Labor Day Painted Lady

Today was Labor Day and I had the day off of work, though I didn't feel all that great. The previous evening I contracted a sore throat of the worst kind, but no other symptoms so I still tried to be out and about and doing things. My wife and I had hiked extensively for the past few days, visiting nearly 4 different parks in the metro area and today was kind of day to ourselves. I forgot to mention that she was also sick as of the previous day but was further along than I and wanted nothing more than to stay inside and recover. Anyway, I found myself hiking along the paved path on the north side starting at 73rd Avenue. I quickly noticed not one but two butterflies on a plant I know well; White Snakeroot. But here's the interesting part, I can't say I've EVER seen any species of butterfly on this plant. It is a native, but with it's small white flowers it generally doesn't attract much attention from pollinators, especially butterflies in my experience. But it's worth mentioning that this particular year was a "boom" year for Painted Lady Butterflies, and they are being seen by the hundreds and sometimes thousands in various parts of Minnesota this summer. Anyway, when I spotted two Painted Lady's and one Red Admiral on the same plant I just had to take some photos. Only a few hundred feet later I spotted yet more Painted Lady's again on White Snakeroot. And boy were they in perfect sunlight for photos! I think these might be the best shots I've ever gotten of this butterfly species. After sharing these on facebook, I had people with waaay more experience than I tell me that they had also seen them on White Snakeroot AND that it was the first time they'd seen that too! Since the Palmer Lake Park area doesn't support a wide variety of flowering native plants, my guess is that the Snakeroot was the best option these butterflies had for nectar. A bit later I bumped into a friend of mine and we hike together for a little bit. We spotted a Viceroy Butterfly as well but it was too far off the trail for a good photo.

First Migrant Bird of the Season!

August can be kind of a "dry" time for finding new birds, well at least at Palmer Lake Park anyways. Seems like all the best birds have gone somewhere else by now. The first thing that caught my eye was a Cabbage White Butterfly on the south end. It was nectaring from the tiny yellow flowers of some wild (and likely invasive) mustard. The Cabbage White is a very common and easy to find butterfly but somewhat difficult to photograph as they just never hold still. The next thing I found got me excited for birds again though; a Northern Waterthrush! This little bird is a member of the Warbler family, though you're more likely to find it on the ground near muddy banks versus up in the trees. This bird is actually already returning back south! One can see them for 2 to 3 weeks maybe in the springtime, then they are on their way further north to breeding grounds. A couple of years ago I came across another one around this same time, maybe even earlier. It's surprising how soon some birds migrate back south. Shorebirds are typically first, followed by waterfowl, but that is just a generalization and each species is different. I spent quite a bit of time following this bird around trying for a better photo, but for all my efforts this was the best I could do. Later I spotted another bird that stood out, but for my inability to identify it. Juvenile sparrows are notoriously difficult to ID, but I see some good indicators here for a young Swamp Sparrow. I'm still not 100% sure but that would be my best guess. Other birds seen today include; American Redstart (male and female) and a Gray Catbird.

My 2014 Nemesis Bird Captured!

