Last Day of March and One New Waterfowl!

It was slightly cooler out this morning -probably more normal for this time of year compared to warm days we've been having lately. I parked on the south side today and headed round the park on the paved path instead of the wood chip trail. The woods is just thin enough yet to see through to the "duck pond" on the southwest corner. From here I could see there was something different in the water -something with bright white coloring. I tried quietly to sneak through the woods but by the time I made it up to the water's edge I'd scared off 2 of the ducks which I then recognized as Northern Shovelers. I've been itching to see these again this year so I parked myself on a log and waited for a while. Eventually a third one that was further out to my left came swimming into view. The first time I saw a Shoveler, it's head looked blue but this one looked green. I guess it all depends on the angle as their head is iridescent. I was also seeing a lot of Red-bellied Woodpeckers today which was a little odd only because I tend to see more of them in winter time. I think I saw 3 or 4 all within a short time frame. The next bird I spotted I was definitely not expecting to see today. On the north side I walked back into the woods a bit just to see what I might find and there near the ground was an Eastern Phoebe! This really surprised me as I don't typically see much of these until late spring or even summer. They eat only insects and true to form it was flying out short distances to pick them out of the air and then return to the same spot over and over again. I was able to get closer and see glimpses of it's olive-green colored belly. This might have been the closest I've gotten to one so far but it kept landing in a little bush that was blocking it's face. Upon returning to the south side I could see quite a few ducks out near where the creek empties into the lake. There were Mallards, Wood Ducks, Shovelers and even Coots. But there was something else I could not recognize. They were smaller, about 3/4 the size of a Mallard and mostly greyish brown and smooth looking. There was also a female following behind that looked mottled and similar to a female Mallard. At first I thought they were Teals but there were no obvious facial markings. The male seemed to have a thin white band around it's neck and when he was swimming away from me he seemed to have a rusty colored patch on his back. Something I noticed only later from my photos is that the male seemed to have a dark bill while the female had more of a yellow bill. After going through my field guides I was still having a hard time positively identifying them. After consulting other birders and looking at other photos online, I'm almost positive that they are Gadwall. This is definitely something I've never seen before!

Busy Birds

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm gonna start by saying yet again what a nice, warm day it was this Sunday morning. In fact, breaking records describes this month quite well. Its been all over the local news that we've hit 70 degrees or higher a total of 8 days now this month -which shattered the old record of just 5 days back in 1910! On the east side there is a small pond surrounded by cattails and this Chickadee was busy hopping from one to the next and tearing into them. I suspect they are after the seeds on the inside which I don't think are very large. The process creates quite a mess of "fuzz" from the cattails and its hard to believe they don't choke on it all. I'm starting to see a few female Red-winged Blackbirds now but their numbers pale in comparison yet to the males. The females can actually be quite colorful and this one showed a lot of rust color in her wings. Song Sparrows have been around the park and very vocal for at least a couple of weeks already. They don't look like much but they sure make some nice and loud songs. This particular one was so occupied with singing that it let me get fairly close. They are typically not this fat looking. Every few seconds or so it would puff-out as it belted out it's loud song. It looked as though it took every ounce of energy yet it was repeated over and over and over.

An Early Start for Everything

This Friday I was able to finish work a little early and head right to the park. It was another warm and mostly sunny day. There were some dark rain clouds that were moving east making the sky periodically look purplish when the sun shined on it and this made for some interesting lighting. Roughly 2 weeks ago -maybe more- I spotted a Painted Turtle and a Mourning Cloak Butterfly on the same day. That was crazy-early in the year to see such things but I wasn't able to get any photos to prove it. Today I saw both again and this time they both stayed still for a photo. The Turtle was one of 3 sunning themselves in the little pond on the east side. Then about 5 minutes later this Mourning Cloak stopped at the end of a twig right off the trail. It kept it's wings closed at first and I was just about to move on when it spread open its wings. I haven't seen a Mourning Cloak caterpillar at all this year which makes me wonder if most of them have already turned into butterflies already -especially with this warm Spring. Near the end of my walk I noticed a small flash of bright red up above in a tree. I've nearly given up trying to get a photo of this small bird because they really move quickly. But this one stayed put for longer than normal -probably because I was almost directly underneath it. Unfortunately this angle didn't provide me the opportunity to see the top of its head -which would have told me whether it was a Purple Finch or a House Finch. At first I really thought it was a Purple Finch because the red coloring was so intense, but now I think it is a House Finch based on the brown streaking on the belly. The two birds are apparently very similar and though common birds, I just don't see them close up enough to quickly tell them apart. I see similar birds in the winter time but have never seen them sit still long enough for a photo.

