A Memorable Day in the Woods

Today's visit to the park will be one that I will remember for a long time. I had minor back surgery about a week ago but I was determined to be at the park as much as possible during what could very well be the best week of the entire year for bird watching. But I came prepared to sit today with my new lightweight hunting stool strapped over my shoulder. I hiked into the woods on the north side just after 7:00am and was not disappointed when I spotted a pair of Wild Turkey's almost immediately. One of them would display periodically but I was having a hard time getting a photo through the thick brush. This was the best photo I got before the pair found a fallen tree to perch on and preen for a while. It was neat because they never really saw me the entire time. Trees and other foliage were only just barely sprouting green and it felt like a magical time when you can just sense that the best days of spring and summer are getting closer every day. After spotted a Northern Waterthrush, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a Hermit Thrush from my stool, I decided to move around a little to get out into a more clear area. As I moved closer to the field at the edge of the woods I spotted two large dark patches that seemed out of place. They were at eye level making it even more odd. With my binoculars I realized it was a pair of Owls. But not just any Owls. These were a pair of juvenile Great Horned Owls! I was shocked at first to see such a sight and as soon as I pulled up my camera, one of them took off for another perch. I could hardly believe that I was getting to see a young Owl again at the park in Spring. The pair were most likely the same Owls to fledge from the nest that I first located back on the 1st day of March! I approached closer and closer but as I did, I was in for another surprise. There on the exact opposite side of the young Owl were another pair of bird watchers! This was even more shocking as I just hadn't noticed them while paying so much attention to the remaining Owl. One of them decided to circle around wide towards me and I decided to do the same. Turns out this bird watcher was someone I'd recently met this winter during a photography program at the UofM Raptor Center. Moreover this particular bird watcher is a bona-fide Owl nut –so much so that I doubt he would mind me saying so. AND he also introduced me to a special facebook page he created called "Owl About Minnesota." He and a friend had been chasing the same pair of Owls, only from the opposite direction! So inadvertently we had squeezed the Owls into a corner between us. I decided to hike out their direction as they actually had a much better view and the 3 of us watched the remaining Owl in better light. This is when I snapped the photo above which I think is one of my very favorite photos ever from PLP. After hanging out for a bit I decided to part ways and head back to my car for a lunch break. After a quick bite I ended up back in the woods right back in the same place again hoping to get some better photo opportunities of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Indeed I finally got one or two after chasing them back and forth from tree to tree. I really love this species. They are so beautiful but can be hard to catch out in the open. The next few weeks would be my best opportunity to catch one so I spent a fair amount of time today after this one. Other birds I saw in the process included Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, American Robin, Cooper's Hawk, Cedar Waxwing, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and a pair of Black-capped Chickadees taking turns excavating a hole in a dead tree. Eventually I ended up back where we had watched the young Owls. I took the time to look around slowly and surprisingly I was able to locate one of them again. This one appeared to look a bit different and I wondered if maybe it was the other one who flew off earlier. Then again it was a completely different angle and vantage point. P.S. I took a whopping 172 photos today!

More FOY Birds and Lots of Species!

