First Owl Photo on the Last Day of the Year

Today is the last day of 2011 and it has been a fantastic year of learning and discovery for me at Palmer Lake Park. Birds and animals I'd only dreamed of seeing just once have become more and more familiar sights as I'm slowly learning what to look for. Here is a stupid analogy -but one that holds a lot of truth to me- in regards to nature. Have you ever bought a car you weren't really familiar with at first but then started to notice the same model everywhere you drove? I think recognizing animals and birds is quite a similar experience. The more often you see something, the more in tune you become with it's subtle characteristics. Simply put (and this holds true in a LOT of hobbies) If you know what you are looking for, you are more likely to find it. This held true for me again today as I walked through the wood chip trail on the southwest side. Though there is still no snow on the ground, it seemed like the right time of year and the right kind of lighting to be on the lookout for an Owl. I actually walked right past this one before doing a double take and walking slowly backwards in order to take a photo. Actually this was not the first Owl I'd seen this year, however it was the first time I was able to photograph one. This Great Horned Owl was quite close to me, perched only 15-20 feet up, giving me a good view of him. He was one of the lightest colored Owls I'd come across, being mostly white and grey compared to others with rusty orange coloring. Since he wasn't doing much I decided to get some pics of his lower body and legs. At the time I thought the photos were coming out great but later realized how grey and grainy they were in larger form. Never the less, I was happy to see a Great Horned Owl so closely on the last day of the year.

Record-Breaking Day After Christmas

Even though we've periodically had some snow flurries and some temperatures in the teens, this has got to be the warmest Christmas-time I can remember. I got to the park just after 10am this morning when it was already 36 or 37 degrees. But later in the afternoon, it warmed up to a record high temp of 52 degrees for the Twin Cities area! Right as I hit the wood chip trail today, a large and mature Bald Eagle flew up in front of me and glided on the strong wind above the lake. I stopped dead in my tracks and waited to see where he might perch again. He in fact did land again, extremely close -almost right above me! At this distance I would not be able to walk very much closer without scaring him off again, so I opted for a crummy photo right through the trees. I couldn't even see his face but I knew this was probably the only photo I would get -and I was right. Later today I ran into some fellow "Birders" on the north side -one of whom I'd only previously known from his photos on Flickr.com. The 3 of us spent a good deal of time swapping stories and photos of recent sightings, photo equipment and so on. It is always nice to meet people that share your same enthusiasm for something and are kind enough to share their knowledge and experience with you instead of holding it above you. Much too often I think our competitive nature gets in the way with hobbies or pastimes that should be more focused on education and just having fun. But that was definitely not the case today, nor has it been with most of the people I've met so far who are interested in nature, birding and the environment. I later realized just how warm it had gotten when I crossed Shingle Creek on the south side and could see the bottom of the creek bed through water that should be frozen by now. The sun was glinting on this Clam shell and I still think I'll find it hard to believe later than I took this photo on the day after Christmas! By now it was seriously nice out and as I walked up the wood chip trail to where Shingle Creek flows back out of Palmer Lake, I just decided to sit along the creek. No sooner than I sat down did I hear an interesting bird call which I assumed at first was a Robin. As it continued I realized it must be something else and then I caught my first glimpse of a plump, mostly white bird. At first I thought I might be seeing something new, until a glance through my binoculars told me that it was a Northern Shrike. I had never seen one so closely before, nor in this environment of thick branches, nor on such a nice sunny day! I sort of recognized some of the calls it made but was amazed at all of the other sounds it was making. Since I was just sitting there, I grabbed my iphone, hit my bookmark to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology page and played the sound files for "typical voice" of the Northern Shrike. It was then quite obviously the same bird and I believe that the recording helped attract it closer to me. At certain points I had a hard time differentiating between the recording and the real bird in front of me on the opposite side of the creek. It was quite a fun experience seeing and hearing a Northern Shrike in such close quarters. I completely understand now why they are referred to as a "predatory songbird."

Lots of Birds for Christmas

Today is the day before Christmas but luckily I was able to visit the park in the morning just after 8am. The temp was a bit cooler today at about 20º. It's obviously going to be a "Brown Christmas" this year as our temps have just been way too mild and we've only received small, periodic dustings of snow lately. I saw a surprising variety of birds today including a Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Robin, Junco, Starling, Northern Shrike and finally a Hawk that was too far away to identify. My best sighting of the day was of the Shrike whom I watched move three times from his original perch on top of some Buckthorn trees on the north side. By the time I pulled up my binoculars he took off and I spotted a lone Deer who'd walked almost right underneath his tree. I lost him for a while until came around the corner and saw him again up in the tall dead tree near the trail. Though still far away I was happy to see him in some decent lighting as opposed to the normally overcast conditions I tend to see them in. From here, the Shrike took off again and did something I would have never guessed. He passed above me and then "dive-bombed" a Crow that was perched high up in some trees behind me. The Crow had to be at least 4 times larger him, but his attack was serious enough to flush the Crow off of his branch. He did this once more, again prompting the Crow to move. I'm not sure if he actually had a beef with the Crow or if he was just playing, but soon after he moved to another tall tree where stayed put for a long time. When I rounded the northeast side near Penn Avenue is when I spotted a small group of Juncos and an even smaller group of Starlings -probably 3 or 4. I heard their strange "whirring" call before spotting them. Most birders are not fond of Starlings but I think they are quite interesting. The ones I saw today looked a tad darker than they have looked this Summer and Fall.

