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

A Nice Sunday in Early April

Today is Sunday, April 6th and it was a nice evening for walk around the park. The majority of snow is melted except for in very shaded areas or where it has been piled high on the edges of the paved trails. There were a fair amount of birds (and people) out today. Where the snow melt has pooled alongside the trails, the water was attracting everything from Robins to Ducks, giving me some good photo-ops. This Robin just looked so bright and orange I had to take a photo. American Robins are in the "Thrush" family of birds that includes (in the MN area); Eastern Bluebirds, Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Wood Thrush. If you were to compare all of these species next to one another, there may be some small difference in sizes, but the overall general shape and posture of the birds would look very similar. Unfortunately everything I saw today wasn't all so pleasing. What had initially brought me to the park today was actually a report of someone who had dumped used auto parts as well as used motor oil in the parking lot! It is beyond reasoning to me why anyone would do such a thing. An acquaintance of mine who I've come to know through our Friends of Palmer Lake Park group was nice enough to contact me after she initially saw the garbage discarded in the West Palmer Park lot. Another Friend of the Park wanted to come out and take some photos before we picked up the trash and consolidated it in a more safe area. We then called the city who promised to come and pick it up the next day. Though I was upset about the incident, this was a great example of how having a "friends of" group dedicated to the park resulted in a quick response. Though it appeared that some of the used motor oil actually spilled onto the ground and traveled into the grass by way of melting snow, things could have certainly been worse if not addressed when it was. Later on when I was able to turn my attention back to the wildlife, I spotted a pair of Blue-winged Teals swimming in the snow melt right near the paved trail on the northwest corner. This is not a great photo but I wanted to share it simply because it's a great comparison in size to the Mallards swimming on the left. A great many of the more "wild waterfowl" such as Wood Ducks, Teals and especially Ruddy Ducks can be quite a bit smaller than you would imagine. Later in the evening after I parted ways with my friend, I decided to hike out along the banks of Shingle Creek and sit for a while. Since last year this has been a favorite viewing place for me, just quietly waiting to see any interesting waterfowl that may swim by. After watching Northern Shovelers and a Pied-billed Grebe, I spotted something walk out of the cattails. It was a Ring-necked Pheasant who walked almost right up to the water's edge. It can be tough to actually spot Pheasants as they can so easily hide among the tall grass and cattails, so this was a fun sighting. I thought maybe I would witness him taking a drink from the creek but in a quick second he burst into the air and flew to the other side. Again, not a great photo here but I think it might be my only photo of a Pheasant in flight. A few other notable sightings today include: Brown Creeper, Northern Shrike, Great Blue Heron and a Cooper's Hawk!

A Much Overdue Walk

Somehow most of October has passed by without many visits to Palmer Lake Park. Now with the daylight hours dwindling so rapidly, it's nearly impossible to fit in a full walk (all the way around) after work. And it's ever harder to get decent photographs with such low light. So my visits are narrowing down to weekends only and after being out of town last weekend, I was itching to get back to PLP. This afternoon I hiked around the park with someone whom I first met while at the park. I remember the first thing she ever said to me –"that's a Yellow-rumped Warbler"– as I spied on one through my binoculars while standing on the bridge over Shingle Creek. I immediately liked her and found that we not only shared an interest in birds but in Palmer Lake Park as well. She has quite a passion for the environment and is also one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met in regards to plants. I don't know if she realizes how much her friendship has inspired me to learn more about nature. And had we not met, I really doubt that Friends of Palmer Lake Park would have ever been founded.

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!