This spring, I had the fortune of having some unexpected time off of work. I spent as much of this time as I could at the park searching for springtime migrants and I had done very well for the season, even picking up a couple brand new species. But there was one bird in particular that I never spotted all spring –a Scarlet Tanager. There were visits I made where I specifically went in search of this bird, parking on my stool sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting only to never see one. On May 22nd of last year (2013) I had an amazingly close encounter with a Scarlet Tanager who was on the ground. So of course I expected to have a similar encounter this year! Yeah right. Remembering that day made me appreciate it even more after the entire spring of 2014 had passed without even a glimpse of one. I had given up hopes that I would be able to log this species for 2014, which of course is generally when something tends to happen. On the south side wood chip trail today I noticed some movement in the thick Buckthorn trees above me. I saw some bright yellow, which is always a color that makes me look closer this time of year. But this was too large to be a warbler. It was mostly obscured by the thick foliage and I didn't even have my binoculars with me. But after a few mostly blurry photos through the trees, I noticed the bird had very dark wings. Ah ha, it was a Scarlet Tanager!!! I waited and watched as patiently as I ever have for this bird to come out into the open but it just wasn't happening. A few times I could catch a better glimpse through a small opening in the leaves but every time I did, the bird would move again. I decided to try and lure it out with some bird calls but for the most part it did not seem interested. Finally after tracking faint glimpses of it's movement back and forth, it began working it's way to the edge of the tree. I found a pile of logs to climb up on and precariously tried to put myself in a good position for when it came out fully. Finally after nearly 45 minutes the bird appeared in front of me, unobstructed and with a nice blue sky behind. I quickly snapped as many pics as I could and I'm glad I did because only seconds later the bird flew off again. I tracked it to it's new spot even higher now in a Boxelder tree. To my surprise a second Scarlet Tanager flew in to meet it! Then I got an even bigger surprise when this second bird opened it's gape wide to beg for food! Indeed this was a juvenile who had been following around the parent Tanager. Though nearly impossible to capture a photo of this moment, I felt fortunate to have witnessed such a sight –and with such a special bird for my year. Though not in it's typical bright red "scarlet" coloring, I believe the parent to be a male. I could certainly be wrong but according to my Stokes Field Guide, the male would still possess black wings even in it's "yellow" (fall/winter) phase, while the female would show dark –but not black wings. Oh, I forgot to mention but in the very same place, a male AND female Rose-breasted Grosbeak both landed. They were in a very shaded area and I was not able to get a decent photo. I was so happy after my Tanager sighting that I hardly paid much attention to other birds for the rest of my walk. I did however see other species including Yellow-rumped Warbler, Eastern Phoebe, Wood Duck, Mallard, Black-capped Chickadee, Common Yellowthroat and my first "fall" White-throated Sparrows. Further on the south side I was surprised to catch a Monarch Butterfly again. It has been so cold last week that one would have a hard time imagining that they are still hatching or making their way south to Mexico for the winter. But indeed they are still around. This one grabbed hold of a small yellow flower that I believe to be Tall Hedge Mustard –a non-native if I'm correct. This was my favorite shot with the bright blue as a backdrop. Later I found another butterfly, this time a Cabbage White Butterfly on the only thistle flower in the area. In fact I'd stopped to see what was so bright pink on the edge of the trail first, right before the butterfly landed on it. I've recently read that this species of butterfly which is so common to our area is declining in the state of Florida. I am not sure what the reason is.

Awesome August Sights!

I arrived at the park just after 8:30am this Saturday and started hiking on the south side. While making my way around the duck pond along the wood chip trail I could see a bird or two near the water's edge among the Willow and other low shrubs. The first one to my surprise was a Great Crested Flycatcher. I'd never seen one this low to the ground before as they tend to stay up in the treetops. Unfortunately the lighting was too dark but at least I saw one. But then a second bird in the same area caught my eye and lo and behold it was a Warbler. Not just any Warbler but a Northern Waterthrush! I've not seen one of these since early spring and seeing as it's August now, I'm thinking that possibly this one is already on it's return trip back south. So this bird is officially my first "fall Warbler." There are lots of great plants and flowers and Butterflies out now as well and I spotted this beautiful patch of Blue Vervain just starting to flower. Though tiny, these little flowers are a vibrant violet and bloom from the top down along their flower stalks. This is one of the very first native Wildflowers that I learned and thus they are my favorite Minnesota Wildflower. Blue Vervain tends to prefer moist areas so it it prevalent in Palmer Lake Park. And speaking of Butterflies, I found more than one today. The first one shown here is called a "Cabbage White" Butterfly and they are quite common. I've tried countless times to photograph one in good light and detail and I think I finally succeeded with this shot. I don't know what kind of plant it was on but I do recognize the fuzzy leaves. Then not to much later I found this Red Admiral Butterfly hanging around a plot of Touch-me-Not plant. Maybe it's early enough in the season but this Red Admiral's wings were in pristine shape making me wonder if it wasn't that old yet. Sometimes Butterflies can get pretty beat-up. And such was the case with the next one I found –a Viceroy Butterfly! This was probably my most exciting find so far as I can't even remember the last time I've seen this species. A Viceroy is a "mimic" of the much loved Monarch Butterfly. The reason is that since Monarch catterpillers eat Milkweed plants, they are toxic to birds and are avoided as a food source. The Viceroy, looking so similar to a Monarch in color and pattern, are also avoided. Looking closely at the lower wing of a Viceroy, one can see an extra black line that runs perpendicular to and crosses the other lines. A Monarch would not show this pattern. And just when I thought I'd found the most interesting piece of nature for the day, something darted out ahead of me on the paved trail while hiking along the north side. It was a Pheasant, which isn't all that odd except for the fact that it stopped dead in it's tracks in the middle of the trail and craned it's head to look back. I knew something was up with this and got my camera ready. Sure enough, tiny Pheasant chicks came running out of the tall grass to catch up with mom! It was the first time for me seeing Pheasant chicks. I believe there were four in all and they were already grown enough to fly for short distances as evident by this photo showing the last one in flight. I tried to quickly run up ahead as I could see the group still on the edge of the grass on the opposite side of the trail. By the time I got up far enough, all but one chick had darted into the grass and I didn't get a good photo of the one. Quite an interesting sighting I think! Wonder if they had nested in the park?