Warm Day in December

Only two days now until Christmas and there is hardly a trace of snow on the ground. The temperature was mild at 26º and with an overcast gray sky this morning. As I was rounding the baseball diamonds on the west side I spotted a whole bunch of Deer just inside the trail loop. I think there were maybe 5 or 6 of them milling about under the dead swamp trees. They were curious of me but moved closer together as I took photos. Unlike other times they decided in an instant to "high-tail" it away from me. I wonder if they'd become attuned to the fact that there's been hunters in the park since October and they're becoming less trusting of people. I don't know but they sure were unusually skittish. Parts of Shingle Creek were melting again due the warmer temps and the Robins are taking full advantage of the open water for drinking and bathing. The creek and the lake are about the only place where you can find any real indication of snow -which is only just a dusting coating the frozen parts of the water. On my way around the north end, I ran into a fellow birder and we chatted about what we'd been seeing lately. As we talked he noticed an odd looking "leaf" about 10 feet away and at eye-level. To our surprise it was a dead Deer Mouse! Our thoughts both turned to pondering if it was placed there by a Northern Shrike. Shrikes are apparently infamous for storing "caches" of food -rodents or birds- between crooks of trees -or even impaling them upon thorns or barbed wire fences. I've never come across that before but my first instinct is that they would be stored higher up in a tree than this. I later told another friend about the finding and he concluded the most obvious explanation would be a Shrike, despite the low height.

Some Good Sights

This Saturday I arrived at the park just after 11am. It was about 24º and overcast. I bundled up a bit more than normal but I'm still far from having to get out my heavy winter jacket. Though I took just 13 photos in all today, some good sights were seen. The first was this Deer on the southwest side of the park -a place not all that popular for Deer as it's pretty close to the road -West Palmer Lake Drive. I could tell it was a young one by it's face -being slightly more chubby looking, or something I can't put my finger on just yet. Notice the trash laying on the ground? It's an all-too-familiar sight for myself and the Deer alike. As I came up to the northwest corner, I no more than thought about the possibility of seeing a Shrike again than I looked out across the cattails and spotted one! Though my experience with Shrikes is still very limited, I can point out a couple of tidbits for someone who might be on the lookout to spot one; In the winter months, look for bird about the same size and shape as a Robin. Look for it to be perched at the very top-most part of the tree -the highest up you can go. Look for a bird seeming to have "no legs" like it has been "stabbed onto" the tree like a marshmallow on a stick. Finally look for a "bluish-grey" coloring accented by a black wing and a long tail. And if you're close enough, a black mask across the eyes and a hooked bill. My goal this winter is to get much closer to one and catch a better photo of this fascinating "predatory songbird." Not too much later I passed a larger group of people than I would normally see on a day like today. I quickly realized the group included 2 friends of mine who were participating in the annual "Christmas Bird Count" put on by the Audubon Society. I was happy to realize Palmer Lake Park was being included in this highly regarded program and hope to get involved myself soon in similar programs that help record and tally bird species. Later on the east side I spotted a small group of about 10 birds making an unusually cheerful, spring-like noise. After I spotted a flash of white on the rump I realized they were Juncos. They were already closer than I can normally get to them so I stepped off the trail and into the woods just a bit to see if I could get closer. Here and there one would land closely for just a split second before flying off. I listened to the group's short "twittering" sound and tried hard to remember it. I also noticed that a few Sparrows were among the group of Juncos. Later I spotted a bird along the mouth of Shingle Creek with a dull yellowish color and my only guess is that it was an American Goldfinch. I will have to investigate further.

Not a Creature was Stirring

I had one more day off of work this Tuesday and it was the 4th day in a row I visited the park. I was met with an unusual sound of chainsaws as I neared the north end of the park. The city is apparently trimming up anything within 30 feet or so of the trail. It seemed a bit extreme in some areas that now look very different and "open" compared to before. My guess is that they are concerned about a branch falling on someone and then getting sued or something. Who knows. It's mid December now and we have NO snow on the ground. It is supposed to rain in fact tomorrow. There was just not anything of interest on this particular visit. I saw a few Chickadees, Woodpeckers and one female Cardinal, none of which presented a good photo opportunity. Near the end of my walk I spotted a group of Mallards that were busy feeding with their butts stuck up in the air which made me laugh.

