of them turning over leaves and grasses but wasn't quite seeing that beautiful head I was looking for. Even upon coming home to show my wife my photos for the day, I still told her I'd seen my first Grackle. But upon picking my best photo to post I started to wonder if this was indeed a Grackle at all! I pulled out my field guides and pretty instantly realized that it's beak was not as big and thick as that of a Grackle, though it did bright yellow eyes telling me that it was NOT an immature Red-winged Blackbird. I had a hunch of what it might be but I decided to immediately post my photo into a new "discussion topic" on the Birdshare group of Flickr and ask others opinions. Sure enough, so far the general consensus is that I saw a Rusty Blackbird -a second brand new species to me! In total, I counted 24 species in just one day today which might also be a personal record for me so far at PLP!

Last Visit for October 2012

It was a bit of a greyish fall day today and the park was pretty quiet. One of the first things I took a photo of was a car parked in the south parking lot that seemed a bit suspicious. It seemed like maybe they were dumping garbage out as they were parked in the very end spot near the woods while there were no other cars in the lot –and I noticed some freshly dumped garbage very near there. I hung around a bit hoping to catch them in the act but never did. Instead I blatantly stood behind their car and took photos of their license plate hoping to scare them off but they never did move. After I moved on I saw only a handful of birds including a Downy Woodpecker, White-throated Sparrow, Goldfinch, Chickadee and Dark-eyed Junco. The Golfinches have now lost their brilliant yellow plumage from summertime, really hitting home that there's not too much left of this fall season.