Close Encounters

The day before Halloween would prove to be a nice sunny day full of of great sights. My first encounter was the only one that would not count as "close" but I figured I'd post the photo anyway as it's the first Merganser I've ever seen at Palmer Lake. I think this is actually a female "Hooded Merganser" as opposed to a "Common Merganser" due to the way the tail is pointed upwards. I sure would love to see a Male Hooded here -they are probably the neatest waterfowl I've ever seen! On the east side I stumbled upon the Doe and two fawns who are now so used to people that they allow me to get amazingly close. I watched the trio forage on the inside of the trail, then cross the trail to the outside. Mom went across first, then the two fawns. They've lost all their spots now and are pretty much the same color as any other deer. The only way you'd recognize them as fawns is by their smaller size. As I was watching the deer, a large Pileated Woodpecker was flying back and forth over the trail. At one point he even landed right behind one of the fawns as I was taking another picture. I couldn't focus on both and I was in a dilemma on what to photograph first! Later I'd end up with both as I crept up on the large Woodpecker from behind. My previous encounter with two Pileated's took forever as I kept scaring them away. This one I walked almost right up to and snapped a couple of real nice pics before it took off. This one is a female with a black "moustache" behind it's bill. I've noticed that they seem to use their long tail feathers to balance themselves on logs -almost like a third leg. Upon coming back to the parking lot, I spotted an Eagle that I'd seen a couple times during my walk, flying over the middle of the park. This time I caught him perched in a tree against the clear blue sky. For the longest time I really thought this was a Golden Eagle but the more I thought about it, a Juvenile Bald Eagle seemed to make more sense. One thing that really throws me is that his bill is pretty dark colored near the tip -very different from the familiar bright yellow bill I'm used to seeing on Bald Eagles. But quite possibly his full coloring has not developed yet if he's still young.

Busy Birds

Though the overnights so far have been just warm enough to avoid hard frost, it is definitely feeling cooler out lately. Today there was just a hint of drizzle in the air, making it feel even colder than it actually was. On the east side I came across a familiar sound that I'd not heard in quite some time and thought it pretty strange. Above a little swamp were a small group of male Red-Winged Blackbirds squawking loudly. I haven't seen any of these birds for at least a month and I surely figured they'd migrated south already. I wonder if this small group either stuck around longer or even came back north due to the very warm October we've had. In the same swamp there was this Robin taking a bath in the shallow water and I was lucky enough to catch a picture of him in the act. Robins have been catching my eye lately as their bright orange breast now really stands out with fewer leaves on the trees. Lastly near the water overlook on the south side, I watched this Chickadee gather clumps of Cattail seeds -presumably for a nest. I'm confused by the Cattails this year as they all seem to have seeded out already. I swear that last year it took a full 2 year cycle for them to seed-out.

Lunchtime walk

This Monday I was working from home as I was having my entire furnace replaced at home. It was way overdue. I figured if I get a lunch break while working at the office I may as well take a lunch break if working from home. I used that time for a very quick walk. The first thing I saw were these Canada Geese that seemed interested in something up in the trees. Only seconds later a Bald Eagle burst out of the trees ahead of me so I guess that must have been what they were watching. It was super warm and sunny today and the temps were in the upper 70's! I feel like it's been quite a few year since we've had this nice of weather eleven days into October. We Minnesotan's sure enjoy it though as every day like this is one less day of snow and cold! These bright red leaves made quite a contrast against a still green background on the south side. Today's visit to the park was the first time I noticed an obvious thinning of underbrush as I could really see into the woods again for the first time since Spring. It made me remember why I spot so many more Deer and Owls in the wintertime as opposed to Summer. On the west side of the park there are a few "planted" Maples along the path that have some nice fall color to them. I really like ones like this where the outer edges have started turning but the inside is still green.

Eleven Deer this evening

It's getting seriously hard to get a walk in after work when arriving at the park by 6:00 pm. It's pretty much dark now at 7:00 pm. Tonight's walk started off good when I spotted this Doe right away off the south wood chip trail. She was just one of eleven I'd see tonight and I can't even remember where I spotted some of them. Three I do remember were two fawns and a mother on the north side just after the bridge. In the grassy field to the north, the fawns appeared to be playing, running rapidly in a circle, almost chasing each other. I tried to get some pics but they were running around way too much. I spotted a few more here and there but it was much too dark -in the wooded areas anyway- to get any pictures. On the south east side though I spotted another group of two fawns and a mother out in the open where there was just enough light. These three were calmly eating instead of running in circles. Palmer Lake is not really great for fall colors unfortunately. All the trees pretty much turn the same color yellow at the same time. There was one particular tree on the south east side that was a nice bright red but by the time I got there it was really dark. Wish I could have seen this tree in the sun.