A Short Walk, Some Hard Work and a New Species

This Sunday the Friends of Palmer Lake Park were doing a small-scale Buckthorn removal project at the park. The only problem was that the weather was downright terrible. After a string of relatively nice warm weather for November, it took a turn for the worse. I arrived a bit early, just enough to walk from the west parking lot to Shingle Creek and back again. There wasn't a whole lot to see in this short distance; some Juncos, Tree Sparrows, Chickadees, Canada Geese and Mallards in the creek. But I did see one interesting bird along the way that I don't see too often but am becoming more familiar with now. This Fox Sparrow was moving around in the lower parts of the dried up cattails. If you ever see what looks to be a common looking Sparrow but seems too large then it is probably a Fox Sparrow. The other clue is large patches of solid grey coloring around the head and neck with other common sparrows like Tree Sparrows and Song Sparrows wont have. I just read that Fox Sparrows nest in Canada and are only ever migrating through Minnesota -which would probably make this the last still-migrating bird I will have seen this season! After my very short walk I returned to the west side to get working on some Buckthorn removal as planned. The weather turned out to keep everyone else away save for just 3 of us, brave enough (or dumb) enough to want to work for a couple hours in this crummy weather. We made fantastic progress on a small area which you can see here on the FPLP facebook page. One of our "friends" for the day had said that he'd seen what he thought was a Snow Goose on the other side of the park before we started working. Afterwards we decided just for the heck of it to drive over to the other side and sure enough he was still there! This one, lone Snow Goose had tagged along with a small group of 10-15 Canada Geese who were moving slowly across the baseball field. As we watched we could tell that the Geese weren't exactly keen on this new, and different looking member of the group. When he would get too close, different Geese would nip at him and chase him away. It made me wonder why -or how- he got separated from his own group and ended up here. I'm pretty sure I've seen Snow Geese flying over the park before but this marks the first time I've positively identified one actually in the park. So another new species documented today!

Friends of Palmer Lake Park Nature Hike

This Saturday, the Friends of Palmer Lake Park held our first ever "Nature Hike." It was a free event, open to the public and guided by the 4 founding members of the FPLP group. In total I think we had somewhere around 17 or 18 people participate and the weather turned out to be just fantastic -a perfect day for a hike around the park. While the 4 core-members of the FPLP are very familiar with the park and it's familiar sights, we were lucky enough to be joined by some residents of the area whom had lived around the park for many many years and watched it changed over time. We had quite a fun time as many of the participants were avid birders and naturalists who share a passion for being outdoors and spotting just about everything there is to see. I myself kept a running "bird count" of all the species spotted on our hike. Our list totaled 26 different bird species which I want to list here just for the sake of record keeping. They are also listed in the order that we saw them: Cooper's Hawk, Crow, Cedar Waxwing, Barn Swallow, Chimney Swift, Robin, Goldfinch, Catbird, Green Heron, Black & White Warbler, Pewee or Flycatcher?, Osprey, Great Egret, Common Yellowthroat, Song Sparrow, Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Tree Swallow, Great Blue Heron, Phoebe, Cardinal, Mourning Dove, Mallard, Pileated Woodpecker, Chipping Sparrow and Flicker! In addition to seeing all these birds, a few members of our group were taking an interest in many different plant species found in the park, including but not limited to: Blue Vervain, Elderberries, Spotted Jo-py weed, Nightshade and Jewelweed. We also had a fun impromptu demonstration of Jewelweed's famous exploding seed pods which made a few people jump - ha ha. Paul from the FPLP group was a fantastic guide and was enjoying sharing his knowledge of just about everything nature related, from how Osprey eat, to how to identify Dragonflies and Damselflies. Ron, a friend and respectable photographer and birder captured some fantastic photos of the day including many of the bird species we saw but also some of the small stuff like Japanese Beetles and Dragonflies. But my favorite photo he took that day was of this snail that Paul had found and picked up to show the group. There is just so much detail and real-ness in the photo that I just had to post it here. It had so much fun hanging out with friends and enjoying the nature around us. I hope that our FPLP group can again hold another Nature Hike event next year and I hope we have twice as many people attend!

Join us for a Nature Hike!

Friends of Palmer Lake Park has scheduled a Nature Hike on Saturday, August 11, at 8 AM until 10:30 AM. Come for fun and learning as we identify various birds, mammals, plants and even dragonflies that inhabit this gem of a city park. Bring a pair of binoculars if you have them. We will be meeting at the East Palmer Lake Parking Lot at 8:00 am. From 694 exit on Shingle Creek Parkway about a mile North, to 69th Ave. N make a Right to go East. Make a left onto Oliver Ave and go 2 blocks to the parking lot on your left. Or, from 252 go west onto 70th Ave N keep following it past a stop sign to Oliver Ave. where you will make a left and go two blocks to the parking lot on you left, as above.

It is FREE and it is FUN! For more info call 763-228-3383 or email palmerlakeguy@gmail.com

For an online map click here: http://goo.gl/maps/dEUw

Cooper's Hawk Chick Rescue!

