A Little Colder and Lot More Windy

The weather today was not much better than yesterday, but at least it wasn't raining anymore! I didn't head out for a walk until just after 2pm. Our temp was only a few degrees cooler but the wind has really picked up and could even be heard howling through the trees. I figured I wouldn't see much of anything today (at least for birds anyway) and that assumption was pretty accurate. It was one of those days where I knew I might have to veer off the main trail in order to find anything interesting. I did just that on the far north end where I discovered these bright orange fungi sprouting from a large dead tree without any bark left. Birds were scarce today and I even had a hard time hearing any due to the wind. Some that I saw were; Ring-billed Gull, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin and Dark-eyed Junco. I had some success in attracting the Junco's in closer by playing a recording of their sounds. During the latter half of my walk, the sky had begun to break up and show patches of blue here and there. By the time I was at my vehicle the sun was beaming down through these breaks and the sky was changing constantly. I took a few photos but none of them did justice to how neat the sky really looked.

Warm November Sun

Like so many recent Autumns, our weather has continued to be mild, or even above average temperature-wise. This Sunday was a particularly nice and sunny day to walk around the park. I have noticed a sharp decline in the variety of birds though as the month of October has passed. From here on out, "birding" can be a bit more tedious. However, as in every season there are still things to look forward to. One thing that come to mind is, soon it will simply be much easier to spot birds due to the lack of leaves. Another is raptors. I tend to spot many more raptors such as Eagles, Hawks and Owls in the late Fall and Winter months than in other times of the year. One bird that seems to be more active than normal this time of year are Black-capped Chickadees. Though so common in our area, they are still fun to watch and photograph. This one landed in a tree right above my head as I was making a squeaking whistle call. They are quite curious birds indeed. Aside from Chickadees I really didn't see a lot of other birds today. But it was just warm enough yet to find a live Grasshopper out on the paved path. I was kind of surprised to see this and figured most of them had frozen by now. But I touched him and he hopped away. I imagine this might be the last Grasshopper I see for the year. I think it was somewhere on the south end of the park that I noticed these bright orange mushrooms peeking out of a knot at the base of a tree. I've really not studied mushrooms/fungi so I have no idea what they are called but I do they are fairly common whatever they are. It looked like one had been eaten on just a bit by something. Whatever it was must not have liked them too much as the others were untouched.

Some More Rain for October

The on-again-off-again rainy weather we had yesterday decided to continue again today. Now that I've upgraded to such a larger camera, this type of weather makes it harder than any other to hike around the park taking photos. I've seriously thought about buying some kind of weather protection for my camera but I've procrastinated about it and instead carry a selection of large plastic bags with me instead. When I was on the south side overlooking the lake I could really see a swath of rain moving over the park and tried to capture it in a photo here. Things are still pretty green everywhere in the park but the cattails are showing just a tinge of rust coloring now that it's October. I saw a handful of interesting birds, of which most I didn't get a good photo of. These included a Least Flycatcher, House Wren, and a pair of mottled birds weaving through the grass that I'm pretty sure were two female Pheasants. There's also a few new mushrooms popping up here and there and though I really don't know any of them by name, they can still be fun to photograph. I've recently heard someone refer to these at "Tree Mushrooms" but I'm sure they have another name. I never realized until a few years ago that mushrooms that look the same as you find on the ground will grow right out the side of a tree. Now I see them quite frequently. Almost always they are growing out of a hole where a dead branch broke out, making me think that the spores are simply finding a good place to settle and grow. Later near the end of my walk I spotted one more bird that I tried to photograph but was moving quickly. I'm pretty sure this was a Nashville Warbler, of which I've only seen just once or twice at the park. So despite the less than favorable photo, I'm posting here anyway just because I have so few pics of this Warbler.

When September Ends

After a rainy day yesterday, it was perfectly clear and sunny this Sunday. It was just a great day for a birding hike around the park and I saw plenty of them, including; Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Gray Catbird, Black-capped Chickadee, White-throated Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch and even a Cooper's Hawk. One of the first interesting things I spotted was not a bird though. There were TONS of these fragile, thin mushrooms growing out of the wood chip trail on the south side. They were in clusters of 5 to 20 or so and had just the faintest hint of pale blue coloring. Many of the tops were not flat like a disc but rather flared out like a flower. I have no idea what kind they are and couldn't find any good information online either. One of the birds that I probably saw the most of today were White-throated Sparrows. They are just everywhere you can find standing weeds yet and I'm assuming they are looking for seeds in the dried up foliage. At first glance these look pretty much like any other sparrow, only just slightly larger. If you can catch a glimpse of them from the side or front, you'll see a little patch of bright yellow and a kind of "furry" looking white patch on their throat for which they are named. Here in the same patch of weeds I spotted this Goldfinch who was looking rather pale and fitting in with many of the leaves that are now just starting to turn a dull yellow.

