My Big Month - Day 5

Well so far I am 5 for 5 in getting out to Palmer Lake Park this May. Today the month of May finally lived up to expectations as both the weather and birding were fantastic. I spent roughly 3 hours birding today and took 131 pictures in all. It was warm enough to notice larger insects and I even saw my first Mourning Cloak Butterflies -which seems very late in comparison to other years. Three of the big highlights for the day were seen while I was stationary, sitting by the edge of the little pond right by the parking lot on the south side. As I sat there, a pair of Blue-winged Teals flew in, then an Osprey flew overhead, and best of all a Black and White Warbler landed only just feet from me in some Willow Shrubs. I had my camera on him quick but I snapped the shutter even before it had time to focus and I lost my only chance at photographing him. My pick to post today however was the very last bird I saw today.

Definitely not by best photo of the day but this is a brand new species for me that I've never photographed. I'm pretty sure this is a Northern Waterthrush which is actually in the Warbler family. I watched it walk with it's tail bobbing up and down along the edge of a small pond on the east side. He was tough to get a photo of as they really blend in well. The only thing that stood out at all was it's bright pinkish-orange legs.

Total species seen today: Northern Waterthrush, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Goldfinch, Hairy Woodpecker, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Brown Thrasher, American Coot, Common Merganser, Bufflehead, Blue-winged Teal, Mallard, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Osprey, American Crow, Tree Swallow, Mourning Dove, American Robin and a couple unidentified Warblers.

Conditions: 60 degrees and little to no clouds

My Big Month - Day 4

Well it was going to be hard to top yesterday's sighting now that I've confirmed what I saw was indeed a Blue-headed Vireo! The light was a lot better today so at least whatever I did see was coming out a bit better in my photos. I ended up running into a friend of mine fairly early into my walk so we walked around the rest of the way together, pointing out all the Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets we saw. Together we spotted quite a few different birds and my daily total was 27 species! Some highlights of the day were a group of 5 Wild Turkeys, a White-crowned Sparrow, and the first Great Egret I've seen at the park this year! Though I took nearly a hundred pics of Yellow-rumped Warblers, my pick for today is a Palm Warbler that walked right out in front of us near the edge of the trail.

I'd seen one earlier in my walk but it was in the woods and all my photos had branches in them. When we first spotted him he was up in a tree and we just saw a flash of his yellow underside before he landed on the ground in front of us. This is only maybe my 3rd sighting of a Palm Warbler so I really wanted to make sure I was able to share a photo of one during my "Big Month" this May.

Total species seen today: Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Wild Turkey, Winter Wren, Red-tailed Hawk, American Crow, Common Grackle, European Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Northern Cardinal, American Tree Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Great Egret, Sandhill Crane, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Ring-billed Gull, Tree Swallow, Mallard and American Robin.

Conditions: 46 degrees and overcast skies.

My Big Month - Day 3

Being that it is Friday I was slightly more motivated to get out birding today, though I quickly found out how truly nasty the weather was today. Unbelievably, it snowed again all morning long but didn't really accumulate except for on the grass. After noon it turned to rain which melted whatever snow had stuck to the ground or trees. So at only just 33 degrees I was dressed nearly the same as I do in January -only switching out my heavy winter coat for a rain jacket instead! To fully communicate just how foul the conditions were, I did not see a single other person during my entire walk around the park -and I was out there for a good hour and a half! Though I was definitely dressed properly, I was getting discouraged quickly as I had a hard time keeping my camera and my glasses dry and the dark overcast sky was like a bad filter on every photo I took. Gradually things got better as I went, and especially after I got to watch and photograph a Yellow-rumped Warbler up close as he preened his feathers. Actually I was quite please at the number of birds I was able to see in such crummy weather, including a tiny little Wren that I noticed hopping around through the dried up weeds. I can't say if it was a House Wren or maybe a Winter Wren. But for today's photo I'm going with the very first bird I spotted today.

Although I actually don't have it positively identified yet, I have a good suspicion what it might be and it I'm correct it would be a very first sighting of this species for me. As I watched it bounce around in the trees above me, I thought for sure it was a Magnolia Warbler. But when I got home and looked more closely at my photos I realized it was clearly not a Magnolia. I struggled quite a bit in order to get even these poor photos and they are zoomed in quite a bit. When I have a hard time identifying a particular bird, I like to make a little montage showing different angles. As I write this I've posted the same image seen here onto the flickr birdshare group and hopefully I will have a positive ID very soon. And I will be even happier if that matches what my hunch is now!

Total species seen today: Blue-headed Vireo (yeah new species for me!), Mallard, Canada Goose, Red-winged Blackbird, American Coot, Ring-necked Pheasant, American Tree Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Common Grackle, European Starling, Blue Jay, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Wild Turkey, American Robin, Winter Wren, Ring-billed Gull, Black-capped Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker.

Conditions: 33 degrees, rain and fairly windy (crummy in other words!)

My Big Month - Day 2

On only day 2 of my "Big Month" I wasn't quite as motivated to be out hiking. My vehicle has been having problems and I wasn't even sure if it would make it to the park. In addition my chronic back problems have me worn out, and to top it off it's still just plain old COLD again. It's hard to believe that we had 2 days near 80 degrees and now we're back into the upper 30's and low 40's! It's May 2nd for god sakes and I'm still wearing flannel pants and a winter hat. At least we avoided the 15" of snow that fell only 60 miles south of the Twin Cities yesterday! What a seriously weird Spring this has been. Though I didn't make it all the way around the park today, I saw a handful of good birds just on the northeast side. Right off the bat I spotted tons of Yellow-rumped Warblers and as I watched them closely trying to get better photos, I noticed one on the ground that looked different. This one had more of an olive-yellow color plus a rusty cap and I recognized it quickly as a Palm Warbler! This is only the 2nd Warbler I've seen this year so it was quite exciting. I tried desperately to get a good photo but it was extremely tough through all the underbrush.

I did manage one or two, but for today I've decided to post something else that I really wasn't expecting to see. As I hiked in an out of the woods from the trail, I popped out and found myself staring right at a Barred Owl. He was perched right off the paved trail in plain view. It was getting a bit dark already but I snapped a few pics that turned out OK. I just couldn't resist going in closer to him and of course I scared him off pretty quickly. I followed him to another perch but the light wasn't as good and by that time he flew off again. It was a good and unexpected sighting amidst the much smaller birds I was hoping to see today.

Total species seen today: Barred Owl, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Sandhill Crane, Northern Flicker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Tree Sparrow, Mallard, White-breasted Nuthatch and Northern Cardinal.

Conditions: 43 degrees and partially sunny.