I had no idea of the adventure that awaited me today when I arrived at the park. I'd arrived quite early in the morning just before 8am to beat the heat as much as possible. In only the first few minutes I'd seen or photographed Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Baltimore Orioles, Cardinals and lots of Goldfinches. But my mood was soon struck down when I noticed something white and fuzzy laying right on the paved trail. It was a young Hawk Chick and was unfortunately dead though it seemed to not have happened all that long ago. I wondered how it came to be laying on the trail and then I realized to look upwards. Straight up above me was a large nest in tatters with an adult Cooper's Hawk perched nearby. I thought what a bummer that this chick had apparently fallen right out of the nest and likely hit the pavement below. I started taking some photos of the adult Hawk who flew off moments later. As I looked at the nest -or what was left of it, I noticed one more fuzzy white body moving around in there somewhere. At least one was left but man, that nest was precarious as could be. I went to take another look at the dead chick on the trail and felt how sharp it's talons were -nearly like the tip of a needle. As I was looking I just barely noticed another white clump of downy feathers only a few feet away and further into the weeds. Oh no I thought -another one had fallen out! Then I noticed it breathing. I quickly used my phone to dial another member of Friends of Palmer Lake Park who happens to have quite a bit of experience with bird rehabilitation. While I waited for him to arrive with gloves and towels, I called the Raptor Center of Minnesota and was surprised to have a real person answer the phone! We exchanged information and called back after a while once we had the chick safely in the box with towels. Over the phone they helped us assess the situation, the bird's condition and even the condition of the nest it apparently fell from. For a number of reasons, the Raptor Center decided the best course of action was to track down a tree climber who could come out to the park, restore the nest and then return the chicks to it. With my inexperience in this area, that really seemed like a long shot to me. The nest was a good 60 if not 70 feet up in a Boxelder Tree that wasn't all that big around. On top of that it was Sunday morning and the likelihood of finding a climber within a short time seemed slim. Nevertheless, I went along with the plan to take the chick home to my house and wait until being contacted by a climber. It was a bit nerve-wracking, driving it all the way home trying not to jar it around too much in my truck that rides like a brick on wheels. Our resident bird rehab specialist who'd come out to help explained that sometimes it takes 4-5 hours or even a whole day to track down a climber who is available and in the area. So I had no idea how long I was going to have this bird in a box but worried that the longer we waited the less chance it had. Then in a stroke of luck less than an hour later, I received a call from a tree climber named Jim who was not only close but available to tackle the project in just one more hour. I gave him directions to the nearest place to park and headed back over the park with the boxed up chick to meet him. I pointed out the nest and to my amazement he said it was do-able and started gearing up to climb the tree! At this point I was pretty excited that I was gonna get to see this done first hand -not to mention even help out however I could. He leaned a tall extendable ladder up against the base of the tree, got out a whole lot of rope and started making his way up. I went for my camera to take some pictures and was heartbroken when I didn't hear the familiar click. I looked and sure enough, I'd forgotten my camera card at home when I earlier emailed in some photos of the chick to the Raptor Center. Dang!!! I realized I would just have to watch. On his belt, Jim carried up a 2'x2' piece of bendable wire fencing that would be used to provide a completely new base for the nest. With great care and calming words to the one chick still left up there, he scooped it up and put it into his bag which he then lowered down as he proceeded to rebuild the nest. After creating a sturdy and snug base in between the crook of 3 branches, he broke off other twigs from the tree to quickly reinforce it. At the bottom he asked me to collect anything I could find that was soft -like grasses and weeds. I shoved those into the bag and then got the opportunity to transfer the other chick from the box into the bag. Luckily I'd brought along my own heavy gloves just in case. Within mere minutes Jim had quite a new nest lined with the softer material and then transferred both chicks back into it. The whole process took maybe 25 to 30 minutes tops and I could hardly believe it went so smooth. The nest looked better than ever and hopefully will contain the little guys for just another week or so. Jim estimated that they might be flying within one to two weeks so they just have to make it a little longer. What an all around great experience it was to have worked with the Raptor Center and Jim who was able to perform such and amazing feat with speed and finesse. My feet would have never made it past the top rung of the ladder! Make sure to check out their website at www.raptor.cvm.umn.edu After the chicks were safely back in the nest I didn't hang around so as not to draw any more attention to it. We could hear the mother calling from nearby trees but when I left the park she'd not returned yet to the nest. Jim was extremely knowledgeable about raptors and explained that he could have been up there for 2 hours and a Cooper's Hawk will still return afterwards. A few hours later after telling my wife of the whole story, we returned to the park and saw that the mother had indeed returned and even looked to be feeding the chicks as we walked up within viewing distance. This last photo is of the new nest and mom's tail feathers sticking out. A happy ending I think -as long as the chicks don't get to rambunctious and take another dive. A HUGE THANK YOU TO JIM AND THE RAPTOR CENTER OF MN -YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!!