Colorful July Day

This Sunday at the park was a fantastic day for birds. I always think of August as a slow time for birdwatching at PLP so today being the 27th of July, it could be one of the last good days of the summer. Among the many birds I spotted today were Great-crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, American Goldfinch, Gray Catbird, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Indigo Bunting, House Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, and Red-winged Blackbird. But one bird I really got a good long look at was this talkative House Wren. I could hear two of them chattering back and forth at each other in the low brush to my right. I focused on an open spot where I could get a clear view and sure enough one of them jumped right into my view. The other one flew off but this one stayed around for a few minutes posing and chattering loudly at me. Wrens are neat little birds with a lot of attitude and of course they don't stay put for very long so it is a fun challenge to photograph them. I was super happy to get a photo of the one in mid-chatter with his bill wide open. I have found that Wrens are eager to respond to a recorded call of their chattering sound. There's a lot of quick noise in that call and I wonder what on earth they are saying in such quick bursts. The remaining Wren hopped back down into the brush but popped out for a second to check me out. Out in the baseball fields on the east side of the park were a pair of Killdeer. I've tried in the past to get closer to these guys and they usually bump and fly away very easily. But with my new lens giving me more reach I was finally able to capture a better shot of one today. Killdeer are considered a member of the "shorebird' family and you can see why by the length of their legs. They would allow them to easily walk through flooded and muddy areas while searching for food. Killdeer also make such an interesting and unmistakeable noise –the noise for which they are named, sounding like "kill deeeer, kill deeeer." Along my hike today there was no shortage of Butterflies and insects. I spotted a number of different Dragonflies, Monarchs and even a Black Swallowtail butterfly. A number of the Monarchs I saw were landing on the hot pink colored Swamp Milkweed plants, making for great photo opportunities. I took dozens and dozens of shots but it was worth it to get just this one gorgeous image. I may indeed get this one framed later on. A very enjoyable visit!

Gotcha! A New "Life Bird!"

After more than 5 years of hiking at Palmer Lake and watching birds, I've learned what kind of birds to expect and where and when. But I'm thrilled to report today that I saw and photographed a brand new species at the park! As with most sighting like this, there is a little "back story" that I'd like to share. About two weeks ago my friend Larry who also walks at the park, called to tell me that he'd heard a Black-billed Cuckoo calling from the trees near 73rd Avenue North. He said that he listened to it calling for over 30 minutes but never spotted it within the thick trees. When he told me that, I actually rushed over to the park right then and there. I poked around the area he mentioned but I never heard or saw anything. The mosquitoes were bad that day and it was hard to be still and listen. Anyway, I pretty much gave up on the bird since then. In fact I was much more interested in the Indigo Buntings today. I'd decided to walk counter-clockwise around the park today –which I rarely do. And when I came out into the sun on the north side where the trail is perfectly straight, I spotted a bird with a very long tail fly out from some low brush to my left. I am not very good at noticing tail or feather length, but this bird had an unusually long tail! 

The only other species I am familiar with that looked anything like this bird would have been a Brown Thrasher. But Brown Thrashers are much more rusty, reddish color and this bird was very dull. When it landed in a thick shrub, still at eye level, I could just barely see it's head. I looked through my binoculars and was stunned to see bright red coloring on the eye! Then I knew, this was no ordinary bird for me! I realized quickly it had to be the Black-billed Cuckoo that Larry had told me about. It continued on to another perch again but amazingly it stayed at eye level. Once or twice it landed in the lower part of a shrub that with less foliage where I got even better looks at it. It also had quite the long, downturned bill which is another reason it probably reminded me of the Brown Thrasher. 