My visit to the park this morning resulted in a LOT of birds so this post will have more than the usual 3 photos! Though I saw some awesome things I always like to post them in the same order I spotted them. The first is actually a bird that caught my eye as looking rather unique but I quickly wrote it off as an American Tree Sparrow. However, after studying my two photos now I firmly believe this is a Swamp Sparrow –which is a new species for me! Only recently I had a conversation come up with an experienced birder about Swamp Sparrows. I told him that whenever I heard people say "Swamp Sparrow" I thought they were using a nickname to refer to Song Sparrows. Well that turns out to be wrong, and there are indeed two separate species. But as it turns out, a Swamp Sparrow looks hardly anything like a Song Sparrow, and is actually way closer in appearance to an American Tree Sparrow. And since I've become so familiar with Tree Sparrows in the last couple of years, I can already see some notable differences here. For one, this new bird shows a distinctly whiter throat than most American Tree Sparrows. It is also missing the white wing bars on it's side. It's cap seems to start as 2 very dark streaks near the beak before turning reddish brown at the top which is also different from the American Tree Sparrow who's reddish brown is solid and the same color even at the front. There would also be a way more obvious distinction which is not very apparent here in either photo. While the American Tree Sparrow has different colors for it's upper and lower beak, the Swamp Sparrow has the same color on both upper and lower beak. Sorry to go on and on about the differences but I do this as much for myself as anyone –so that I can learn from it and also refer back to it! My next bird is one that I've seen before, but is the first time I've seen one this year. And it is one of my very favorite Warblers –an Oven Bird! This is probably one of the more elusive Warblers we have here in Minnesota as it is a ground nesting bird. In fact it is named as such for the "dome" shaped nest that it builds on the ground. I've come to spot Ovenbirds more frequently in areas that have both larger trees as well as a lot of "leaf litter" or left-over dead leaves from the previous fall. They are somewhat common at PLP if you look in the right areas and have enough patience to keep looking. The next bird I came upon is a Black-capped Chickadee who was busily excavating a hole in a stump. The first time I saw it go in the hole I thought I was seeing things. But it would pop out with a beak full of woodchips, fly off and then come back again to do the same. I'm assuming he or she was doing so in preparation for a nest, but the particular stump was only about 2 to 3 feet high off the ground. I would think being so close to the ground might not be safe from predators but who knows. Maybe if the hole is small enough no large mammal could get their head in there anyways. It was a funny sight. Later I spotted yet another Sparrow but this time it posed nicely for a photo. This is a White-throated Sparrow and you can probably see why they are named so just by looking at this photo. Besides the white throat patch, the have a bright yellow patch above and in front of their eye, thus making them one of the more beautiful of the Sparrows. But probably the reason people love this species of Sparrow is that they have a fantastically beautiful call that sounds like the first few notes of the Canadian National Anthem "Oh – Ca – na – da!" Next on the list is another FOY (First of Year) Warbler, the Black-and-white Warbler. This is a particularly distinct looking Warbler, as nearly all other Warblers are brightly colored in Yellow, Orange or Blue. The Black-and-white is striped in strictly black and white like a Zebra, hence it's highly technical name - LOL! They are also one of the only Warblers that can be found walking head first down the sides of trees. Therefore you are more likely to see this Warbler on or near larger, mature trees. And last but not least, I was able to spot one more Warbler today –a Northern Waterthrush. The Northern Waterthrush is also a somewhat secretive bird, staying mostly on the ground but almost always near standing water. They hold their butt and straight tail at a nearly a 45º angle and constantly bob their hind end up and down. So just by this posture and behavior alone, it is easier to discern this bird from others. They can be found bobbing up and down wherever water meets land in the spring. And in summer when the water recedes, look for them wherever muddy land meets the water.

List of species (that I can remember) from today:
1. Swamp Sparrow
2. Song Sparrow
3. White-throated Sparrow
4. Ovenbird
5. Northern Cardinal
6. Blue Jay
7. Black-capped Chickadee
8. Red-winged Blackbird
9. Northern Shoveler
10. Mallard
11. American Coot
12. Black-and-white Warbler
13. Yellow-rumped Warbler
14. American Goldfinch
15. Wood Duck
16. Canada Goose
17. Downy Woodpecker
18. Hairy Woodpecker
19. Red-bellied Woodpecker
20. Hermit Thrush
21. American Robin
22. Brown Thrasher
23. Least Flycatcher
24. American Crow
25. Northern Waterthrush
26. Blue-winged Teal
27. Lesser Yellowlegs
28. Greater Yellowlegs
29. Common Grackle
30. Brown-headed Cowbird
31. Cedar Waxwing
32. House Wren
33. Gray Catbird

Snipe Hunting

If you've ever heard the term "Snipe Hunt" or "Snipe Hunting" or have unwittingly taken part in said practice, you might know that it is a common practical joke. The idea is to send an inexperienced person –maybe on a camping trip– into the woods with a bag or pillowcase and tell them that if they make particular strange noises or bang rocks together, that Snipe will come running towards them. The practical jokers know that such an idea is preposterous but I've even seen television shows that "let on" that there is no such thing as a Snipe. But there is indeed such a bird and the origin of the joke is likely based on the fact that real Snipe are terribly secretive birds –and would never be found near anyone making loud noises. My first sighting of this elusive bird was yesterday and I really wanted to go back today in hopes of a better photo. Considering just how skittish they are, I think I did fairly well by periodically moving my stool closer and closer to the edge of the flooded field. But even so, I was difficult to get close before they would spook and fly back into the bordering woods. For a while I actually could see one hiding right up against the chain link fence in a clump of grass. I attempted to move closer and closer to this one as well but it too let me get only so close before taking off. But now that I was in a good position, I stayed long enough for a small group of Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs to return. I really liked how this particular photo came out as you can see both Lesser and Greater next to each other, and especially you get an idea of how they delicately walk through the water. Shorebirds can be an especially tough family of birds to know and identify. Many many of them tend to look quite similar in size, shape and color –distinguishable only by very subtle differences. After a fair amount of sitting, I felt like hiking again and decided to walk out along the edge of the woods on the north side. I quickly spotted a Hermit Thrush by eyeing the bright, rusty reddish brown coloring on the back and tail. For such a mostly brown bird, these are quite a beautiful bird and they are fun to see! This one appeared to be grooming and let me get in closer than usual. While hiking through the tall grass I could periodically hear something rustling down below me and one of the times I looked down I caught a glimpse of this Common Garter Snake. He had his head held up as he knew I was there. I got down low to his level to take a few pics and was waiting for his tongue to come out but it never did. Never the less, I like how the photo came out –showing both old dried up grass as well as new, bright green grass as part of the backdrop. There was one more bird I really wanted to "hunt down" today and that was a Rusty Blackbird. Though I'd recently gotten some great photos of one down at North Mississippi Regional Park, I wanted to document them at PLP as well. I'd definitely heard and spotted glimpses of them but had not gotten a photo here yet. So on my way back I checked the flooded fields at 73rd Ave. N. and sure enough there were one or two poking around the water. I've almost always found Rusty's in or near snow melt or some type of standing water. On quick tip on telling them apart from a more common Red-winged Blackbird is that they will have bright yellow eyes versus black eyes. The Common Grackle also has bright yellow eyes but is much larger than both the Rusty and RW Blackbirds.