Extra Day with Stormy Skies

Today was my vacation day, rounding out a nice and extra long holiday weekend. I arrived at the park just before 4pm in order to get in a walk right before helping Friends of Palmer Lake Park survey an area to be pulled of invasive Buckthorn trees. The skies were a mix of layered light and dark clouds, dropping only a few scattered raindrops as I made my way around. On the south end right off the parking lot I noticed a couple of birds that didn't fit the size and color of things I've been seeing lately. I saw where they landed and realized it was a pair of Cedar Waxwings! I was kind of shocked as I don't think I've seen any since maybe March. The two stayed close together even as they moved from tree to tree. I could just barely notice a hint of bright red wingtips on one of them. On the north side, I again spotted a lone Wild Turkey in exactly the same place as last time. I'm almost positive now that she has a nest out there in the tall weeds. I'd like to walk out there and find it and see the eggs but I also didn't want to disturb her or possibly scare her away. Hopefully I will get to see the little ones soon. Along my way I saw and heard plenty of Baltimore Orioles but on the east side, I think I located a nest hanging from a tall tree. From a distance I swear I saw an Oriole climb into it but as I got closer, I could not for the life of me find the opening where it entered. Nor could I tell if there was indeed a bird inside. But as I watched, this male came and landed in the same tree very near the hanging nest. He didn't go up to it but hung around for quite a while. Maybe he was guarding the nest. At this point I can't say that I've ever positively seen a female Oriole but I think I would have had a good chance today had I just been 3 minutes ahead of myself.

A New Wednesday

By mid-week I was really itching to get outside and to the park -especially seeing as how we're still in a trend of crummy weekends and nice week-days. With help from a friend, I'd recently installed a Bluebird box onto the east side of park. Today I planned to go off road a bit just to check on it and see if there was any activity yet. It's been a while since I've spotted a Bluebird and I was hoping I might stir one up on my way. I watched the favored dead tree for a bit and noticed a pair of mating Tree Swallows. It was easy to tell which one was the Male this time as he would fly in and hover around the female. In the past few weeks I've seen dozens of Swallows but no Bluebirds. There was also no activity at my new Bluebird house which makes me wonder where they've all gone. There were a fair amount of interesting birds noticeable tonight despite my attempts to make it around the park quickly. Parts of the park are deafening with the sounds of birds -mainly warblers with their high pitched, rapid songs. I was lucky enough to look up at the right time to catch this American Redstart -a bird which I doubt I will ever capture a satisfactory photo of. They are elusive, move fast and prefer dense tree-tops, making them quite a challenge to capture. I think nearly every one of my (handful of) pictures of them are taken from directly underneath versus straight on. Seeing and photographing this one actually reminded me of an encounter with one last year in which I was able to see one closer to eye-level. So when I came to that part of the park again later on the west side, I made my way through the small Willow trees up to the water's edge hoping I might recreate that sighting. As before, I picked a spot with a better view and just stood there waiting to see what might stop by. I saw a few Cowbirds, Red-wings, Grackles and even Orioles before an unusual bird came into view. It was mostly drab in color and from the size I quickly mistook it for an Eastern Phoebe. There was one obvious marking however that I don't associate with Phoebe's and that was a white eye-ring. Being still the novice birder that I am, my thoughts immediately jumped to some type of new warbler. However, after showing the photo to more experienced birders, they suggested a "Least Flycatcher." This is a bird I'm not that familiar with -being not included in my Birds of Minnesota Field Guide from Stan Tekiela. My photo is a near-perfect match with the illustration in my more comprehensive Peterson Field Guide, so I am pretty sure that this is what I saw. This adds additional species to my list of birds at PLP so it was a good visit indeed!

