On the Wing

This Saturday evening I didn't make it to the park until after 5:30pm. I decided to hike out along Shingle Creek and sit in my favorite spot with a view downstream. The light was very nice when I arrived but it was already late in the day. Aside from a Mallard or two, all other birds were flying overhead, not stopping anywhere near me. The first thing I heard was a pair of Wood Ducks flying over. Then later an unmistakeable noise that kept growing closer, a pair of Sandhill Cranes! These were the first I've actually seen this year but I've been hearing them fly over periodically. Sometime later a Great Blue Heron also came flying over. By now the light was getting poor and I was getting dark, grainy photos. Such a quiet evening despite the nice weather today.

Sandhill Sighting

After going to bed early last night I found myself up and wide awake around 6:00 am this morning which is unusual for me. I figured I'd go to the park first thing and so I arrived around 6:30 to find most of the park covered in a thick morning fog. It was quite peaceful and quiet. As I pulled into the parking lot on the west side, I could see a very large bird out in the middle of the baseball field. With the fog it was hard to tell and I figured it was a Turkey at first but to my surprise it was a Sandhill Crane! Then I noticed a second one! I'm guessing this is the same pair that I'd been seeing in the park earlier this spring and it was the first time I've seen them again since late April. Fellow birder friends of mine have suggested that they likely attempted to nest in the park but were unsuccessful. Seeing them again today makes me think that this theory is right. I did manage a photo with both of them in it but opted to post this better closeup of just the one. You can see some of the fog hanging in the background. Overall it was a spectacular day for birding –it seems to be picking up again, or maybe it was because I was there so early. In addition to this nice Cedar Waxwing I spotted on the north end, I also saw a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak, many different Gray Catbirds, Song Sparrows, House Sparrow, Flicker, American Redstart, American Goldfinch, Indigo Bunting, Great Blue Heron, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Northern Cardinal, European Starling, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin and Ring-billed Gull. I spent quite a bit of time watching and trying to photograph both the Redstart and Indigo Bunting but both of these birds like to hop around quickly in the treetops making them very difficult to photograph well. Later near the end of my walk I almost bumped into this male Cardinal who had just landed on top of a sign post to feast on something. At first it looked like he was eating dark berries of some kind but the Buckthorn berries aren't ripe yet. After closer examination of my photos it appeared that he was instead eating an insect of some kind. It is great fun to see Cardinal so closely and this is one of the better shots I've gotten of one at the park.

Sunny, 78 Degrees and Two New Species!

So our weird weather just continues to get weirder here in Minnesota. Today it got up to 78 degrees and it was kind of like we skipped Spring altogether and jumped headfirst into Summer! It was hard to believe that only 4 days ago we received about 5" of snow and only 9 days ago received 6-8" of snow. There was basically no trace of snow on the ground anywhere today and in fact I took a photo of the only small pile on the side of the trail I could find. I was walking with a friend today and right away we ran into a frequent park-goer who told us of a very unusual looking creature. He told us where we might see it and sure enough it was viewable right there from the footbridge over Shingle Creek on the south side. Indeed it was a Horned Grebe and we had a front row seat, watching it dive and surface over and over. This was an exciting sight for me as it's the first time I've seen one AND the first time I've documented one at PLP. One time when he was close enough, we could see him move underwater after he dove which was neat. They have intensely red eyes which really stand out as well. As we were making our way around the lake on the south end we could see that there were hundreds of waterfowl out on the water -and not just your normal, average Mallards! We were quite a ways away but through my binoculars I could see tons of Ring-necked Ducks, a few Northern Shovelers and mabye a Bufflehead or two. Upon closer examination of the photo once I got home I noticed even more Horned Grebes and possibly even a Ruddy Duck or two but I can't be sure. Also it's possible that maybe some of what I thought were Ring-necks were Scaups but too hard to tell from such a distance. This was the largest group of non-Mallard waterfowl I've ever seen at the park! Later on the south west side I noticed a group of 4 or 5 Brown-headed Cowbirds that we'd walked right past. They weren't making any noise and just sat there silently as I took a few photos. I'd heard a Cowbird much earlier in the year up at the Coon Rapids Dam but haven't officially seen one until today. The female is on the left and male on the right in this photo. Before we turned the corner to head north we noticed a large shape in a tall tree way up ahead and looked closer through binoculars. It was an adult Bald Eagle staring out towards the center of the park. He was a long ways away but once we started up the wood chip trail we realized that he was actually perched above the waterway that connects the two western most bodies of water. My guess is that maybe he was on the lookout for a Coot to snatch up. I was able to get even closer by heading to where the old overgrown railroad ties are and snap a few photos without bumping him. It is always fun to see Bald Eagles at the park and it seem like maybe Jan or Feb was the last time I'd spotted one. On the north side we quite plainly heard Sandhill Cranes again. They have an extremely loud call that tends to echo and to me sounds like some kind of pre-historic bird. There was no sight of them but we could tell they were close. Then all of a sudden one came barreling straight towards us, above the trail but under the tree canopy. I only got off one shot just as it turned and headed to our left. I wasn't even sure if I got it but was quite happy to see this photo when I got home! This was my second new species (for the park) in one day making it quite an enjoyable day.