Slowly it is Surely Summer

With a healthy amount of rain and warm temps, the park is life. At the start of my walk today I saw a young Buck with velvety spiked antlers, a female Redstart, Eastern Phoebe and a Green Heron among other things. As with many summer days it started out hazy but gradually "burned off" as I made my way around. For all of the birds above me there are equally interesting things below me and one of them that caught my eye was this tiny little snail making his way across a leaf. I just love snails and how slow they move. It reminds me that nature develops slowly but surely and perfectly. Sometimes I wish I were a snail and able to experience life at that pace versus my often too-hectic life. The next thing of interest I decided to post today is this pair of Mushrooms. I can't say for sure if I've seen this type before but if I have it's not been to often. A lot of mushrooms I see at the park have a skinnier shaft and wider "umbrella" top versus these kind. I obviously have no idea what they are but at the moment I'm sticking to learning more birds before overwhelming myself with a whole new challenge. I took the picture simply because to me it looks as though the one is leaning in to tell the other one a secret. Later on I did catch a quick glimpse of an interesting bird, and one that I don't have many closeups of. This female Rose-breasted Grosbeak was hopping about the lower portions of the young Willow trees probably looking for insects. She looked a bit on the scraggly side, maybe ruffling her feathers as she went through the willows. Or possibly it was a juvenile as well. They are definitely not a pretty as the males but it's good to spot any Grosbeaks in the park!

Making my own path

I've been in a bit of a slump lately in getting outside. Probably due to our low temps lately. So this Saturday I was eager to get some park time in -and indeed I did. I spent a total of 4 hours at the park and never once used the trails! With snowshoes I was able to make my way around the inner part of the park and took some quite unusual routes through places you'd never be able to get to in other seasons. Not too long after heading west I noticed an uncommon shape and movement toward the center of the park. It was a Coyote! As I watched him through my binoculars I thought he might have been injured as he appeared to drag his hind legs behind him. However, I think that he was simply falling through the deep snow and pulling his hind end up and out with every step. Later I made my way to the middle and found his fresh tracks. It's unbelievably hard to get close to Coyotes at the park so I've been kind of obsessed with them lately. There was very little wildlife out today though I did spot lots and lots of signs. Almost everywhere were Vole tracks in the snow. You could see exactly where they popped out from a thicket of Cattails or even just a straight hole in the snow. The tiny footprints would sometimes go for hundreds of feet, but twice I saw evidence of capture by an Owl or Hawk. It was pretty obvious because you could exactly where the bird landed and pressed it's wings and tail feathers into the snow, and leaving just a trace of blood and sometimes lots of fur. I enhanced the contrast of this photo so you can see what I saw. Otherwise the photo just looks like plain white snow. With the lack of activity today I settled for less animate objects such as these Shelf Mushrooms. I've never seen so many growing on one log before -and this was just a small section of them.

Season about to change

Though it's not officially Autumn for another two days, it sure has felt like it for the past few weeks. High temps are only in the mid 50's to low 60's now but I refuse to get out my jacket just yet. I saw just one deer this walk, a Doe that stayed mostly hidden near the edge of the cattails on the south side. Really not much to see the rest of my walk but on two occasions as I was bird watching, I noticed mushrooms way up in the trees. Not the "shelf" kind you would expect to be attached to a tree, but the more common umbrella shaped ones you' normally find on the ground. I figured the first one was a total fluke at about 30 feet up in a tree. Then I saw a group of them at about the same height in a different tree. I would have never expected to see them in such a place. Upon returning to the parking lot, a bush covered in bright red stems caught my eye. It looked as though berries or something may have been attached to the tips but there was nothing there now. Whatever it is, I sure didn't notice it before so maybe the stems have just turned red recently.

Fungi Season

Sad to say but I've been getting to the park less frequently lately. One reason is that it's been just too blasted hot this August. For a couple of days there I actually missed winter! This hot and humid weather has been producing a wide variety of mushrooms in the park -some of which I've not seen before. This first reminds me of a whale with a "blow-hole" on top. It was also gigantic for a mushroom -slightly larger than a football! Later on the wood chip trail on the south side I noticed these huge patches of white blobs popping up. The largest of which looked pretty much like "prickly marshmallows." They were so many in each clump that they were pushing against each other like a bunch of bubbles. I'd like to take time lapse video of these things as you could just tell that they grew almost overnight. Keeping with today's theme, I spotted yet another odd fungus on the east side. I doubt this one has been growing as ferociously as the others as it appeared a bit more permanent and firmly planted. It looked very much like a little waterfall spilling down the tree stump it was growing on.