First Northern Shrike of the season

I was tipped off yesterday by a fellow birder that there was a Northern Shrike in the area. Now that I've seen them a few times and know what to look for, I'm excited to try and get a better photo of one this year. I spotted one today on the northwest side just where I expected but as I went for a photo it took off and unfortunately I wasn't able to follow it against the drab, dreary sky. It was a "soupy" kind of overcast today with periodic drizzle but the temperature was a warm 39º. This weather is pretty nice for mid-December, especially considering that almost one year ago to the day, we received 17 inches of snow! As I came around the southeast side of the park, I had a second opportunity when I spotted a Shrike in the narrow stand of trees overlooking the baseball fields. It definitely wasn't the better shot I'd been hoping for but at least I got to see him again and have something to show for it. My fellow birder friend told me that he'd seen the Shrike with a captured Chickadee. Now that would be a good photo! In this last photo you can get the idea of how dreary it was today. The warm temps are quickly doing away with the only inch of snow that was still on the ground. I wouldn't be surprised if the lake starts to open up again.

A Winter Jog

I admit that the original reason I started coming to Palmer Lake Park in the first place was actually to get some exercise. I'm not big at all on jogging or running but I started jogging randomly one day at the park and finally worked up to making it all the way around. It's been much too long since I've jogged and today seemed like a good day to do so. I forget the temperature but it was somewhere near or above freezing and it was sunny. There is still about one inch of snow on the ground but the paved paths are mostly clear and dry. I found that I can actually run with my camera in my hand, stopping only periodically if I see a good photo opportunity. Yes, I probably miss out on some stuff but I've got all winter ahead of me to find it. I stopped for this Nuthatch as it was pretty close to the trail and I don't have a lot of photos of them. They're one of those birds that bounces around much too quickly and I usually lose patience with such a common bird.

Sunny and Cold Saturday

It was a particularly cold day this Saturday morning -possibly the coldest it has been so far at just 11 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand it was bright and sunny which always helps to make it feel warmer in my opinion. One of the first sights I saw on my walk today were lots of Robins near the small creek that runs on the southeast side. This particular one seemed to be missing an eye on his left side. I've heard recently that it's somewhat common for birds to damage or lose their eyes while flying through trees. Think about just walking through the woods without a hand to put up in front of your face. When I popped out of the woodchip trail I spotted the largest group of Deer I'd seen in quite a while -about 6 or 7 of them. At first they were all the way over by the playground equipment which was the last place I would have expected to see them. The Deer Hunt that started in October would be ending in just 4 days from now so at least these ones were lucky enough to have made it this far. There were definitely young ones in the group and I imagine they were more likely to be spared. Later on I spotted an unusual image that would probably escaped me only minutes earlier or later. The low sun was brightly illuminating these half-dried-up leaves, making them glow almost like a green light bulb. I'm always intrigued upon seeing any "green" during winter and especially with snow on the ground it can create quite a drastic contrast. The sun is so low at this time of year as evident by this photo taken only minutes before noon. Two other very interesting sights today without photographic evidence were; 1) a group of 3 Trumpeter Swans that flew over the park and 2) I heard and saw a Grey Catbird just off the trail on the east side. I told my fellow nature buff friends about this sighting and they agreed that it was simply amazing to see a Catbird around this late in the season. Eventually one of them also spotted it but neither of us came up with a photo to prove it.

Cedar Waxwings Playing

This Saturday Palmer Lake park was covered in just a fine dusting of snow, the kind that doesn't really even cover the ground, settling only between the blades of grass. It was overcast and gray and late enough in the year to get my hopes up of seeing an Owl soon. My first sighting however was of a single Doe on the north side about 10 minutes before the bridge over Shingle Creek. She wasn't too interested in me and kept moving along. On the northeast corner of the park is a thick stand of trees, shrubs and vines that always attract a good variety of birds. Today it was a small flock of Cedar Waxwings and I ventured in to woods finding myself right underneath them. They were everywhere I turned my camera, but shooting upwards into the sky was giving me very poor results. The Waxwings were active as heck, plucking and downing berries like crazy from the Buckthorn trees. At one point, I spotted two of them interacting closely above me. One picked a berry and passed it to the other, making my wonder at first if it was feeding a younger one. But to my surprise, the bird passed it back again. They continued passing it back and forth a few more times before the one gulped it down. I can only guess that they were playing, or maybe it was some sort of sign of affection. A pretty interesting sight!