Gonna be a Cooold Christmas!

Today is Monday, December 24th and my workplace is closed for the Christmas holiday. With all the days off this late December I am trying to squeeze in as many visits to the park as I can before the new year. The only downside is that it's been quite cold -even for this time of year. It feels a bit more like January or February instead of December. This Christmas we are predicted to hit a low of 0 degrees for the first time this year -and it will supposedly be the coldest Christmas day in 12 years! The first thing I spotted today on the southeast side was this Red-tailed Hawk who didn't enjoy my company very much and immediately took off as soon as I raised my camera. Typically I wouldn't get the shot but I must have been just a split second ahead of him and caught him right as he was about to dive. With the cold temps I am finally starting to see a lot more Woodpeckers -Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied, though I'm still struggling to catch a good photo. Juncos have been fairly scarce lately though I'm not sure but there are still lots of Blue Jays, the occasional Cardinal and of course tons of Chickadees. Sometimes Chickadees seem to be the only birds that are out and about on many of my winter walks. Today I caught one in the act of grabbing a Buckthorn berry. I've seen plenty of other birds eating them but never a Chickadee so I thought that was kind of interesting. A new friend of mine (and an expert in trees and plants) recently told me that the species name of Common Buckthron is "Rhamnus cathartica" which refers to the laxative properties of it's berries. Birds eat them but then quickly poop them out, ensuring the spread of more trees. At Palmer Lake Park there are enough Buckthorn berries to last the entire winter and then some. Later back on the east side I noticed this Crow with a snack of his own that definitely didn't come from a tree. It looked as if he had either one of those snack crackers or possibly a piece of cheese. I didn't see where he got it from but he looked quite proud to have found it and held it in his beak for quite a while without any attempt to eat it. I thought it was kind of funny so I snapped this photo after watching him for a while. Oddly about 15 minutes after I'd walked away, he showed up again in another tree just above me still holding the orange treat. This time he was by himself and he finally set it down on the branch and began picking at it. Crows will eat just about anything and it makes me wonder what they think when they taste something brand new for the first time.

Sunny but Cold

It's hard to believe sometimes that I typically visit the park more often in the month of December than other months. I never used to particularly like winter in Minnesota but now having discovered birding, it gives me a great reason to get outside and enjoy nature. Plus you can always wear more clothes –LOL! It has been colder than normal even for this time of year, even though it didn't look that cold today with the sun being out. I took only 20 some photos again today as there just wasn't a whole lot to see. I did spot a Northern Shrike again today and is the 6th time I've seen one already this season which I'm pretty sure is a lot more often than last year by this time. I also spotted the male Wood Duck still in the Duck pond! At this late in the season I really can't figure out why he is still here. I plan to keep an eye out for him each time I visit the park and see how he fares the winter. Besides Tree Sparrows and Red-bellied Woodpeckers, my best bird photo of the day was of this Red-tailed Hawk trying to soak up some warmth from the sun. I never seem to get too close to Hawks without bumping them. Even this photo is quite cropped in.

Deer and First GHO Sighting

I had this Monday off of work and after a day of running errands I decided to try and squeeze in a walk around the park before it got dark. I didn't get there until about 3:15pm and I knew it was gonna get dark in a hurry. The first things I spotted were a Red-tailed Hawk and then on the southwest side was still the one, lone Wood Duck with all the Mallards. I'm not sure why he's hanging out with all these noisy ducks but he was huddled up on a branch of his own that was poking out of the water. On the north side I spotted a young looking deer, then another and another and then two older ones. I never saw much for Fawns in the park this year so I wasn't really sure how many yearlings are around. A bit further down the trail I spotted yet another young one but this time a little closer to the trail. Another park-goer was walking by as I was taking pictures and we talked about how you usually see one deer, then another and realize they're part of a group of 4-5 or even more. I didn't hear an "official" count of the number of deer taken during this year's archery hunt, but other park goers told me it was only between 8 and 10 I think. That actually seems kind of low to me, but if you consider that the hunt only takes place on the Brooklyn Park side of the park -and the hunters can't cross the line into Brooklyn Center- then I guess it might be more difficult than you'd think. The Deer can easily run out into the center of the park which is just past the dividing line. As I was coming around the north side, it was starting to get dark already and I was looking at the smaller Oak Trees that still have a lot of leaves on yet. I was thinking to myself that if I were an Owl, this is where I would hang out -and then only minutes later I heard one "whoo!" I figured I would try and follow the sound for a bit just in case. I believe there were two of them and by the sound I guessed they were Great-Horned Owls. I'm pretty sure that December and January are their mating season and like other years it's fairly common to hear them during these months. Before coming to the drainage ditch that runs under the path, I caught a glimpse of one, lower than expected and near a group of houses. I took one photo before it flew out and actually flew towards me, across the trail! It landed in a taller tree directly over the drainage ditch where I had a better view. Only thing was that it was really dark out by now. I tried setting my camera to a night-time setting which is why this photo looks so blue in color. At the time I couldn't even see his face or tell which way he was facing. This is the first GHO I've seen this season.

An Overcast Sunday

This Sunday morning was a typical dreary December day with temps somewhere in the 20's. It's funny how quickly the lack of sunshine can really get to a person -at least me anyway. I mean it's kind of neat to have a day like this once in a while but in December it can seem like everyday is like that. Upon arrival at the park I quickly noticed a Bald Eagle flying overhead. He was quite a ways up but I took a photo anyway just to say I saw him. Not too much later I ran into a friend who started telling me that he had just been watching a Northern Shrike who was rather low in some larger Buckthorn trees. When he got closer and the Shrike moved on, he noticed a Deer Mouse hanging in between the branches. Since it looked so fresh, he reached out to touch it and it still felt relatively warm, meaning the Shrike likely just placed it there only moments ago! That was kind of an interesting find and he pointed it out to me. After talking quite a while longer, I moved on and it didn't take much longer before I too spotted the Northern Shrike. In usual fashion he was perched at the top-most portion of this shrubby tree. This year I've been seeing them so often and have had better opportunities to get closer than I have previously. Something I've noticed from this is how they have an interesting sort of tiny "barred" patterning on what I previously thought was just a plain white breast. It's barely visible in this photo but it kind of reminds me of the patterning you see on Cooper's Hawks -just smaller. Oh, I almost forgot but I actually spotted a 2nd Shrike just to my left while viewing this one -making it my first confirmed sighting of two Shrikes at once. I've spoken with other more experienced birders and they think that only two Shrikes call all of Palmer Lake Park their territory. I can't say I disagree -but it would be neat to be able to confirm that for sure. There sure is something they like about PLP as they have been prominent residents for at least the last few winter seasons. Later as I was cutting through the wood chip trail on the west side I spotted one Rooster Pheasant just walking along on the snow. He was maybe 25 feet off into the woods and I had just a split second to pull up my camera and get a shot before he flew off. I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that I'd scared up a group of 5 or 6 Pheasants on the north side. They too seem like a more common sighting in the winter but boy are they tough to get photos of!