The funniest thing about my sighting is that I've read that this bird is most often heard, before it it seen, or heard and never seen. My particular sighting was exactly the opposite, whereas I saw it first  but then never even heard it. I would have like to have heard it's call –a monotonous "cu cu cu cu" for which it is named. Though a rare sighting for me, this bird's summer range covers most of the midwest states including the entire state of Minnesota. I'm hoping this is not my last sighting of one! Before this entire escapade, I did spend quite a bit of time listening and watching for the Indigo Buntings that I've seen so much of this summer. It's my personal belief that it has been a good year for this bird as I've seen and photographed them countless times, not just at PLP but at many other places around the metro area.

 In years past I feel like I might see them between 1 and 3 times each season. But then again, I may just be looking harder than I used to! Here is my favorite photo of one today. Near the end of my walk I spotted one of those little white Butterflies that are also so common this time of year. They never seem to sit still for me but this one was interested in some like–colored white flowers. I learned today that the Butterfly is referred to as a "Cabbage White Butterfly" with the scientific name of Pieris rapae.

Colorful June Birds

It's amazing how much more you can do in a single day when there is as much daylight as there is now. After work this evening I decided to go over to Silverwood Park in St. Anthony and was there for about an hour. Then a friend of mine called me to tell me that he had heard a Black-billed Cuckoo bird calling for about half an hour at Palmer Lake Park near the northeast side. So I left Silverwood almost immediately, though I was seeing both the male and female Indigo Buntings there. I got to PLP at around 6:00pm and went to the spot where the Cuckoo had been heard but I never heard or saw it. It was a little buggy already and I was getting bit up by not moving quickly enough. So I headed to the north end of the park where I heard a Yellow Warbler calling. I followed the sound until I found the bird in the same general area where I've been seeing them lately. With full leaves out now it is getting tougher to see the birds at all much less get photos of them. Finally it moved to the top most part which is when I shot this photo. A little while later I could hear another bird that sounded similar but more scratchy. I wondered it if might be an American Redstart and indeed it was. The bird came down out of the treetops just long enough to check me out it seemed. It hopped around on a dead branch just long enough for me to take a few shots. Redstarts are notoriously hard to photograph because of their constant and quick movement, but I've found it is equally hard to take a photograph that captures the detail of their eyes and head. Since the males have a completely black head and black eye, it is somewhat rare to even be able to see their eyes. So this is one shot in my book that makes the cut! On my way along the north side I had been hearing not just one but up to three different Indigo Buntings calling from the treetops. If I would be lucky enough to see one tonight it would be the first IB's I've seen at the park this year. I decided to head back the way I came and on the way I did encounter one –a male. In fact, he gave me more than one decent photo opportunity as he busily sang out the same sweet, buzzy song over and over again. Like last year I witnessed him fly back and forth from one side of the trail to the next. After chasing him back and forth for quite a while I encountered him on a lower than usual perch and took this photo. It is lightened up quite a bit since it was getting darker already, but I really like how it turned out. I would not normally crop a photo so strangely, with all that space to the right but for some reason I think it works. I saw one more interesting thing as I was heading back to my vehicle and that was these two Butterflies back-to-back with wings intertwined. These are a very common Butterfly and I believe they may be called "Cabbage Butterlies" but I'm not 100% certain yet. The odd position I found them in leads me to believe they were possibly mating.

