A New Year with New Weather

New Year's Eve this year came with a coating a icy, wet snow followed by wind gusts of up to 50mph, then by frigid temperatures in the teens. I actually opted not to visit the park yesterday as the winds were just brutal. By day 2 of the new year it was slightly more tolerable, though I waited until almost 3:45pm for the temperature to warm up a bit. I guess I'm spoiled by all those warm temps we've had until now. I walked opposite my normal direction today and didn't see much of anything until later on when I caught a glimpse of a large Owl dart out of the trees in front of me. It was getting dark already and I barely caught where he landed again. I took a quick look through my binoculars and was happily surprised to see a Barred Owl! I decided to walk through the woods a bit to try and get closer but I quickly scared him away due to my loud steps on the crunchy frozen snow. Along the way I stumbled upon a curious sight. Among the Buckthorn trees were hundreds of these tiny, bulbous "icicles" -only they were sticking upwards from the branches, not down. They immediately reminded me of a diamond on a ring. I imagine that they were formed by water dripping from above to create what I will now refer to as "ice diamonds." Shortly after admiring them I caught another glimpse of the Barred Owl as he selected another spot in the dimming woods. It is a terrible photo but sadly the best one I got. I've not seen one for so long and I'm glad to know they are still visiting Palmer Lake. As I made my way back to the parking lot, the sky was setting up a spectacular winter sunset that seemed to change every minute or so. The horizon line glowed a luminous red while the purple clouds above appeared to be dropping whisping waves of moisture below. It kept changing all the way until I got to my vehicle and was also being admired by other park goers. A nice sunset is always the best way to end my walk in the park!

First Owl Photo on the Last Day of the Year

Today is the last day of 2011 and it has been a fantastic year of learning and discovery for me at Palmer Lake Park. Birds and animals I'd only dreamed of seeing just once have become more and more familiar sights as I'm slowly learning what to look for. Here is a stupid analogy -but one that holds a lot of truth to me- in regards to nature. Have you ever bought a car you weren't really familiar with at first but then started to notice the same model everywhere you drove? I think recognizing animals and birds is quite a similar experience. The more often you see something, the more in tune you become with it's subtle characteristics. Simply put (and this holds true in a LOT of hobbies) If you know what you are looking for, you are more likely to find it. This held true for me again today as I walked through the wood chip trail on the southwest side. Though there is still no snow on the ground, it seemed like the right time of year and the right kind of lighting to be on the lookout for an Owl. I actually walked right past this one before doing a double take and walking slowly backwards in order to take a photo. Actually this was not the first Owl I'd seen this year, however it was the first time I was able to photograph one. This Great Horned Owl was quite close to me, perched only 15-20 feet up, giving me a good view of him. He was one of the lightest colored Owls I'd come across, being mostly white and grey compared to others with rusty orange coloring. Since he wasn't doing much I decided to get some pics of his lower body and legs. At the time I thought the photos were coming out great but later realized how grey and grainy they were in larger form. Never the less, I was happy to see a Great Horned Owl so closely on the last day of the year.

Record-Breaking Day After Christmas

Even though we've periodically had some snow flurries and some temperatures in the teens, this has got to be the warmest Christmas-time I can remember. I got to the park just after 10am this morning when it was already 36 or 37 degrees. But later in the afternoon, it warmed up to a record high temp of 52 degrees for the Twin Cities area! Right as I hit the wood chip trail today, a large and mature Bald Eagle flew up in front of me and glided on the strong wind above the lake. I stopped dead in my tracks and waited to see where he might perch again. He in fact did land again, extremely close -almost right above me! At this distance I would not be able to walk very much closer without scaring him off again, so I opted for a crummy photo right through the trees. I couldn't even see his face but I knew this was probably the only photo I would get -and I was right. Later today I ran into some fellow "Birders" on the north side -one of whom I'd only previously known from his photos on Flickr.com. The 3 of us spent a good deal of time swapping stories and photos of recent sightings, photo equipment and so on. It is always nice to meet people that share your same enthusiasm for something and are kind enough to share their knowledge and experience with you instead of holding it above you. Much too often I think our competitive nature gets in the way with hobbies or pastimes that should be more focused on education and just having fun. But that was definitely not the case today, nor has it been with most of the people I've met so far who are interested in nature, birding and the environment. I later realized just how warm it had gotten when I crossed Shingle Creek on the south side and could see the bottom of the creek bed through water that should be frozen by now. The sun was glinting on this Clam shell and I still think I'll find it hard to believe later than I took this photo on the day after Christmas! By now it was seriously nice out and as I walked up the wood chip trail to where Shingle Creek flows back out of Palmer Lake, I just decided to sit along the creek. No sooner than I sat down did I hear an interesting bird call which I assumed at first was a Robin. As it continued I realized it must be something else and then I caught my first glimpse of a plump, mostly white bird. At first I thought I might be seeing something new, until a glance through my binoculars told me that it was a Northern Shrike. I had never seen one so closely before, nor in this environment of thick branches, nor on such a nice sunny day! I sort of recognized some of the calls it made but was amazed at all of the other sounds it was making. Since I was just sitting there, I grabbed my iphone, hit my bookmark to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology page and played the sound files for "typical voice" of the Northern Shrike. It was then quite obviously the same bird and I believe that the recording helped attract it closer to me. At certain points I had a hard time differentiating between the recording and the real bird in front of me on the opposite side of the creek. It was quite a fun experience seeing and hearing a Northern Shrike in such close quarters. I completely understand now why they are referred to as a "predatory songbird."

Lots of Birds for Christmas

Today is the day before Christmas but luckily I was able to visit the park in the morning just after 8am. The temp was a bit cooler today at about 20º. It's obviously going to be a "Brown Christmas" this year as our temps have just been way too mild and we've only received small, periodic dustings of snow lately. I saw a surprising variety of birds today including a Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Robin, Junco, Starling, Northern Shrike and finally a Hawk that was too far away to identify. My best sighting of the day was of the Shrike whom I watched move three times from his original perch on top of some Buckthorn trees on the north side. By the time I pulled up my binoculars he took off and I spotted a lone Deer who'd walked almost right underneath his tree. I lost him for a while until came around the corner and saw him again up in the tall dead tree near the trail. Though still far away I was happy to see him in some decent lighting as opposed to the normally overcast conditions I tend to see them in. From here, the Shrike took off again and did something I would have never guessed. He passed above me and then "dive-bombed" a Crow that was perched high up in some trees behind me. The Crow had to be at least 4 times larger him, but his attack was serious enough to flush the Crow off of his branch. He did this once more, again prompting the Crow to move. I'm not sure if he actually had a beef with the Crow or if he was just playing, but soon after he moved to another tall tree where stayed put for a long time. When I rounded the northeast side near Penn Avenue is when I spotted a small group of Juncos and an even smaller group of Starlings -probably 3 or 4. I heard their strange "whirring" call before spotting them. Most birders are not fond of Starlings but I think they are quite interesting. The ones I saw today looked a tad darker than they have looked this Summer and Fall.