My Big Month - Day 30

Unfortunately I'd not gotten out birding for the past two days. Work has been crazy and I've just plain old been too busy to fit a birding hike into my schedule until after work this Thursday. It was a beautiful evening for a walk, but only 20 minutes in I found myself hiding under a tree from the rain. Then 10 minutes later it was beautiful and sunny again. This pattern continued throughout the evening so I guess we are just into that time of year now. The off and on rain showers always seem to bring out the birds and I saw a good deal of species tonight and I will have a tough time remembering them all. A couple of highlights were seeing Blue-gray Gnatcatchers again, and also seeing a small flock of Cedar Waxwings! I've not seen Waxwings for quite some time now. I watched pairs of them passing food back and forth which is a behavior I've witnessed previously with Waxwings. But I also had the opportunity to spot one more brand new species for me -and with just one day left in my "Big Month!" While watching some other birds I thought I heard odd sounds coming from the water on the south side of the park. So when I got close I scanned the water and noticed a very odd colored Duck that I'd never seen before.
It had almost a pinkish breast with an abrupt change to white on the bottom. They were quite some distance away and there was absolutely no way to get closer. But through my binoculars I could also make out a distinct "white crown" on top of it's head that went all the way up to a short and almost blue looking bill. Because I truly had no idea what this was I knew I was seeing a new species for me –and spotting a brand new species in Palmer Lake Park is doubly exciting to me. I almost phoned a friend thinking something very rare was here. My curiosity couldn't wait and so I started to search google right there on my phone for "duck with white head/white crown." After seeing dozens of photos of Buffleheads and other ducks I am familiar with, one image came up that showed a duck with a dark rear end and a hint of white feathers on it's side like the one I was looking at. Around this time I finally noticed there was another one to the right, similar looking but without the bright white crown. By comparing photos I was 80% sure right then and there that I was seeing American Wigeons! One of the most distinctive coloring in the photos I was looking through was a bright, emerald green patch behind the eye. But for the life of me I was not seeing that on either of the two ducks I was watching out in Palmer Lake. I don't know if it was the angle, the distance or a combination of both but that green was just not there –or extremely faint if it was. Even now upon zooming in drastically on my photos I cannot really see that pattern. So either they were not quite mature, or possibly they were even hybrids crossed with other similar species as noted by my Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Either way I was quite happy to spot something brand new yet again this May which has truly been such a "Big Month" for birding!

Total species seen today: American Wigeon, American Goldfinch, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Cardinal, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Least Flycatcher, Mallard, Canada Goose, Gray Catbird, American Robin, House Finch, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Crow, Song Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Great-crested Flycatcher, Cedar Waxwing, Green Heron and Great Blue Heron.

Conditions: 68 degrees, partly sunny with periodic showers

My Big Month - Day 27

Today was Memorial Day and again the weather just plain sucked. We didn't even make it above 60 degrees and it was damp and dreary again. It was kind of a weird day and I ended up "birding" sort of part-time at two different locations. I say part-time because I was out with my wife and our main reason for being out and about was to be outside walking and exploring. Our first stop was Fish Lake Park in Maple Grove, Minnesota. We'd kayaked here a couple times in the past but never really explored the trails too much. We could hear a good variety of birds here but never really saw too many. This area has a lot of mature Maple trees and with the leaves now fully out it was tough to spot many birds here. About the only birds I took photos of here were Barn Swallows and a few Green Herons. Later in the day we decided on another completely new location to explore –Boom Island Park and Nicollet Island right in the heart of Minneapolis. I wasn't even going to bring my camera with but my wife convinced me that I might want to get photos of some of the old railway bridges in the area. So I slung it around my neck and was so happy I did. After exploring all over the place and coming back to Boom Island Park I noticed a little bird hop right out in front of me. It was a Blackpoll Warbler! I'd only ever seen this bird briefly from a long distance but remembered that they can look a bit like a Chickadee. I couldn't believe it was so close, in plain view and at eye level and I took a bunch of shots as quickly as I could. It flew up into some smaller trees and I stalked him for a while but never got to see him so out in the open as I did at first. Later we drove down river a little bit, closer to Nicollet Island and I noticed this odd looking Goose wandering around by himself. At first I thought for sure it was some kind of different morphed Canada Goose but then I noticed he didn't have black legs and feet. So then I started taking more photos and realized it might be something I've never seen before. When I got home I was hard pressed to find anything in any of my field guides that looked similar except maybe a dark morph Snow Goose. But even that doesn't seem quite right as the top and front of him look so much like a Canada. I really have no idea what this might be at the time of writing this and have posted the photo to my flickr page asking for help. I really know less than nothing about domesticated birds such as Geese or Chicken and am wondering if that is the reason I am not finding any similar photos. Maybe it is some form of domesticated, or cross-bred Goose?

