It's been a long while since my last post even though I've continued to visit the park frequently in February and March. I've just over-extended myself far too much lately and have been so busy I cannot find time to blog anymore. I have a backlog of posts so large it's becoming scary to look at my computer's desktop, but I still intend to add them at some point. Two days ago we had freezing rain and then last night we had about an inch and a half on top of that. I remember last year at this time we hadn't had snow on the ground for nearly a month and temps were in 60's! Today when I woke up it was only 15ยบ with roads that were like a skating rink. What a huge difference from last year -but that's Minnesota for you. With this wintery weather refusing to give up, I wasn't expecting to see a lot today but fortunately I was wrong.
Apparently the resident Northern Shrikes are still enjoying our weather quite a bit. I spotted this on the east side perched atop the tall trees directly across from the baseball diamonds. I waited for some clouds to pass and the bright blue sky to give me a better backdrop. I don't know if it's the time of year or maybe just the way he was perched but his breast feathers were all puffy and blowing in the breeze -giving him that "Fat Robin" kind of look. It remained completely quiet the whole time before moving along to another perch. Since it was so nice and sunny out today I decided I would walk past the duck pond on the southwest corner and try to get a nice photo of "Waldo" the Wood Duck. I located him quickly among the other Mallards and then decided to sit right down in the snow and wait for them to get comfortable with me and hopefully swim closer. As I snapped photos and watched him weave between the other Mallards, I almost didn't notice but there was another Duck that didn't look quite like the others. The difference from the other female Mallards was so slight and I might not have even realized if I had not been zoomed in on them so closely. My mind raced back to last year and recalled a Duck that took me a long time to identify when I first spotted one. Indeed this was a Gadwall!
I couldn't believe it. The group I'd seen last year was so far away and my photos turned out terribly but here was one right in front of me. Once I realized this I forgot all about Waldo and focused on this second Duck that wasn't like the others. In fact I don't know how I didn't notice earlier that it's bill was completely dark instead of bright orange like the other Mallards. A few times though Waldo and the Gadwall would swim right up to one another and I realized that this might not be something I ever see again.
Generally I would say that Gadwalls arrive back to our area waaaay before Wood Ducks would return. I wonder if the Gadwall thought he was running late when he ran into Waldo! As I continued to watch, periodically all three species would come together and this is probably the best shot I got of all three. Quite a neat trio I thought. I realized too that this Gadwall was the first "returning" species I've spotted at the park this year! So though it still very much feels like winter, the birds know that spring is just around the corner. Some other birds I spotted today were a Red-tailed Hawk, Pheasant (only heard), Hairy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Crows, Robins, and a few Cardinals. This male Cardinal actually let me get close enough for a decent photo though I wish he had been fully in the sun and facing me. I've just not captured my "ideal" Cardinal photo yet but I came close today.
Apparently the resident Northern Shrikes are still enjoying our weather quite a bit. I spotted this on the east side perched atop the tall trees directly across from the baseball diamonds. I waited for some clouds to pass and the bright blue sky to give me a better backdrop. I don't know if it's the time of year or maybe just the way he was perched but his breast feathers were all puffy and blowing in the breeze -giving him that "Fat Robin" kind of look. It remained completely quiet the whole time before moving along to another perch. Since it was so nice and sunny out today I decided I would walk past the duck pond on the southwest corner and try to get a nice photo of "Waldo" the Wood Duck. I located him quickly among the other Mallards and then decided to sit right down in the snow and wait for them to get comfortable with me and hopefully swim closer. As I snapped photos and watched him weave between the other Mallards, I almost didn't notice but there was another Duck that didn't look quite like the others. The difference from the other female Mallards was so slight and I might not have even realized if I had not been zoomed in on them so closely. My mind raced back to last year and recalled a Duck that took me a long time to identify when I first spotted one. Indeed this was a Gadwall!
I couldn't believe it. The group I'd seen last year was so far away and my photos turned out terribly but here was one right in front of me. Once I realized this I forgot all about Waldo and focused on this second Duck that wasn't like the others. In fact I don't know how I didn't notice earlier that it's bill was completely dark instead of bright orange like the other Mallards. A few times though Waldo and the Gadwall would swim right up to one another and I realized that this might not be something I ever see again. 
Generally I would say that Gadwalls arrive back to our area waaaay before Wood Ducks would return. I wonder if the Gadwall thought he was running late when he ran into Waldo! As I continued to watch, periodically all three species would come together and this is probably the best shot I got of all three. Quite a neat trio I thought. I realized too that this Gadwall was the first "returning" species I've spotted at the park this year! So though it still very much feels like winter, the birds know that spring is just around the corner. Some other birds I spotted today were a Red-tailed Hawk, Pheasant (only heard), Hairy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Crows, Robins, and a few Cardinals. This male Cardinal actually let me get close enough for a decent photo though I wish he had been fully in the sun and facing me. I've just not captured my "ideal" Cardinal photo yet but I came close today.
Glad you saw the Gad. We hiked with Bob Holtz this morning at Sucker Lake in Roseville and all we saw was a Hooded Merganser but photos were too far to be any good. Hope to get to plp tomorrow. Great Blog.
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