Friday the 13th

I got a "free pass" of sorts today as our offices unexpectedly closed up early and I found myself free on a beautiful late afternoon. The weather was simply awesome today as cooler weather had finally arrived. It was sunny, cool, dry and calm –everything a Minnesotan rarely has! I was tempted to go birding at the cemetery near my workplace but chose PLP instead, thinking I'd have a better chance for migrating fall Warblers. And I did see one right off the bat –a Northern Waterthrush bobbing his tail up and down on the muddy shore of a small pond near the east side. I was hoping for a better photo but I'm happy to spot this bird at all as they blend into their environment extremely well. In fact I put an arrow in this photo so you can locate him easier. This would prove to be the only Warbler I spotted today but I'm always happy when I'm able to see a Bluebird. I heard this one singing long before I found him atop the chain link backdrop to the baseball diamond on the west side. I was hoping his position would give me enough leeway to get close to him and indeed I did. I was able to get right up underneath this male and snapped a funny shot of him looking suspiciously at me. I'm wondering how much longer the Bluebirds will stick around before heading south. I really took my time walking the rest of the way as it was just so nice outside. As the sun was setting I found myself standing out in a field of tall ragged weeds, still hoping for another Warbler. Instead I caught this Goldfinch peering down at me from a Buckthorn tree.

A Few Good Warblers but No Photos

This weekend I went to Sparta Wisconsin for some bike riding and unfortunately I didn't get in hardly any bird watching. So my only outing to PLP this weekend was on late Sunday afternoon. Though the temp was in the mid to upper 70's, it was still humid and very much feels like Summer in the first week of September. I was hoping to see some new Warblers passing through today and indeed I did. I actually spotted 5 different Warblers including Common Redstart (female), Common Yellowthroat, a Tennessee Warbler, a Magnolia Warbler and my favorite, a Black and White Warbler! Of all these however, I didn't get a single photo as the majority of them were high up in the treetops picking insects off the leaves. I was lucky enough to even have spotted them briefly using my binoculars. Some other things I did get photos of were this Monarch Butterfly on the south east corner. Here there is usually a large field of wildflowers that was recently mostly mowed down. I'm not sure which party is responsible, or why they decided to do so, but mowing over all these wild plants effectively destroyed a ton of food sources for many birds and insects. In addition to the Warblers listed above, I saw quite a few other birds today including; Blue Jays, Cardinals, a Brown Thrasher, Chickadees, lots of Robins, Mallards, Wood Ducks, an Eastern Phoebe, a Least Flycatcher, a Green Heron, Goldfinches, Cedar Waxwings, Canada Geese and two female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. These I spotted again on the north side along the trail in some thick Buckthorn trees. I've not seen a male Grosbeak for quite a while now which makes me wonder if the males start migrating before the females. When I got to the footbridge over Shingle Creek, I spotted one last bird –a Belted Kingfisher. It was squawking loudly and actually flew under the bridge below me to perch on a recently fallen tree over the creek. Since I've not caught a decent photo of this somewhat infrequent visitor, I figured it should be easy to hike upstream and get closer for a better shot. But every time I got anywhere near the Kingfisher it would fly further upstream and perch again. This repeated a few times before I finally lost sight of him. I was totally bummed and the Kingfisher remains elusive to my camera lens still at Palmer Lake Park.

Summer Continues Past Labor Day

I had an additional day off of work this Tuesday but I didn't get to the park until about 4:30 in the afternoon. It is the day after Labor Day now and I'm surprised that our warm weather is still hanging on this late. There is a small little pond near the parking lot on the south side that I often spend a fair amount of time near as I see a lot of birds here. This evening I was fortunate to get close to this Green Heron and get two pics before he flew off. In the dimming light he appeared a beautiful blueish-purple color. I really like how this came out except for the branch in front of his head. Not too much further on the south side wood chip trails I noticed a smaller bird in some shrubs right over me. Hoping I might have a Warbler, I followed him back and forth until I could get some good shots. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was not a Warbler but a Red-eyed Vireo –and I was much closer than I'd ever been to one before. I could even see his red eyes through my viewfinder as I snapped a bunch of half-decent shots. This is probably my favorite one as it really shows off all of his colors. Previously I never thought of them as too colorful a bird but now I can see how much yellowish green color they have. And now that I think about it, this might be the first photo I've gotten of one at PLP! Finally near the end of my walk I spotted two young Bucks hop out of the thick woods onto the paved trail ahead of me. I've not seen a lot of Bucks this year. These two didn't seem to have any trace of velvet left anymore, and even more interesting was the one had a very awkward spike on one side not in proportion to the other. He will be easy to recognize I would think, if I see him again.

Sweet Start to September!

Well for once the weather prediction was right. Last night we finally got some much needed rain and then the temperature dropped considerably. When I left the house for the park this morning at 8:45 am it was 62 degrees, which is just perfect if you ask me. After spotting a migrant Warbler yesterday, I was hoping that today –coupled with the sharp change in weather– might bring more good luck. Sure enough it did and I had a repeat of yesterday by spotting yet another new Warbler in the park! This time was along the wood chip trail heading towards the railroad ties overlooking the water on the south side. There, on the left side of the trail is an area where many trees fell during a summer storm. It seems to be a good place to watch for birds as all the dead branches make great perches. Just as the sun was coming out, I noticed a handful of little yellow birds and got my camera on the first one I could. I actually didn't know at the time but what I was seeing was a Blue-winged Warbler! Though I didn't catch most of his blue-grey colored wing, the tell tale marking is the black stripe right across the eye. I could hardly believe it once I realized what it was. Yet another first for me! Shortly later I eyed a Brown Thrasher on the ground that seemed to be pouncing on something and then jumping back and up into the air repeatedly. As I got in closer I could see that there was a tiny little Garter Snake on the ground who was holding it's ground tenaciously. The snake was all of about 6 inches long but held it's jaws open and would strike every time the Thrasher tried to pick it up. At such a small size, I figured the bird would eventually win out but the snake just kept fighting. I must have gotten too close and scared the Brown Thrasher off at which point the snake slithered quickly back into the weeds. I was kind of disappointed that I let myself interrupt this scene but I'm sure the snake was thankful. Later on the next wood chip trail I glanced down to notice a bright green Katydid on a large bleached-out leaf. My camera and zoom lens don't take great closeups so I tried quite a few angles and distances. When I got home I was happy to see a few came out and this one even had some good detail of the wings and eye. It's quite obvious that the Katydid is purposely resembling a green leaf to avoid being eaten. Finally, this last photo I took on the north side of the park near the thick bushes of Dogwood after the trail curves. This has always been an excellent place to watch for birds and attracts everything from Orioles to Warblers and Hummingbirds. Today it was a couple of female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. I always love to see the males and if there's a female around the male is usually somewhere behind her. I watched and waited but never did see the male. This female however posed perfectly for me in a Buckthorn tree closer to the trail. Now if I could just get all birds to cooperate this well!