Spring has Sprung

It's hard to believe that today is actually the first day of Spring when we've had nearly 3 weeks of May-like weather already. Today was 63 degrees -slightly cooler than the last few days if you can believe it. The trees are quite far along already for this time of year with small leaves appearing everywhere and the woods starting to fill-in. This is going to be one long Spring season! Despite the nice warm weather there wasn't too much to be seen today. I may have seen a Blue-winged Teal out in the lake but it was so far away I couldn't tell. I did see a small group of 2 or 3 Deer along the woodchip trail on the west side. The young ones from last season are still recognizable -especially when with an older Doe. They didn't seem to mind me taking photos and as usual became more curious about me that I was about them. Later near the end of my walk I clearly spotted a Dark-eyed Junco which seemed way out of place on this warm day. I got a poor photo from underneath that wasn't blog-worthy but I thought I would note it as they will start becoming scarce, heading back north very soon.

Another Warm Weekend!

This Saturday morning was another beautiful, sunny day with the high temp reaching 70 degrees. It's hard to believe that it's still March. Today above a little pond on the southeast side I spotted a bird I'd forgotten about but has clearly come back for the season. There were about 3 or 4 Grackles hopping around on some low hanging branches over the water. Depending on the angle and lighting, their heads can look surprisingly bright blue as was the case today. There were also lots of other Red-winged Blackbirds around and it was a good opportunity to listen to the difference in their calls which at first can sound fairly similar. Shortly later I had a better chance at another Goldfinch, the 2nd or 3rd I'd seen already. The males are turning more yellow every day and it's getting easier to spot them. They were also making a lot of cheerful noises today. Earlier I'd spotted a young Bald Eagle circling over the lake. As I made my way around the south side, it came closer and closer as it circled only 50 feet overhead. Once I watched it hover for a bit above the water, something I didn't really associate with a Bald Eagle. It eventually dove into the cattails on the far end from me. Through my binoculars I watched it come up out of the cattails for a few seconds only to dive right back down into them. This went on for a while but I never saw it come up with anything in it's claws. I'm not sure but from the photo, it looks like this young Eagle might have been banded.

Warm and Humid for March

Now that daylight savings time has kicked in, I can finally get in a walk after work before the sun sets -and without having to rush. For the middle of March, it was an extremely warm and humid evening somewhere around 75º I think. It felt more like May or even June! The first thing I spotted was this mature Bald Eagle on the south side of the park. He was perched in one of the tall Cottonwood trees right near the parking lot but before I could get close he decided to take off toward the middle of the park. Later I spotted a Mourning Dove, lots of Mallards, Chickadees and Cardinals, but the bird that is now dominating the park are Red-winged Blackbirds. I've decided they are the second most noisy birds right behind Starlings. Their loud calls can be heard everywhere in the park now, but I've not seen a single female yet -only the males so far. As I came back to the east side parking lot the sun was setting as I watched the RWB hopping from one cattail to another, sometimes making the seeds burst into the air like snow. The spectacular orange sunset lasted a long time and I just enjoyed the view and reflection onto the lake as the Mallards and Canada Geese floated by. Hoping to see some different types of Ducks soon like Mergansers or Teals but it may be too early yet.

Bring on Spring!

Today's weather was unbelievable. It was already 49º by the time I arrived at the park around 9:20am. There was a stiff breeze but it continued to warm up even more and it was truly like a Spring day. The first thing of interest I spotted was a pair of Wood Ducks near where the creek flows back out of Palmer lake. They didn't stay put long but I managed to catch the Male before they both flew off. I'd also spotted a group of 3 Deer along the way and got a few good pics but am not posting them today in favor of some much more interesting sights. As I got to bridge over Shingle Creek on the north side, I immediately noticed a large group of Turkeys heading down the creek bank! It was a fantastic sighting as they were closer than I normally get to them and they were quite active and not spooked by my presence. I watched two of them walk all the way down to the creek for a drink. But if that weren't neat enough, the decided to fly one-by-one directly across the creek to the other side. I was able to capture 2 or 3 of them in flight and this is the one that turned out the best. Now on the other side of the creek they were even closer to me and took tons of photos. I counted 8 of them and there was about an equal mix of toms and hens. I wanted to get as many as I could in one shot but of course they didn't stay that close together. This photo was taken right from the bridge as I steadied my camera on the hand rail. Eventually all 8 of them made their way up the creek bank and filed in line across the paved trail to the wooded area behind the apartments on the north end. This was the most Turkey's I'd ever seen in one group at the park!

