Yes, the Palmer Lake Park Nature Blog is still alive -despite having not posted anything in over a month! Believe me, my desktop is cluttered with great photos from late summer and fall but I've just not had enough time to post them. Being out in nature, shooting photos and learning more birds continues to be the thing I enjoy most, but lately I've been focused more on improving -or "coping" maybe is the right word, with some other parts of my life that I certainly don't enjoy nearly as much. I've not been getting to the park quite as regularly as I'd like, but again, I do intend to go back and post a lot of stuff I've seen over the past month. So if you are a geek about birds in our area, you may want to look back every so often.
When I got to the park today I could hear White-throated Sparrows singing all over. These are honestly one of the easiest to remember of all bird songs, once you've heard it once or twice. It's also one of the few that I can imitate to any resemblance of the real thing and I soon found them responding to me and coming in closer. They were everywhere today and not a bird I see all that often at the park. I was really not prepared for how cold it was today. We've undergone a HUGE shift in weather recently. Roughly 3-4 days ago, we'd hit 80ยบ and then today it was nearly like winter and only in the upper 30's! I'd not even brought gloves today and just figured I'd "tough-it-out." Boy was I toughing it out alright. After stopping to talk to a fellow birder friend for a while, I could no longer even feel my hands. But things picked up as I walked along with my hands in my pockets and started seeing one great bird after another.
Coming around the corner I spotted a large group of sparrows feeding on the ground up ahead but before proceeding I decided to spot them quick with my binoculars first. There was one bird in the group that clearly did not belong with the others and at first I thought it was a young Robin. Then it as it moved around and kept sticking it's tail high up in the air I realized it was a Towhee! This is only the 2nd Towhee I've ever seen, and the first I've ever seen at Palmer Lake Park! I was too far away for a photo, especially as it was digging in the tall grass up ahead but I approached as closely as I could before it scared up and into a neighboring tree. I tried desperately for a pic as it bounced around quickly and unfortunately this is the best I got. I can see why they're easy to mix up with Robins as the orange color is a perfect match, only there's a very definite line where the orange sides meet the white breast.
Next I saw 2 little birds that also didn't seem all that familiar to me as they hopped along the edge of the paved trail ahead of me. They would pick at the edge of the grass, periodically wander off into the grass, and then back onto the trail. I wondered if maybe they were Common Yellowthroats but they seemed a little too large. They were definitely too big for Ruby-crowned Kinglets. I got as close as I could without scaring them off and snapped this photo of the one. I'm not an expert by any means on Warblers, but I'm thinking they were possibly Palm Warblers! Per my field guide it looks a lot like a "Western Palm" in fall plumage.
Shortly later I spotted a Brown Creeper. This is only the 2nd Brown Creeper I've seen as well -and the first one was also in the park. He was making his way up a tree and I hurriedly snapped photo after photo before he got up too high. They are the "chubbiest" looking birds, resembling a ball more than the typical shape of a bird. I got to see him actually turn his head and poke his bill into the bark of the tree which made him look slightly more like a regular bird -almost like a nuthatch or woodpecker. Then after this I spotted a
first for me anywhere -and quite an exciting species I thought! There was a little bird hopping through all the fallen leaves on the northeast side of the park -more where some of the bigger and older trees are, like the large cottonwoods.
When I first spotted the bird I noticed how distinctively "olive green" it was and thought -ooh, this is interesting. I tried my best to follow it as it hopped along through the underbrush and when it would come into view I could also see a distinct white eye-ring as well as a very well defined white white breast with dark spotting or striping. For some reason I knew right off the bat what this bird was -as I must have paged past it numerous times in my field guide to Warblers by Stokes. Indeed it was an Ovenbird! I even saw hints of the yellowish-orange crown on it's head whenever it decided to head directly away from me. This was by far my favorite sighting of the day -even though earlier I'd actually caught a glimpse of a supposed Sora in the area that others had been reporting. I only saw the Sora for a split second though and I got to watch the Ovenbird for quite some time. Still later on the east side as I was coming out of the woods, a group of 6 to 8 Dark-eyed Junco's were ahead on the paved trail.
I've seen Juncos already this year about a week ago at a cemetery near my workplace that I've also started birding in. I was shocked to see them last week as it feels so early for Juncos. I think of them as a mid-winter bird that I see in January or February. But I guess with the season changing so quickly they are probably on time. After all, there was actually little snowflakes -or snow pellets- in the air today! OK, I know this is a long post but I saw one more bird of interest today that I was thrilled to see. As I was coming back to my vehicle on the east side of the park, there right in front of me were 2 Bluebirds perched on one of the recently planted pine trees.
One was actually right on the very top of the tree and I thought this would make a fantastic photo. As I approached slowly, he took off but landed right back where he was in just a few seconds. I kept getting closer as I took my shots and then even a House Finch came in an landed right below the Bluebird. I got a photo of this too but am posting this one after which I'd gotten a lot closer. I've not seen a Bluebird at Palmer Lake Park for quite some time now, -maybe months. I'm thinking that possibly this bird and many of the birds I saw today were making their way south. In learning so many birds over the past year or so, I've really begun to appreciate both Spring and Fall for the migration periods and the interesting birds you might not see any other time of the year here in Minnesota.
