A Cold Walk with Good Sights

The temperature today when I arrived at the park was 0º but at least there was no wind and the sun was shining. I hadn't walked real far and was on the south wood chip trails when a large raptor suddenly burst out above me. It was a Great Horned Owl and I was surprised to see one in this area of the park. I watched to see vaguely where it re-perched and went back the way I came in hopes of a photo. Eventually I did find it again but it was now facing away from me and much higher up. I wondered if a pair were scoping out nesting areas here but I found no evidence of that. Later when I was hiking near the duck pond I noticed quite a few Robins hanging out near the little patch of open water that rarely freezes –even in zero degree weather. As I was watching them I noticed one that looked the wrong color. Then it bobbed it's tail repeatedly, making me look closer. To my shock it was a Hermit Thrush! This is a bird I typically see in late Fall (November) or early Spring (April), but I've never seen one in January! I kept an eye on him but it was hard as he blended right into the patchy shoreline of brown leaves and spots of snow. Gradually he moved into a nice sunny spot and just stayed there while I took photos. When I got home I reported this bird over ebird.org and sure enough it was listed as "rare" for this time of year! Only my second real "rare bird" report since I started using ebird. I decided to back to the open water and get down nice and low for some closeup views of the Robins. I'm very glad I did as I walked away with a couple of photos I'm proud of –even if it is of a very common species. Actually I always like sharing photos of Robins in the winter, as many Minnesotan's tend to think of them returning in the Spring. What actually happens is that while the majority of Robins DO migrate south, a certain percentage will stay all winter in areas where they have access to food and water. This behavior is referred to as "overwintering" and a great deal of Robins happen to choose Palmer Lake Park as their place. I also think it's fun to try and catch them (or any bird for that matter) bending over to drink. Nearly all birds except for Doves and Pigeons have to lap up water and then tilt their head back in order to actually drink. I read once before that it has something to do with their nasal cavities and they don't have the ability to "suck up" the water. Interesting huh? I also spent some time watching the Mallards in the duck pond doing exactly the same thing. It's always nice to see their beautiful green heads shining in the sun on a cold winter day. One other bird I got close to today was this male Downy Woodpecker (as evident by the patch of red on the back of his head). He was so busy hammering away on this branch that he let me sneak up within mere feet and snap some photos. I also saw Hairy Woodpeckers, and a domestic cat roaming out in one of the fields.

Frosty Coating

There has been a lot of humidity in the air lately and when overnight temperatures dipped into the 20s, it created a frosty coating on every little branch, twig and blade of grass in the park. Everything was thus twice as thick as it should be, making the paths like tunnels through the iced-over woods. Typically these hoar frosts wont even last as long as it takes to walk around the park but this one lasted almost all day for some reason. Just to keep looking at it all, I took a different trail off the north end of the park. There I could hear a rustling in the leaves but could not spot the Squirrel I expected to see. When I looked closer I was surprised to see a fairly large and fat rodent about 6 inches long. It had no obvious eyes or ears and a very short fur-covered tail. I was able to get right up to it for a closer look but then it moved pretty quickly though the leaves and eventually would run into fallen branches where it would sort of half bury it's head thinking it was totally concealed. When it moved I could see it's naked pink hind feet and caught just a glimpse of a pink nose but I never did see it's front feet. Per my field guide on Mammals from Stan Tekiela it is likely either a Northern Short-tailed Shrew, or an Eastern Mole. I think the latter is more likely due to it's larger size and it's time of breeding being in Feb and March. Later on I spotted a few other birds including Downy Woodpeckers, a Red-tailed Hawk, Starlings and a few random Juncos. The only good bird photo I got on this grey and cloudy day was of this Nuthatch who had no problems walking down the side of a tree.

Passing of January

If you've lived in Minnesota for any length of time you'll probably agree that January and February are the toughest months to get through. In a typical winter the majority of these months have high temps of below freezing and it's pretty easy to spend all your time indoors. It's also easy to go weeks without seeing the sun. This winter has been really different from that however and the sun has been shining nearly every weekend. Though the temperature today was cold at just 10 degrees, it is still great walking weather -especially without the snowy, icy paths like last year. The first thing of interest I spotted was near the northwest corner of the park where hundreds of European Starling decided to park and make a lot of noise. After a while one or two would dart off, tempting the others to do the same and the whole flock would move to a different tree for no apparent reason. Then it would happen all over again in another few minutes. If you ever see this many Starlings at once, make sure to listen to the noises they make. You can often hear imitations of other birds such as Hawks or Blue Jays coming from the group. Later I spotted some Downy Woodpeckers but things were generally quiet after passing the Starlings. When going around the southeast baseball diamonds, a few Crows were scattered around not to high up in some scrubby trees. One was obviously busy with something so I was able to get closer and catch this shot showing a mouse in his beak. It's easy to overlook how resourceful Crows are. If you think about how big they are and how large in numbers they are, you gotta wonder how are all of them are surviving each day. In order to make it, they can't be too picky about what they eat.