More wet weather

This June has been one of the wettest I can remember. I heard somewhere that it's rained the last 21 of 27 days or something like that. With lakes and rivers being down for a long time, it's about time for another 10-year cycle into wetter weather. Dark rain clouds loomed overhead threatening to dump even more rain on the already saturated ground. There was a whole lot of nothin' movin' around in the park tonight except for another Hummingbird in the very same dead tree as last week. I took a few more pics which weren't any better than last week. On the south side I noticed a few clumps of these yellowish fungus. They looked more like they should be underwater in a deep blue ocean than growing on a trail of woodchips in central Minnesota. Having seen mutlitudes of various fungi at Palmer Lake, I'm guessing they present just as much or more to learn about than the all the species of Minnesota birds. Before leaving, I noticed that the tall clumps of grass that were resting stops for ducks, geese and swans this spring are now nearly underwater. At this point the water is for sure higher than when I went Kayaking back in mid-May.

Walk after kayak excursion

After a couple hours of kayaking it was still early in the day so I decided to walk around the park. Upon coming to the pine tree where I'd found the bird's egg last Wednesday I decided to peek my head in. There sitting on the nest was a female Cardinal whom I scared out quickly. I couldn't see any babies but now I know what kind of bird the egg belongs to. Later on the paved path I noticed this snail poking his head high up out of his shell. I always thought they had just one set of tentacles but it was easier to see from this guy that there are two. I finally did run across a few deer on the southwest side. This is an unusual place to see them but I have been seeing more of them here over the past couple of weeks. There were two who walked right out in front of me on the wood chip trail. When I went for my camera they got spooked and darted into the thick woods. A short while later one more jumped out and ran across the field where they plow the snow into in the winter. I don't get many "action" shots with my low-end camera but this one sort of worked. Right before the mouth of the creek, I noticed a couple of big mushrooms down in a low spot off the left side of the trail. I'm pretty sure they are Morel Mushrooms and there were just three of them -two growing together and one on it's own. The looked so top-heavy that they were about to tip over.

Sunny snow Sunday

Just before the bridge on the north side is becoming the hot spot for deer lately and for the second time now I've seen a group of them laying down in the snow. I first noticed a large doe, then two more. The young one, whom I'm starting to easily recognize now, was laying in the clearest area and presented the only decent photo opportunity. Towards the east side I veered off the trail into the woods a little, hoping to find the other half of the shed antler shown to me the day before. No such luck for me so I settled on some other sights such as this shelf mushroom. Later I walked up on a rabbit sitting still in the snow which is hard to do lately because of the loud, icy trails. On the south side I paused on the bridge over Shingle Creek and noticed a small tree enveloped with coils of some other plant growth. It's amazing that plants can grow this fast on their own in the wild.

Fall migration

Well, the sun was nowhere to be seen today finally making it feel more like a typical, late-November day. Still haven't seen a single deer in about 3 weeks now. Wonder where the heck they are. After coming out of the woods on the east side, a fellow park goer and I both stopped to watch and listen to an extremely loud commotion of Canadian Geese. About 5 separate flocks came from every direction and seemed to meet up directly above us making one giant flock. I'm guessing there must have been about 130 or more total making quite a noise. I tried to get a photo but they trailed out so long that I just couldn't capture them all. Nothing else was moving after that and I barely had any good reasons to pull out my camera save for this cluster of hard tree-mushrooms.

Sunny Halloween

Mostly sunny but windy and cold today as I set out. Saw one Doe off the left side of the first wood chip trail but I couldn't get a decent photo. She was in thick foliage and eating everything green in sight just like the last Doe I'd seen. Somewhere on the southwest side I came upon these cool, orange Mushrooms that seemed like they were coated in a clear, sticky, snail-like slime. The big trees have pretty much dropped their brightly colored leaves already and only small seedlings like this Maple have any color to them. Back on the south side near the water I came across some more orange but considerably less slime-coated mushrooms. These allowed for a better shot from underneath.

Sunny Sunday in September

Just to the left of the main parking lot on the south side is a really small pond that's gets pretty covered in algae in the summer. Last year there was a muskrat who'd built a home there but I haven't seen him this year. Sadly, there's an old tire stuck in there that sometimes acts as a sunning spot for turtles. This one was soaking up all he could even with some ducks right next to him. Not much else seen today except these interesting new mushrooms which I've not seen before.

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.