Red-winged Blackbirds Return

It's been staying light out longer and longer now and it's all the more obvious in the past week. Also our high temps are still above average reaching into the 40s and sometimes 50s. On Thursday I rushed home from work as quickly as I could and arrived at the park by 5:45pm. I had limited daylight so I walked quickly and not seeing much. Was hoping for some better pics but I was more or less "skunked." One thing I did notice -and hear- however were a few Red-winged Blackbirds out near the middle of the park. I was not expecting them back this early yet but I assume since most of the country is above average in temps that spring migration will be early this year. As I was watching one through my binoculars, I swore I saw a Northern Shrike chasing after one of the RWBs but I can't say for sure. It may have been a Blue Jay. That would have made for cool photo. It began getting too dark for photos only about half way through my walk and I found the only thing of interest to be a full moon overhead periodically draped in passing clouds.

Raptors Galore

Today was slightly warmer than yesterday but still just below freezing. There was a constant wind making it feel colder than it looked with the bright blue, cloudless sky. I was walking with a friend today and to my surprise, he pointed out an odd looking bird on the north side that turned out to be a Northern Shrike. It was kind of facing away from us for most of the time but turned it's head for this photo. We would later spot him again -or possibly a second one on the other side of the park. Today's walk was dominated by Hawk sightings. We seemed to notice at least one every so often, usually with Crows or other birds nearby so it was possible the Crows were keeping them moving past us. On the southwest side we glanced up to see a pair of large Hawks circling high overhead. They didn't seem to be Red-tails as they were strikingly white colored in many areas including the tail from both above and below. The eventually came almost right above us and showed us all their wing details. I'm definitely not a Hawk expert but I would guess that they were Rough-legged Hawks due to the very obvious difference in color near their "wrist" and to the black bands near the tip of the tail. The pair glided near each other once or twice but never managed to get a good shot of both of them at once. And if we hadn't had our share of Raptors for the day, we were in for one more treat shortly later on the south side. We'd spotted a bright white patch way out in the middle of the park that turned out to be a mature Bald Eagle upon closer inspection with binoculars. Then we saw a second one, perched about the same height but in another tree further away. This one would nearly disappear when it turned it's head a certain way and we realized the second one was immature. Crows eventually flushed this one out, but he circled back and came to roost on the very same branch as the other one. Even from this distance their size was impressive. A good day for Raptors for sure.

Fresh Snow and Critters

Last Tuesday a fairly significant snowstorm moved through the state. It hit areas north of us with nearly a foot but the Twin Cities got about 3 to 4 inches max. Then last night we had about another inch added on top making it actually feel like winter for a change. The park was very much alive today with some great sights. First I caught this Muskrat sitting on the thin ice over the waterway connecting the duck pond to the next lake. Before this photo he was eating what looked to be a greenish colored weed or cattail and I couldn't figure out where he would have gotten that. On the northeast side I wandered up the next trail for a bit when I started to hear a loud shrieking bird call. At first I thought it was a Blue Jay imitating a Hawk. It took me a while to finally get to where the sound was coming from to see that it was a Hawk. He only sat still for a couple of photos before taking off but I think it was probably a Red-tailed. The next bird I saw really stood out against today's overcast and grey skies. This Cardinal was picking Buckthorn berries with his back to the wind -as evident by his crown feathers periodically bending all the way over the front of his head. But the best sighting of the day was yet to come on the south side. As I crossed the bridge over the creek I looked upstream which and spotted another Muskrat on the ice underneath a bush. I quietly made my way up the woodchip trail when I saw what I thought was yet another one on an island of ice in the creek. As it moved I realized it wasn't a Musksrat but a Mink! I had my camera on him right away but there were so many trees and brush in the way. Though I didn't get a decent picture of it, he was eating a little fish about 6 inches long. After he finished that he walked back my way along the ice island and even looked directly at me as I was searching for a better clearing through the brush. He hung out along the edge of the water for a bit, burying his snout into the snow in search of something. Then he turned around and slinked along towards the other end of the ice. There were a pair of Mallards swimming by and when the Mink got to the end of the ice, he jumped high in the air landing in the water right by them, sending the ducks off quacking angrily. It was hilarious and seemed to have no point other than amusement for the Mink.