-5 degrees Towards Normal

This winter has got to be the strangest I've experienced in my 30-some years of living in Minnesota. While January temperatures even in the 20s are generally considered mild by most Minnesotans, a good deal of this month has been in the 30s and sometimes in the 40s! Today however was much more in line with a typical January day at -5 degrees --and even that's not bad to be honest. The low temps must have been a bit of a shock to wildlife as well as there was just nothing moving around today. I saw only a few birds overall and the only one I managed to get a photo of was this Junco. Later as I came around the pond on the southwest side where the Ducks usually hang out, the open water was steaming up and creating a haze. The water was clearly warmer than the air temperature and the freezing moisture was coating the banks of the pond in a coat of icy frosting.

Sunny and Cold Saturday

It was a particularly cold day this Saturday morning -possibly the coldest it has been so far at just 11 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand it was bright and sunny which always helps to make it feel warmer in my opinion. One of the first sights I saw on my walk today were lots of Robins near the small creek that runs on the southeast side. This particular one seemed to be missing an eye on his left side. I've heard recently that it's somewhat common for birds to damage or lose their eyes while flying through trees. Think about just walking through the woods without a hand to put up in front of your face. When I popped out of the woodchip trail I spotted the largest group of Deer I'd seen in quite a while -about 6 or 7 of them. At first they were all the way over by the playground equipment which was the last place I would have expected to see them. The Deer Hunt that started in October would be ending in just 4 days from now so at least these ones were lucky enough to have made it this far. There were definitely young ones in the group and I imagine they were more likely to be spared. Later on I spotted an unusual image that would probably escaped me only minutes earlier or later. The low sun was brightly illuminating these half-dried-up leaves, making them glow almost like a green light bulb. I'm always intrigued upon seeing any "green" during winter and especially with snow on the ground it can create quite a drastic contrast. The sun is so low at this time of year as evident by this photo taken only minutes before noon. Two other very interesting sights today without photographic evidence were; 1) a group of 3 Trumpeter Swans that flew over the park and 2) I heard and saw a Grey Catbird just off the trail on the east side. I told my fellow nature buff friends about this sighting and they agreed that it was simply amazing to see a Catbird around this late in the season. Eventually one of them also spotted it but neither of us came up with a photo to prove it.

Coyote Sighting First Visit of 2011

I guess I kind of wore myself out last month so today, January 8th was my first visit of 2011. It was the coldest day of the year so far with the morning staring out well below zero, so I waited until after noon for the temps to warm up a bit. Instead of my normal walk around the park I was joined by my wife on a snowshoeing trek. It was a beautifully bright sunny day but we were both cold as we headed up the frozen creek. When we were closest to the middle we cut over and explored some big trees and some groves of Buckthorn. Our snowshoes made an awful racket on top of the crusty snow due to the rain in late December. Thus there was not much wildlife to photograph. After crossing the middle of the park we ran into another guy on snowshoes who said that he saw a Coyote earlier that appeared to have been scared up by us walking up the creek. I was really disappointed that we hadn't noticed it. Eventually we turned around and ended up coming back almost the same way we came in, heading back down the frozen creek. Shortly after pausing to look at a Hawk through my binoculars, I caught a glimpse of something running off to the east. Sure enough it was a Coyote and I tore my camera out of the case just in time to catch a LONG distance shot. I cropped the photo here really far in so you can see him better and notice that both hind legs are off the ground at the same time. After seeing and photographing a Coyote on my very first visit of the year, I can't wait to see what the rest of 2011 will bring!