Flooded Fields Bring New Species!

This morning's visit to the park is one I will never forget. Having undergone some minor back surgery just days ago, I am up and walking short distances but need to sit for longer periods. I recently purchased a little fold-out hunting stool and decided I would put it to use today. I arrived at the east parking lot off of Oliver to find the baseball fields flooded worse than I've ever seen them before. The water is nearly all the way up to the parking lot! Standing in the shallow water I quickly noticed a lot of "Shorebirds" which is something I don't see a lot of at the park. But these did not appear to be the Sandpipers I've seen before. My first hunch turned out to be correct –both Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs! I've never seen either of these 2 species at the park before, and getting to see them right next to each other made for an easy comparison in size and build. This first photo here shows the Greater in the lower left, with the Lesser behind, and finally a Canada Goose behind that just for size comparison. Both birds blend in incredibly well with their surroundings but the Lesser is just a little tougher to pick out due to their smaller size. If you are not keeping an eye on them, it is really easy to lose sight of them against the water. Later I caught these 2 Lesser Yellowlegs walking right underneath the Goose which shows just how small they are. I just couldn't get enough of these birds and every so often I would stand up and slowly carry my stool about 5 feet closer to see them better. I shot hundreds of photos and even captured some in flight. When a few of them flew in the same direction and landed again to my left, I realized there were at least a dozen or more birds! Watching them walk through the water on their long legs was fun and it was so neat to observe new birds at the park. But then a couple of other birds caught my eye. These were even smaller than the Lesser Yellowlegs, but had a noticeably long bill. The first thing that popped into my head was Woodcock and I started taking shots quickly before they moved on. Then out of nowhere, a huge helicopter came thundering by quite closely. It hardly passed me by before turning around again and coming back nearly right above me! At first I thought the DNR was surveying the flooding but I realized after a 3rd pass that they were spraying for mosquitoes! I took some photos of the copter but he was so close I could read the words "mosquito control" on it's side with my naked eye. On one particular pass, the pilot actually skimmed the tops of the trees with the landing gear and I saw twigs break and fly! After scaring away most of the birds I was watching, I hiked around a little to the south but found the trail was impassible due to flooding. But at the edge I clearly heard both Rusty Blackbirds and well as a Brown Thrasher calling. On my way back I ran into a friend of mine who is an expert birder. I described the smaller birds with a long bill to him and he immediately asked if they were striped "parallel" or "perpendicular" to their body. I remembered this trick from a previous bird outing and then realized that what I saw were probably not Woodcock but Snipe! As we cursed the helicopter overhead for making so much noise, we scanned the fields for birds with our binoculars. Later another mutual birder friend joined us and we spotted a few Snipe again. I just read that it's extremely difficult to determine in the field, the difference between a Wilson's Snipe and a Common Snipe. But since it appears the Wilson's is by far more common to our area, I am labeling them Wilson's Snipe for now. But I can't end this post without mentioning the multitude of other birds –especially waterfowl that were also present today. Not only were there dozens of Blue-winged Teals, but to my surprise, there were also Green-winged again! I thought for sure I had seen the only one to ever visit the park a few weeks back on April 12th. But today there was not just one but 3 of them! Well, at least 3 males to be sure. They are just such beautiful birds and I could easily spend all day stalking them for a better photo. More than once I got to see the Green-winged paired up with groups of Blue-winged which was really a neat sight –but always too far away. A few other birds spotted today: Bald Eagle, Osprey, Cooper's Hawk, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Coot, Pied-billed Grebe, Red-winged Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, Common Grackle, Blue Jay, Northern Harrier, Cedar Waxwing, and a possible Broad-winged Hawk sighting!