Awesome End to August

I think it was about 94º this Saturday afternoon when I arrived at the park. Due to the heat I decided to really take my time going around, not exert too much energy and spend as much time in the shade as possible. As a result my hike lasted nearly 3 hours but it was nice to spend the extra time looking around. I saw quite a variety of birds but one of the first things I spotted and took photos of was this Frog near the parking lot on the south side. I scared it away at first but then I slowed down and got close enough for a good closeup photo. I know nothing about Frogs so I have no idea what kind it is but it was about 3 inches long. It's always nice to have a subject that will hold still for you –unlike birds. I was seeing –and hearing– lots of birds today including Chickadees, Cardinals, Blue Jays, Common Yellowthroats, Wood Ducks and even a Hummingbird! Under the canopy of trees over the woodchip trail on the southwest side was quite active with birds and I stopped here to look and listen a bit more than I normally do. Another bird that caught my eye was a female American Redstart. I'd estimate that I see only 1 female for every 15-20 male Redstarts and I forget how colorful they are in their own right. As I watched this female move quickly from tree to tree, it led my eyes upwards and soon I was noticing another smaller bird with bright orange. But this orange was much more deep than the more yellowish-orange on the Redstart's shoulders. Because it was another very small bird I quickly realized it was another Warbler of some kind. It was VERY high up in the treetops and I struggled to even catch a short glimpse of it through my binoculars. Then a second one showed up and they spun in a circle falling downward for a few feet before flying off to new trees. One came downward a little closer to me and I could now make out black striping on the breast, wing and face. There was only one thing it could be and that was a Blackburnian Warbler! I'd never seen a mature adult before and I was absolutely thrilled to be seeing –and photographing– one at Palmer Lake Park! At one point one of them came down and perched for a brief second nearer the trunk of the tree and I fumbled about to focus quickly and take the shot. Unfortunately it was facing away from me so at the closest proximity I really only caught it's side and underside. When it was not hidden behind leaves I took every shot I could, knowing it would just be a spec in the frame of the entire shot. At one point while I watched through my binoculars I could see that it had a rather large insect in it's bill. In watching them I could tell that they were busily picking insects off of the trees. It was absolutely awesome to end this month by adding a new species to my list –and to know that fall migration is once again bringing some interesting birds through the park.

Lots of good sights

It is now now officially summer according to the calendar and this Saturday's visit to the park was a great kickoff to the season. The impact of our wet spring weather is now obvious when walking through the park. Cattails are booming where large areas were crushed by the winter snows and foliage in general is overgrown everywhere. All along the trail the field grass is over 6 feet tall, making it quite hard to spot a Deer from a distance now. When I got to the north side, it was a bird bonanza. Within about 10 minutes time I spotted a Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Goldfinch, Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow and finally a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I first noticed him right off the trail and it would've made for a beautiful shot but I blew it and had to track him down later from a distance. On the paved trail were lots of slugs and as I was watching my step not to crush them, I noticed some other very small creatures. They were so small that I had to pick one up to investigate before I realized they were snails! I've never noticed them at this stage and it was pretty obvious that they had just started growing their shells. They were smaller than the tip of my finger. A short time later I spotted a Common Yellowthroat in a tree above me. He was stayed put for a while and I got to see him singing which was a first. I realized quickly that I'd heard that same call numerous times before and incorrectly associated it with a Yellow Warbler. I believe the 2 are quite similar sounding so hopefully I can hear more of both this summer and learn to distinguish them. As I was heading towards the baseball fields on the east side I noticed lots of dark little bugs on the trail -only they didn't seem to move like bugs. Upon closer inspection I realized they were tiny little frogs. They were about the same size as the snails I'd seen earlier and they pretty hard to photograph. There must have been hundreds of them and you could almost see the grass moving with their activity.

Slugs and Bugs and Such

After going through a couple weeks without any significant rainfall, we are starting to get some here and there, mostly overnights. Seems like the wet weather brings the slugs out onto the trail and it's getting harder to avoid stepping on them. There are also tons of these small brown butterflies with orange stripes. Butterflies in my opinion are as equally hard to photograph as birds as they also never sit still. These are common butterflies I see all the time but have yet to learn their name. I'm also still seeing a fair amount of Garter Snakes and it's surprising how big they are already. This one was over three feet long but less colorful than the one I'd photographed earlier with orange speckles. On the south side I spotted this Frog right up by the railroad ties that make up the overlook onto the lake. He didn't seem to move much even when I almost stepped on him. I've also yet to learn much about frogs versus toads so I'm just guessing it was a frog as it was rather large. I will have to pick up another Field guide from Stan Tekiela!