A Few Good Warblers but No Photos

This weekend I went to Sparta Wisconsin for some bike riding and unfortunately I didn't get in hardly any bird watching. So my only outing to PLP this weekend was on late Sunday afternoon. Though the temp was in the mid to upper 70's, it was still humid and very much feels like Summer in the first week of September. I was hoping to see some new Warblers passing through today and indeed I did. I actually spotted 5 different Warblers including Common Redstart (female), Common Yellowthroat, a Tennessee Warbler, a Magnolia Warbler and my favorite, a Black and White Warbler! Of all these however, I didn't get a single photo as the majority of them were high up in the treetops picking insects off the leaves. I was lucky enough to even have spotted them briefly using my binoculars. Some other things I did get photos of were this Monarch Butterfly on the south east corner. Here there is usually a large field of wildflowers that was recently mostly mowed down. I'm not sure which party is responsible, or why they decided to do so, but mowing over all these wild plants effectively destroyed a ton of food sources for many birds and insects. In addition to the Warblers listed above, I saw quite a few other birds today including; Blue Jays, Cardinals, a Brown Thrasher, Chickadees, lots of Robins, Mallards, Wood Ducks, an Eastern Phoebe, a Least Flycatcher, a Green Heron, Goldfinches, Cedar Waxwings, Canada Geese and two female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. These I spotted again on the north side along the trail in some thick Buckthorn trees. I've not seen a male Grosbeak for quite a while now which makes me wonder if the males start migrating before the females. When I got to the footbridge over Shingle Creek, I spotted one last bird –a Belted Kingfisher. It was squawking loudly and actually flew under the bridge below me to perch on a recently fallen tree over the creek. Since I've not caught a decent photo of this somewhat infrequent visitor, I figured it should be easy to hike upstream and get closer for a better shot. But every time I got anywhere near the Kingfisher it would fly further upstream and perch again. This repeated a few times before I finally lost sight of him. I was totally bummed and the Kingfisher remains elusive to my camera lens still at Palmer Lake Park.

Friends of Palmer Lake Park Nature Hike 2013

This Saturday morning the Friends of Palmer Lake Park (or FPLP) led another "nature hike" around the west side of the park. The event was again free to anyone and there was a decent turnout of about 15+ people. Last year we hiked all the way around the park which with a group of people can take quite a while. So this year it was decided to keep it a bit shorter and thus we hiked mainly the west side and also visited some of the wood chip trails for a change. It is always such a fun group of people who attend –people who really appreciate the outdoors and everything it has to offer. Usually, most of these people are quite knowledgeable about nature and boy can a person learn things from them. In our small group we had people skilled in bird, mammal, insect, plant and tree identification. Someone from the group had brought a few nets so we could again try to catch a few dragonflies. At this time of year they are plentiful and one even landed on Jean's head. We all laughed as she quickly became the focus of our attention and cameras. As far as birds go, we actually did not see a lot in our short hike. A couple we did see were Gray Catbird, and Cedar Waxwing. For whatever reason this hike ended up focusing on more on plants which is not my strong point, but definitely something I have enjoyed learning more about. One little tid-bit I picked up today is what Garlic Mustard (an invasive plant) looks like when it goes to seed. I actually didn't get a photo of that unfortunately but the image is engrained in my mind now and I think I will be able to point it out to others in the future. One more insect that we all spotted was this Yellow Butterfly on the wood chip trail. It was clinging to some leaves right at eye level and so all of us got a great look at it. I have always called these "Yellow Swallowtails" but in fact I believe now the correct name is an "Eastern Tiger Swallowtail." Something I learned later from someone else in our group is that the caterpillar of this species prefers to eat Dill plant. It is something you can plant in your own yard and possibly even attract this type of Butterfly to!

