Quiet Sunday

This Sunday morning I arrived at the park just after 8:00am and it was noticeably quieter than usual. I think a lot of people are out of town on vacation or something because I nearly had the park to myself. Something I find myself doing often after visiting the same park time-after-time, is to find myself in a particular place and remembering a previous encounter with wildlife. While rounding the southwestern corner of the park I paused to look at spot where I'd seen a Coyote sitting in winter, staring out across the middle of the park. The landscape had changed so drastically since then. I didn't see as many birds as yesterday although I did spot a few Goldfinches and a big male Flicker in the tall grass of the baseball fields. After walking up the wood chip trail along the creek on the south side, I quickly spotted a Mink swimming across the water towards a thicket of trees. I'm not sure how to describe the difference between a Mink and a Muskrat when they swim -but I would say that a Mink looks a lot longer and holds it's head almost completely above water. I'm glad to know they are still in the area -maybe they will help clean out some of the Carp in Shingle Creek. While in the same area by the water overlook, I took some time to clean up a bunch of garbage left by people fishing from the railroad ties. I really don't get people who bring in all kinds of stuff -cans, bottles, plastic wrappers and bags, proceed to fish for a while, then just up and leave without a care in the world about cleaning up the mess they just made. What a bunch of idiots. It's a whole 10 minute walk back to the parking lot where there are 3-4 garbage cans, yet they'll leave empty plastic bags and even tangled up fishing line just feet from the edge of the water. After picking up all this crap, I noticed a fairly large, winged insect and decided to grab a photo as it was kind of unusual. It reminded me of some much larger "water-bugs" I've seen in the past along Minnesota riverbanks. When I came back to the parking lot, I'd just gotten in my vehicle when I noticed a Chipmunk crawling around in the trees and bushes near my parking space. Though Chipmunks are so common, it was the first time I'd seen one at the park so I rolled down my window and took this photo from inside my truck. Another mammal to add to my list!

Lots of good sights

It is now now officially summer according to the calendar and this Saturday's visit to the park was a great kickoff to the season. The impact of our wet spring weather is now obvious when walking through the park. Cattails are booming where large areas were crushed by the winter snows and foliage in general is overgrown everywhere. All along the trail the field grass is over 6 feet tall, making it quite hard to spot a Deer from a distance now. When I got to the north side, it was a bird bonanza. Within about 10 minutes time I spotted a Baltimore Oriole, Yellow Warbler, Goldfinch, Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow and finally a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. I first noticed him right off the trail and it would've made for a beautiful shot but I blew it and had to track him down later from a distance. On the paved trail were lots of slugs and as I was watching my step not to crush them, I noticed some other very small creatures. They were so small that I had to pick one up to investigate before I realized they were snails! I've never noticed them at this stage and it was pretty obvious that they had just started growing their shells. They were smaller than the tip of my finger. A short time later I spotted a Common Yellowthroat in a tree above me. He was stayed put for a while and I got to see him singing which was a first. I realized quickly that I'd heard that same call numerous times before and incorrectly associated it with a Yellow Warbler. I believe the 2 are quite similar sounding so hopefully I can hear more of both this summer and learn to distinguish them. As I was heading towards the baseball fields on the east side I noticed lots of dark little bugs on the trail -only they didn't seem to move like bugs. Upon closer inspection I realized they were tiny little frogs. They were about the same size as the snails I'd seen earlier and they pretty hard to photograph. There must have been hundreds of them and you could almost see the grass moving with their activity.

Short break from the rain

We've been in a seemingly perpetual rainy weather pattern lately. I even called off my normal Saturday visit in favor of Sunday which was a bit better. Everything was wet and humid but at least the sun was popping out here and there. I did see one Oriole, a couple of Downy Woodpeckers and one Deer, but mostly the smaller things were more noticeable today. Milkweeds often catch my attention as I scan them for Monarch Caterpillars. Too often though I run across something else like this spider. Of all things, I'm actually quite freaked out by spiders and I really don't know why I took this photo -I guess it was just different. In various parts of the park, Cottonwood seeds were floating through the air so thickly that it actually looked like it was snowing. I tried to seek out a darker background so it would show up better in a photo. The seeds are collecting very heavily on the south side of the park -even on the water. I saw lots of other insects on the trail and took a few closeup photos just because I wasn't really seeing anything else. As I was coming back to the parking lot I noticed these small purple and white flowers. I don't know what they are but I know they are pretty common this time of year.

Two Years and Running!!!

As of yesterday, I've officially been posting regularly to this blog for a full two years now! I never thought when I started this that I'd keep it up this long. Even I thought I might get bored with visiting the same park time after time. However, quite the opposite is true. Everything I've learned over the past two years has increased my appreciation and wonderment of nature and continues to fuel my passion for learning more. I have a real sense of accomplishment from everything I've learned so far. Every day I visit the park is a new learning opportunity -sometimes in the smallest way. Today was no exception. The weather today was remarkable -just perfect in my opinion, around 68 degrees, sunny and calm. I wish it could be like this all year long. Other than the perfect weather, the first thing I noticed was a Flicker high above me on the north west side. I've sure seen a lot of them this Spring compared to just one, all of last year. This I think is a female due to the lack of the black "mustache." Later I stopped in my usual place on the bridge over Shingle Creek to snap a few pics of the creek and I noticed a bunch of Barn Swallows flying over the water. I wished I could get a photo of these colorful birds but they were moving much too fast for my camera. Later I was making my way around the south east side when I noticed a whole bunch of them perched on the chain link fence surrounding the ball fields. It was the first opportunity I've ever had watch and photograph them sitting still. I was able to move in much closer than I expected and really see their full coloring. Only a few of them took off when I approached this closely. I was amazed at how colorful they are. On the very end there was one that looked so obviously different that I first thought it was a different species all together. As I got closer I could see it was also a Swallow but it had some added patches of white on the neck and on it's forehead. I thought for sure this was either a female or maybe an older Barn Swallow but according my new Peterson Field Guide, I think it's actually a "Cliff Swallow!"

Running with Orioles

Today was my 4th visit to the park in as many days and I figured I'd change it up a little by jogging around instead of walking. I've done this before, and often enough to actually make it all the way around without stopping. I didn't make it all the way today as I just had to stop because of some great views of Baltimore Orioles. It's hard to catch a good photo of these birds even if you set out to do so, so I certainly wasn't going to jog right past them. The first one I saw was on the south side in a tall tree where I've only heard them before. I've learned it to be true that it's much more common to hear Orioles versus seeing them as they usually perch so high up in a tree that you'll never catch a glimpse of them -despite their almost neon-orange coloring. As I jogged around I had 2 more decent photo-ops of Orioles and noticed that each time they were perched in the same type of tree. I think they were either Cottonwood or Poplar trees based on the leaves but I'm not sure. I wonder what attracts them to these trees. The other two I spotted were on the north side before the bridge and then on the south east side. I was pretty stoked with all the various Oriole pics I'd got this visit but decided to post just the 2 best pics and include this other photo of a Doe that walked right out onto the trail in front of me. This is why I love coming to Palmer Lake Park. You just never know what you're going to see and when.