Monday Morning Mink

I had an extra day off from work today for MLK Day so I visited the park just after 11am. It was colder than yesterday at around 27 degrees. After hearing reports of attempted vehicle thefts at my normal parking spot, I've changed to parking on the east side now. Going in my usual clockwise direction, I see the whole south end of the park first now. Only minutes after leaving my vehicle I was passing by the small pond south of the baseball diamonds and was amazed to see a critter pop his head out of a small hole in the ice near the shoreline. I was within mere feet when I spotted this protruding face and I hadn't even taken my camera out of the case yet! The animal saw me pretty quickly as well and darted back under. It's quick behavior, shape and color told me that it was a Mink and I was shocked to have gotten this close to one. I though to myself I'll never have a better photo opportunity of one so I decided to sit there and wait for him to reappear. I had to explain to a lot of passersby why I was standing there staring down at a frozen pond. I even told a few people what I had just seen and they looked at me kind of strange -either not knowing what a Mink was, or disbelieving that one would be in a city park. After about 20 minutes I was ready to give up and then he popped his head out once more. This time he didn't come out as far and kind of rested his head on the snow for a second. I slowly moved up my camera, took one shot and then he was gone again. It was one of only 7 photos I took during my entire walk -and quite a lucky one at that!

A good walk soured by stupidity

Today was my last visit to the park this October and the weather is still warmer than normal. I hope it lasts even longer. I arrived just after 8am and the sky was a hazy mix of overcast and spots of orange sunshine trying to break through. My walk was rather quiet and uneventful until I go all the way to the north side just before the bridge where I spotted a Doe and two Fawns. I was glad to see that the trio has so far been spared by the archery hunt that had started at the beginning of the month. I later spotted a large Hawk in a tree across the park -too far for a good picture. As I was making my way around the southeast side I noticed some containers among the cattails about 10 feet off the trail. They looked to be full of dark liquid and I thought to myself "no way would someone toss out used oil in a park." I had to find out for sure so I walked into the cattails, stepping into wet muddy places where my shoes sank halfway. Sure enough, I found multiple gallon containers filled to the brim with used motor oil!!! I could not believe it. I was torn with feeling both anger and disappointment, trying my hardest to figure out why someone would do something so inconsiderate. With how much discussion of environmental concerns that our society has on a regular basis now, the person who did this must either be completely oblivious to all media; extremely uneducated, or have a personal vendetta against something that I don't understand. With a still overwhelming feeling of disbelief, I picked up as many jugs as I could find and brought them to the path. Luckily the caps were still on and holding most of the oil inside. Sadly there were more than pictured here, and I even fished another full gallon out of the water on the opposite side of the trail! As I was gathering up all of these jugs, an older gentleman on a bike came by and decided to help me bring them to the nearest trash can. He then volunteered to call the City to tell them what we had found & have them pick it up. I felt a bit better at this point, thinking -and hoping- that the majority of people would recognize this action as a mistake and try to correct it. I thought about how upset this made me and how minute of an event it was in comparison the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year. The problem with some of the mistakes we make on such a large scale, is that they might never be corrected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill

Friends of Palmer Lake Park - Fall Cleanup

This Saturday I saw the realization of what had previously been just a daydream of mine -an actual organized park clean-up day! Though I'd been tossing the idea around in my head for quite some time, I credit a couple of other park-goers for giving me the motivation to finally act on the idea and see it through. So by just a few conversations, emails and by word-of-mouth, a small group of citizens came together on Saturday morning to help clean up Palmer Lake Park! We started bright and early at 8:00am -with the temperature only around 35 degrees and thus a few winter hats coming out of storage early. Prior to the clean up day, I'd contacted the City of Brooklyn Center, simply just to inquire about picking up the collected trash afterward. Not only did I learn they were more than happy to do so, but they would also even loan us garbage-grabbers, as well as supply bags, gloves and vests if needed. The people with the City were all around great to deal with; extremely helpful and informative, making our goal that much easier to accomplish. I checked out a total of ten garbage grabbers which ended up to be just about right -as my own personal grabber completely broke apart only 1/4th of the way around! As I hiked back to our starting point to switch out my grabber, I ran into another member of our group who was focusing on a particularly problematic area of the park, the south western corner. I was so happy to see this amount of effort and care taking place. Others in our group continued around the entire perimeter of the park all the way back to the south side parking lot. Upon returning and meeting up with the rest of the group here is when it really hit me just how big of an impact our small group had made on the park. Accounting for a few bags that were left in receptacles on the opposite side of the park, I counted a total of 14 bags full of trash that were collected in just 4 hours! In my opinion this was a huge success -especially given that it was really a "first attempt." I can't thank enough the people who volunteered their time this Saturday morning. Our collective efforts have helped beautify and preserve a much under-appreciated natural area. Spread the word -there will be more cleaning efforts to come!!!