Critters Everywhere

I can hardly believe July is coming to a close in the next few days. I've been out birding a fair amount this month but didn't get to Palmer Lake Park until this Sunday morning. Our hot and humid weather has thankfully been replaced by much more tolerable conditions. In fact I thought twice about wearing shorts this morning but was glad I did when the sun warmed things up. The first thing of interest that I noticed was a curious looking shape inside an old Wood Duck house just off the wood chip trail near the south parking lot. I've gone by this house hundreds of times and never seen a duck in it. So when I saw a flash of movement come from that vicinity, I took a closer look. With my binoculars I could see a pair of feet sticking up. This could only mean one thing so I went in closer and sure enough a masked face peered back at me. Though I hated to see a Raccoon in a Duck box, it's not often that I see Raccoons at all in the park so it was kind of a treat. Later I spotted this nice Red Admiral Butterfly who was attracted to a purple Thistle flower. I waded into the tall weeds, getting poked and scratched by other thistle and nettles to get the photo but it was worth it. I'm still hardly seeing ANY Monarch Butterflies this year which is very sad. Later when I got to the foot bridge over Shingle Creek on the north side, I stopped like I often do to watch the creek for signs of any wildlife. After a few minutes I'd not seen anything and was walking off the other side of the bridge when I spotted something swimming across the creek. It hopped up onto the shoreline and I could see another one then on the shore. I got excited and thought maybe they were Otters –as they have been sighted in the park before (but not be me yet!) I decided again to brave the weeds in my shorts and hiked along the creek bank down stream. Just a short time later I spotted 3 of the furry critters and realized they were much too small for an Otter and were indeed Mink! This was the first time I'd seen more than 2 of them together. Boy are these guys fun to watch. They are so playful. As I sat as quietly as possible while being bitten up by mosquitoes, a Mink swam directly toward me and then hopped up on shore again. It zig zagged through the tall grass right beneath my feet! All the while it made a short, barking kind of call and I heard another one further down stream responding. This was also the first time I've ever heard a mink make any noise and it was very cool! Then the 3rd one came across the water and up the shoreline in the same path as the last, also making the same noise. I was literally within just feet of them and I don't think they even realized it. I tried imitating the sound as best I could but I sounded more like a duck than a Mink. I was truly hoping one of them didn't crawl up my leg or something because they were that close to me! On my way back across the north end of the park I heard and then spotted a Common Yellowthroat along the paved trail. I love hearing and seeing these colorful little warblers and so I stalked this one from one side of the trail to the other, back and forth until I was able to get in close to him. I caught this photo just at the right time while he was belting out his "wichety wichety wichety" song.

Birds and Snakes and Butterfly's

My work let out early today to get a jump start on the long Memorial Day weekend so I enjoyed a nice long and leisurely walk around the park. From all the recent rain, the trail is flooded in a few different areas so slight detours were necessary. On the wood chip trail on the south side I spotted this Question Mark Butterfly and despite having only my zoom lens on my camera, I was still able to capture a good pic. It's colors really stood out against the faded wood chips. Along the bottom edges of it's wings you can see just a hint of iridescent periwinkle blue coloring. As I was coming up to the baseball fields on the west side I saw a bird fly past that didn't look so familiar. I followed it to where it landed in one of the large (planted) trees surrounding the ball fields and was surprised to see that it was a Bluebird. I've not seen one for quite a while now but I'm glad to know they are still around the park. I'm still hopeful that one finds my newly installed Bluebird Box on the northwest corner. I couldn't tell if this one was a male or female but it's coloring did seem a little on the dull side so I'm guessing a female. After detouring around some more flooded trail, I made my way across the north side where I spotted this Garter Snake just off the trail. As I got closer for a photo I figured he would dart away but instead he held his ground and turned his head directly toward me. After I got closer still he began flicking his tongue out. I wanted to get a photo of that but every time I pressed the shutter his tongue disappeared in an instant. He never did move on and when I walked away he was still in the same spot. Somewhere later I was able to catch a good view of a nice Baltimore Oriole as he hopped around in a tree -somewhat lower to the ground than usual. He was stretching his neck and turning his head every which way so I assume he was looking for caterpillars to eat. Though I've seen many Orioles already this year, I still have a tough time getting a great photo of one. They are always just too high above for a good angle and they also don't like to sit very still. I sure don't get tired of seeing -and hearing- them however!

An Early Start for Everything

This Friday I was able to finish work a little early and head right to the park. It was another warm and mostly sunny day. There were some dark rain clouds that were moving east making the sky periodically look purplish when the sun shined on it and this made for some interesting lighting. Roughly 2 weeks ago -maybe more- I spotted a Painted Turtle and a Mourning Cloak Butterfly on the same day. That was crazy-early in the year to see such things but I wasn't able to get any photos to prove it. Today I saw both again and this time they both stayed still for a photo. The Turtle was one of 3 sunning themselves in the little pond on the east side. Then about 5 minutes later this Mourning Cloak stopped at the end of a twig right off the trail. It kept it's wings closed at first and I was just about to move on when it spread open its wings. I haven't seen a Mourning Cloak caterpillar at all this year which makes me wonder if most of them have already turned into butterflies already -especially with this warm Spring. Near the end of my walk I noticed a small flash of bright red up above in a tree. I've nearly given up trying to get a photo of this small bird because they really move quickly. But this one stayed put for longer than normal -probably because I was almost directly underneath it. Unfortunately this angle didn't provide me the opportunity to see the top of its head -which would have told me whether it was a Purple Finch or a House Finch. At first I really thought it was a Purple Finch because the red coloring was so intense, but now I think it is a House Finch based on the brown streaking on the belly. The two birds are apparently very similar and though common birds, I just don't see them close up enough to quickly tell them apart. I see similar birds in the winter time but have never seen them sit still long enough for a photo.