When I got to the park today I could hear White-throated Sparrows singing all over. These are honestly one of the easiest to remember of all bird songs, once you've heard it once or twice. It's also one of the few that I can imitate to any resemblance of the real thing and I soon found them responding to me and coming in closer. They were everywhere today and not a bird I see all that often at the park. I was really not prepared for how cold it was today. We've undergone a HUGE shift in weather recently. Roughly 3-4 days ago, we'd hit 80ยบ and then today it was nearly like winter and only in the upper 30's! I'd not even brought gloves today and just figured I'd "tough-it-out." Boy was I toughing it out alright. After stopping to talk to a fellow birder friend for a while, I could no longer even feel my hands. But things picked up as I walked along with my hands in my pockets and started seeing one great bird after another. 
Coming around the corner I spotted a large group of sparrows feeding on the ground up ahead but before proceeding I decided to spot them quick with my binoculars first. There was one bird in the group that clearly did not belong with the others and at first I thought it was a young Robin. Then it as it moved around and kept sticking it's tail high up in the air I realized it was a Towhee! This is only the 2nd Towhee I've ever seen, and the first I've ever seen at Palmer Lake Park! I was too far away for a photo, especially as it was digging in the tall grass up ahead but I approached as closely as I could before it scared up and into a neighboring tree. I tried desperately for a pic as it bounced around quickly and unfortunately this is the best I got. I can see why they're easy to mix up with Robins as the orange color is a perfect match, only there's a very definite line where the orange sides meet the white breast. 
Next I saw 2 little birds that also didn't seem all that familiar to me as they hopped along the edge of the paved trail ahead of me. They would pick at the edge of the grass, periodically wander off into the grass, and then back onto the trail. I wondered if maybe they were Common Yellowthroats but they seemed a little too large. They were definitely too big for Ruby-crowned Kinglets. I got as close as I could without scaring them off and snapped this photo of the one. I'm not an expert by any means on Warblers, but I'm thinking they were possibly Palm Warblers! Per my field guide it looks a lot like a "Western Palm" in fall plumage. 
Shortly later I spotted a Brown Creeper. This is only the 2nd Brown Creeper I've seen as well -and the first one was also in the park. He was making his way up a tree and I hurriedly snapped photo after photo before he got up too high. They are the "chubbiest" looking birds, resembling a ball more than the typical shape of a bird. I got to see him actually turn his head and poke his bill into the bark of the tree which made him look slightly more like a regular bird -almost like a nuthatch or woodpecker. Then after this I spotted a first for me anywhere -and quite an exciting species I thought! There was a little bird hopping through all the fallen leaves on the northeast side of the park -more where some of the bigger and older trees are, like the large cottonwoods. 
When I first spotted the bird I noticed how distinctively "olive green" it was and thought -ooh, this is interesting. I tried my best to follow it as it hopped along through the underbrush and when it would come into view I could also see a distinct white eye-ring as well as a very well defined white white breast with dark spotting or striping. For some reason I knew right off the bat what this bird was -as I must have paged past it numerous times in my field guide to Warblers by Stokes. Indeed it was an Ovenbird! I even saw hints of the yellowish-orange crown on it's head whenever it decided to head directly away from me. This was by far my favorite sighting of the day -even though earlier I'd actually caught a glimpse of a supposed Sora in the area that others had been reporting. I only saw the Sora for a split second though and I got to watch the Ovenbird for quite some time. Still later on the east side as I was coming out of the woods, a group of 6 to 8 Dark-eyed Junco's were ahead on the paved trail. 
I've seen Juncos already this year about a week ago at a cemetery near my workplace that I've also started birding in. I was shocked to see them last week as it feels so early for Juncos. I think of them as a mid-winter bird that I see in January or February. But I guess with the season changing so quickly they are probably on time. After all, there was actually little snowflakes -or snow pellets- in the air today! OK, I know this is a long post but I saw one more bird of interest today that I was thrilled to see. As I was coming back to my vehicle on the east side of the park, there right in front of me were 2 Bluebirds perched on one of the recently planted pine trees. 
One was actually right on the very top of the tree and I thought this would make a fantastic photo. As I approached slowly, he took off but landed right back where he was in just a few seconds. I kept getting closer as I took my shots and then even a House Finch came in an landed right below the Bluebird. I got a photo of this too but am posting this one after which I'd gotten a lot closer. I've not seen a Bluebird at Palmer Lake Park for quite some time now, -maybe months. I'm thinking that possibly this bird and many of the birds I saw today were making their way south. In learning so many birds over the past year or so, I've really begun to appreciate both Spring and Fall for the migration periods and the interesting birds you might not see any other time of the year here in Minnesota.
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