Great Blue Heron, Mink and the Grey Ghost

Our weather for the end of March has been unseasonably nice. I decided this afternoon to sit along the edge of Shingle Creek and hopefully see a Wood Duck or Northern Shoveler. Technically some of the migrating ducks have returned, but it's still probably a bit early for them to be congregating on the creek. Regardless, the weather was so nice that I decided to try anyway. On my hike from 73rd Avenue out to the bridge on the north side, I spied my first Great Blue Heron for the park this year! Myself and some others had seen our first one of the year just yesterday at the Coon Rapids Dam. This one today at Palmer was standing in the drainage ditch on the north side that was re-dredged out a couple of years ago. It spooked and flew off shortly after taking this photo. Within minutes of finding a decent spot to plant myself along the creek, I noticed a mink hop up onto the creek bank opposite me. He hopped a little ways, paused and turned to look downstream. It was a perfect picture moment, and my camera failed to turn on! Once in a while I have problems with the contacts or something and I have to turn it off and on once or twice to get it to power up. The mink hopped further downstream and out of view as I swore at my camera. But sure enough a second mink came out of the grass and walked along the edge of the water. This time I was ready for him and was able to snag just one focused image. They are interesting and curious critters and always fun to watch. There were no waterfowl on the water yet, not even downstream and I was getting discouraged. I heard one or two Wood Ducks fly overhead but none stopped on the creek at all. After waiting for probably over an hour, I noticed something else flying very low over the cattails. A friend told me just yesterday that he'd seen FOUR Northern Harriers at the park on Friday in the rain. Indeed this is what I was seeing as Northern Harriers (also known as Marsh Hawks) hunt their prey by gliding very low to the ground, and or hovering in one place while they look downward. This hunting habit is probably the most reliable method of identifying a Harrier, however they also will show an obvious, white "rump patch" when they turn their backside toward you. Both of these signs were visible to me right away, but what I didn't realize at the time is that the male Northern Harrier is very grey in color compared to the female who is more brown in color. Because of this, the male is nicknamed "The Grey Ghost." He was a long ways away and my photos here are very cropped but there is still some detail. If you ever get the chance to see one close up, like at the Raptor Center of Minnesota, you'll see that Harriers have a roundish "face disc" sort of like Owls do. They are fascinating raptors and it has been some time since I've seen them at the park so I was quite happy to forgo any waterfowl for this sighting! Later I ended up hiking the rest of the way around the park and spotted; American Robin, Song Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal and lots of Red-winged Blackbirds. Near sunset I ran into the same aforementioned friend and we hiked out into the field near 73rd Avenue. We didn't really see anything else but enjoyed a nice sunset.

July Late Evening

Went out walking with a friend this evening and not until around 7:00 pm or so. Didn't take a lot of pictures as we enjoyed talking more. And of course all the talking probably scared away anything we might have seen. About the only photo I took at all was of these Wood Ducks on the south side. At the time and even after, I assumed there were two females –which I thought was odd because they were with Ducklings. But now looking at the photo closer, I wonder if the one in the front is actually an immature male. Later there was a large and spectacular full moon.