Definitely a Migrating Bird

Today I ran into a fellow birder early on in my walk and we continued all the way around the park together talking about birds and what-not. The walk went fast with the good conversation and I realized I'd not taken nearly as many pics as I usually do. One thing I did photograph however is pretty cool I think -and I doubt I would have positively identified it on my own. It was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet who was definitely migrating given it is now mid October. Thought it's not a great photo, you can actually see just barely a hint of the ruby colored patch if you view the larger image. Pretty neat since my last sighting was 6 months ago in May! One of my few other sightings was this common orange Butterfly among the fall leaves. I just learned it's name is a "Question Mark" named for a white shape seen only on it's under-wing.

Here comes the sun

Well, we made it one whole week without rain so I guess it was time again. We received about 3/4 of an inch overnight and this morning was all wet again. I actually took my rain jacket with me this time just in case it wasn't done yet -but of course I didn't need it. The sky was mostly overcast but changing quickly with a mixture of grey and darker areas. It seemed like nothing was quite ready to come out just yet except for this snail who I met on the trail. You can't tell from this photo but it was one of the largest ones I've ever seen at the park. I saw a Cardinal and just a handful of Song Sparrows and Goldfinches until I was more than half way around the park and the sun popped out. Shortly after I noticed a single Osprey over the lake and I figured I'd try to get a better photo of one today. I hiked a lot closer first, up to the water overlook by the railroad ties. There I waited over and over for him to circle closer to me. With my camera zoomed as far as it would go, it was tough to follow a flying bird but I did manage to catch a photo with just a bit more clarity. Then I cropped it even more on the computer and I almost think that I can see a band around his leg. This was the only Osprey I saw today though I've seen up to 3 at once before. I stayed on the wood chip trail on the way back to the parking lot and noticed a big, Black Swallowtail Butterfly among the wildflowers. I stood there just along the edge of the field as my camera focused and I could just feel the mosquitoes swarming my legs below. I held steady to snap just two photos before I could feel the bites coming on. As soon as I was satisfied I quickly went to swat away the mosquitoes but there must have been 10 to 15 of them already buried up to their head on each of my legs. I couldn't believe how bad they were. I think I have mosquito bites on top of mosquito bites!

Good Summertime Walk

I arrived at the park just after 9:30am this Saturday. It was already warming up to near 80º and I wondered what I would see if anything. There are fields of tiny yellow wildflowers near the south side that stretch quite a ways out towards the middle of the park now. These areas can look more yellow than green. As I was looking closer at one of the flowers I noticed this white moth on the underside of a flower clump. I think these are the same common white moths that never seem to stay still so I took advantage and grabbed a photo. Later on the wood chip trail I noticed a few Dragonflies with almost a bright yellow body. I'm paying a bit more attention to them now after learning just a few varieties recently. There were two of this color hanging out together and it took me a while to sneak in close enough for a photo without scaring them away. I will have to learn what this variety is called. On the northeast side I ran into another park-goer who was obviously watching something outside of the trail. I spotted two Fawns right away as they were not that far off the trail and heading slowly closer. These are the first pair of Fawns I've seen this year and they are quite big already -much bigger than the small ones I'd spotted in the month of June a couple years back. I waited patiently for a good photo but had the toughest time getting a clear shot as the pair were still shorter than most of the surrounding foliage. It's a bit darker in this area too and I just couldn't steady my camera long enough to focus well. As I was heading back to the south side I heard a bird call that I can now easily recognize clearly as a Common Yellowthroat. I scanned the spindly young Willow trees surrounding the little pond and eventually found him there. I'm not sure what it is about Willow trees but I've found Yellowthroats there more often than anywhere else. Sometimes the Willow leaves can look almost the same color yellow so I wonder if it is just a safe place to roost for them. I wonder about why this bird has such a dark coloring right across it's eye. I have a feeling it is an adaptation of being most active in the bright summer sunshine.