One Day Until Winter

It's hard to believe that with all this snow, the official first day of winter isn't even here yet. Apparently we're well on the way towards the snowiest December on record with another 5 to 7 inches predicted for this evening. Every time now I pass the big group of Mallards still keeping the water open, I look for the white one. I usually spot him if he's out in the water but I'd probably never see him against the snow. The park was pretty quiet today with more snow flurries in the air. Near the north side I spotted those spiky looking seed pods I photographed once before. This time they were still clinging to a vine that had crept up a tree over the summer. I've never even noticed them in spring or summer time but I guess some people refer to them as wild cucumbers. Towards the end of my walk I saw this crazy looking chunk of snow somehow suspended in the trees. It's pretty amazing the shapes that snow and ice can form due to ever changing freezing and melting conditions. I've heard people call these formations "snow snakes." This one I call a "snow squirrel" for obvious reasons.

Big Winter Birds

Today ended up to be a great visit to the park although it started off slow. I arrived at about 9am and it was about 7º above zero. This was not too bad considering the last few days have been below zero in the mornings! Picture opportunities were slim for the first half with just a couple Woodpeckers and 3 or 4 Blue Jays. Then on the northeast side I scared up a Pheasant who flew upwards to roost high up in the trees. This was actually the first time I've seen a Pheasant up in a tree before. This Rooster flew waaaay up in a Birch tree so I decided to off-road it through the snow for a better angle. In the process I scared up a couple of Deer -on both sides of the trail. I think both were pairs of Fawns who were bedded down in the snow. As I neared the south side near Shingle Creek, I noticed another large bird high up in a large Oak Tree. There were 5 or 6 Crows surrounding him and squawking relentlessly. Even from a long distance I could tell that it was a Bald Eagle. I watched the Crows roost within only feet of him and squawk loudly at him. As I neared closer for a photo, the Eagle took off with all of the annoyed Crows following behind him. With all the ruckus of the Crows, I could kind of make out where they landed just up the trail a ways. As I walked closer I could again hear the loud squawking and I figured I might be able to get another, better picture of the Bald Eagle. Again I ventured off the plowed trail but this time found myself knee-deep in 2 to 3 foot snow drifts! Heading towards the sound of the Crows, I trudged stupidly through the deep snow, only to find no signs of any Eagle. Though I could now see the Crows only half way up in the tree tops, I was dumbfounded as I could not spot the large Eagle. Then right there in front of me was a gray shape, large but almost invisible against the white and gray background. -the first Owl of the season, a Great Horned Owl! I am always excited to see them as they normally are only apparent in the winter time and are one of the few birds who will sit nice and still for my camera. Aside from his huge yellow eyes, you might never know this bird of prey was even there. Apparently the Crows knew he was there as the stopped bothering the Bald Eagle in favor of him.

Mid December Blizzard

Towards the latter part of this week the weather forecasts were predicting a major snowstorm so I thought it would be fun to visit the park. Despite 7 to 8 inches of snow I got to the park fairly easily but by the time I was about 1/4 mile in, I was having second thoughts. Strong winds were driving icy snow sideways right into my face and glasses. It was building up so fast that even the Ducks in the pond were starting to get covered up. I actually walked backwards at times where the path would cross an open field. I couldn't wait to get into the woods just to avoid the sideways snow. The first 1/3rd of the path was actually plowed but the rest wasn't. The latter 2/3rds was terrible walking and I found myself sweating under all my layers of winter clothes. Deer were not moving at all today but I did see one Pheasant early on. Later I spotted a group of 4 or 5 Cardinals eating berries up in the shrubs. I walked off the path to get closer to this female and soon found myself in snow up to my knees! Everything was so white that it was hard to tell where the trail even was at times. The snow kept on piling up as I went and showed no signs of letting up. This is about the closest to a real "Blizzard" the Twin Cities area has gotten in years and they are already comparing it to the Halloween Blizzard of 1991. When I finally got back to the parking lot, snow drifts were already creeping up the tires of my truck.

Fourth Day in a row in December

This Tuesday morning was my 4th visit to the park in as many day. It's a great start to December considering I visited only 4-6 times in previous months with a lot nicer weather. The cloud cover from the last few days had dissipated, making it even colder today. Today was December 7th (Pearl Harbor Day) and oddly enough I took only 7 photos my entire walk. I'm guessing the temps were just too low yet for much wildlife to be active. I saw no deer and barely even any birds. Interestingly one of the birds I did see was a Blue Jay, who have been eluding a good closeup from my camera lens for a long time. I settled on a long distance shot as there was no way I was going to wait around for him to get closer in these cold temps. The creek was serene today with a blue sky and blue shadows on the snow. I did stop here briefly to watch for wildlife, but again nothing was moving. It was just quiet and cold everywhere. With 4 visits now this December, maybe I can beat my 7 visits from last December. Still have not seen any Owls yet this winter but it shouldn't be long.