Snipe Hunting

If you've ever heard the term "Snipe Hunt" or "Snipe Hunting" or have unwittingly taken part in said practice, you might know that it is a common practical joke. The idea is to send an inexperienced person –maybe on a camping trip– into the woods with a bag or pillowcase and tell them that if they make particular strange noises or bang rocks together, that Snipe will come running towards them. The practical jokers know that such an idea is preposterous but I've even seen television shows that "let on" that there is no such thing as a Snipe. But there is indeed such a bird and the origin of the joke is likely based on the fact that real Snipe are terribly secretive birds –and would never be found near anyone making loud noises. My first sighting of this elusive bird was yesterday and I really wanted to go back today in hopes of a better photo. Considering just how skittish they are, I think I did fairly well by periodically moving my stool closer and closer to the edge of the flooded field. But even so, I was difficult to get close before they would spook and fly back into the bordering woods. For a while I actually could see one hiding right up against the chain link fence in a clump of grass. I attempted to move closer and closer to this one as well but it too let me get only so close before taking off. But now that I was in a good position, I stayed long enough for a small group of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs to return. I really liked how this particular photo came out as you can see both Lesser and Greater next to each other, and especially you get an idea of how they delicately walk through the water. Shorebirds can be an especially tough family of birds to know and identify. Many many of them tend to look quite similar in size, shape and color –distinguishable only by very subtle differences. After a fair amount of sitting, I felt like hiking again and decided to walk out along the edge of the woods on the north side. I quickly spotted a Hermit Thrush by eyeing the bright, rusty reddish brown coloring on the back and tail. For such a mostly brown bird, these are quite a beautiful bird and they are fun to see! This one appeared to be grooming and let me get in closer than usual. While hiking through the tall grass I could periodically hear something rustling down below me and one of the times I looked down I caught a glimpse of this Common Garter Snake. He had his head held up as he knew I was there. I got down low to his level to take a few pics and was waiting for his tongue to come out but it never did. Never the less, I like how the photo came out –showing both old dried up grass as well as new, bright green grass as part of the backdrop. There was one more bird I really wanted to "hunt down" today and that was a Rusty Blackbird. Though I'd recently gotten some great photos of one down at North Mississippi Regional Park, I wanted to document them at PLP as well. I'd definitely heard and spotted glimpses of them but had not gotten a photo here yet. So on my way back I checked the flooded fields at 73rd Ave. N. and sure enough there were one or two poking around the water. I've almost always found Rusty's in or near snow melt or some type of standing water. On quick tip on telling them apart from a more common Red-winged Blackbird is that they will have bright yellow eyes versus black eyes. The Common Grackle also has bright yellow eyes but is much larger than both the Rusty and RW Blackbirds.

Sweet Start to September!

Well for once the weather prediction was right. Last night we finally got some much needed rain and then the temperature dropped considerably. When I left the house for the park this morning at 8:45 am it was 62 degrees, which is just perfect if you ask me. After spotting a migrant Warbler yesterday, I was hoping that today –coupled with the sharp change in weather– might bring more good luck. Sure enough it did and I had a repeat of yesterday by spotting yet another new Warbler in the park! This time was along the wood chip trail heading towards the railroad ties overlooking the water on the south side. There, on the left side of the trail is an area where many trees fell during a summer storm. It seems to be a good place to watch for birds as all the dead branches make great perches. Just as the sun was coming out, I noticed a handful of little yellow birds and got my camera on the first one I could. I actually didn't know at the time but what I was seeing was a Blue-winged Warbler! Though I didn't catch most of his blue-grey colored wing, the tell tale marking is the black stripe right across the eye. I could hardly believe it once I realized what it was. Yet another first for me! Shortly later I eyed a Brown Thrasher on the ground that seemed to be pouncing on something and then jumping back and up into the air repeatedly. As I got in closer I could see that there was a tiny little Garter Snake on the ground who was holding it's ground tenaciously. The snake was all of about 6 inches long but held it's jaws open and would strike every time the Thrasher tried to pick it up. At such a small size, I figured the bird would eventually win out but the snake just kept fighting. I must have gotten too close and scared the Brown Thrasher off at which point the snake slithered quickly back into the weeds. I was kind of disappointed that I let myself interrupt this scene but I'm sure the snake was thankful. Later on the next wood chip trail I glanced down to notice a bright green Katydid on a large bleached-out leaf. My camera and zoom lens don't take great closeups so I tried quite a few angles and distances. When I got home I was happy to see a few came out and this one even had some good detail of the wings and eye. It's quite obvious that the Katydid is purposely resembling a green leaf to avoid being eaten. Finally, this last photo I took on the north side of the park near the thick bushes of Dogwood after the trail curves. This has always been an excellent place to watch for birds and attracts everything from Orioles to Warblers and Hummingbirds. Today it was a couple of female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. I always love to see the males and if there's a female around the male is usually somewhere behind her. I watched and waited but never did see the male. This female however posed perfectly for me in a Buckthorn tree closer to the trail. Now if I could just get all birds to cooperate this well!

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!

Spring on steroids

Spring-like weather seems to have taken forever to arrive this year, but today it felt like we skipped spring altogether and went right into summer! The temp was unusually high at 73º and on top of that it was extremely humid -quite strange for early April! It made for a great visit though as I spent nearly 2 hours making my way around and taking just under 100 photos. I had a hard time choosing what to post because I saw so much. First were a pair of Tree Swallows that were zooming around one of the wooden bird houses on the north side. It's an exciting sign of more colorful birds starting to come back to the park. Just a short time later I was stunned to see a 3 foot Garter Snake on the path. It seemed a bit early to see a snake but I was just now checking my older posts and saw that my first snake sighting last year was Sunday, April 11th -so exactly one year ago to the day. What are the odds of that? Surprisingly, snakes weren't the only reptile out today. I later saw a few painted turtles sunning themselves in the small body of water by the east side baseball fields. I shot a couple pics but as I walked further I ran into 2 more just sitting on the ground right off the trail. This side of the park was quite flooded by snow melt and there's still water everywhere hence the turtles. I've seen Great Blue Herons flying overhead since late March but I've not seen many stop in the park until recently. I swear they are 10 times more skittish than any Deer in the park so I often have to stalk them for a while to get a decent photo. They are an interesting bird as they can look quite different in every photo. I had an easier time locating this one against the backdrop of cattails by looking for his reflection in the water so I decided to include that in my photo. As I was making my way back to the parking lot I could see Bald Eagle seemingly sitting right on top of the water. As I got closer I could see that he was perched on a small portion of a branch barely jutting above the surface. It was funny because Canada Geese would swim right by him and he would tip his head as if he thought they were strange looking birds or something. He put his wings up once to balance himself as he turned to face the other way but I missed that picture moment.

Muggy 4th of July

Downright muggy today. Was like walking through a greenhouse. Things are sprouting up everywhere. Little villages of mushrooms are taking over the wood chip trails in many places.

Near the south side I kicked up a 3 foot garden snake. He darted underneath a pine tree but after a few minutes came back out slightly to sun himself. Not even sure what end his head was on here.


Also spotted a few of these butterflies. Just looked it up on the internet and sure enough it is a Mourning Cloak. On the 2nd to last trail back to the parking lot I finally managed to see one deer and a Great Egret.