Total species seen today: Green Heron, Canada Goose, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Blackpoll Warbler, Mallard, Barn Swallow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, American Crow, Brown-headed Cowbird, American Goldfinch, Rock Pigeon, House Finch, Song Sparrow, House Sparrow, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Great Egret and Unidentified Goose pictured above.

Conditions: 58 degrees, overcast and drizzly rain.

My Big Month - Day 26

The weather for our long Memorial Day weekend has really not been so great. Yes, you can almost always expect a bit of rain here and there, but in addition the temps have been really low for this late into May. When I arrived at the park at 1:30 today it was only 57 degrees and very windy! On the north side the wind even "howled" it was so strong. I've learned that while wind is not necessarily good for taking photos, it does seem to activate the birds and indeed I saw a fair amount of interesting species. One highlight was a Wilson's Warbler that for whatever reason I tend to see more often on cold and windy days. I really want a better photo of this tiny yellow Warbler with a small black cap, but catching him up close and staying still for any more than one second at a time seems nearly impossible. I used to think Kinglets and Restarts were tough until I spotted the Wilson's Warbler! In fact today a Redstart was one of the only birds I could catch a half-decent photo of. I actually wanted to catch a female because I don't have too many photos of them, but this male was poking around on the ground long enough to give me a few good opportunities. Near the end of my walk I noticed once again a couple of very young Gray Squirrels. They were crawling around on the very same two trees I'd seen them in the day before yesterday. Now I started to think that they must have a home very nearby. I watched one spiral around the tree towards the bottom and disappear. I waited for him to come back around but he never did, so I also started walking around the tree. There I noticed a hole in the side of the tree with a split running through it. I wondered if they were in there so I walked in closely and found another tree to lean on while I focused on the hole with my camera. Sure enough a head popped out a short time later, then a second one on top. If I even flinched, they'd disappear again and I'd have to wait all over again. It was quite a funny sight!


Total species seen today: American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Gray Catbird, Canada Goose, Mallard, Wood Duck, Wild Turkey, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Bald Eagle, American Crow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, Great Blue Heron, Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Conditions: 57 degrees, overcast and very windy.

My Big Month - Day 25

Today's birding outing was another field trip away from Palmer Lake Park. I'd noticed just a couple days earlier that there was a regular birding hike scheduled at Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park. I'd heard a lot about this monthly (or more) walk conducted by an extremely skilled naturalist and birder and that you can see quite a few things with his help. And boy did we ever! From the moment we set out, our guide was pointing out birds I'd never seen before such as a Northern Rough-winged Swallow! I'd never seen these before but they were in quick flight just like most other Swallows, only you could tell that they were mostly a brown color with no trace of blue on the top like other common Swallows. Another good sighting was of a Bay-breasted Warbler in non-breeding plumage! I only caught a glimpse of this quickly through my binoculars but I could see a faint rosy red patch on the breast. We also got to hear –but not see– a Mourning Warbler. With such experienced guidance, we saw a total of 50 different species as a group, though I can't claim that I saw each of these for myself. So below I will do my best to list only the ones I specifically saw. Oh, also when I arrived at 7:45 am, I spotted a Killdeer right outside the building! I can't say I've seen a Killdeer for the longest time and tend to only see them way out in the country along gravel roads. So that was another good sighting for me. Among the Warblers there were a lot of other smaller birds spotted today which always makes getting photos challenging. But one of my favorite of the day was this brilliant blue male Indigo Bunting that our guide heard way before we even saw him. This is just the second Indigo I've seen this year and neither has been at Palmer Lake Park, though I'm sure they are there somewhere. Besides being so nice to look at they also make quite beautiful songs and we got to hear and watch him singing loudly. The other bird I wanted to post from today is from a group of birds that I just have the hardest time distinguishing from one another. I typically can identify something as a Flycatcher, but telling them apart takes way more experience than I have. Then throw Pewees into the mix and I am totally baffled. In addition to identifying a handful of other Flycatchers, our guide pointed this bird out to the group as an Eastern Wood Pewee. Since they look SO similar to me I asked for some guidance and he stated that they were a bit more stocky in shape and also tend to flick both their tail and wings at the same time. I hope as time goes on that I can start to notice these small details for myself because for now, I just pretty much identify every similar bird as a Least Flycatcher. Now I'm pretty sure that some of those Least Flycatchers I've seen may have very well been a different bird.

Total Species Seen Today (by me personally): Double-crested Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Canada Goose, Mallard, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Killdeer, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Eastern Wood Pewee, Least Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue Jay, American Crow, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Barn Swallow, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Eastern Bluebird, American Robin, Gray Catbird, Yellow Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, American Redstart, Song Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, House Finch, American Goldfinch, and a Great Egret on the drive home!

Conditions: 56 degrees and overcast.

My Big Month - Day 24

I took another day off of birding yesterday but was back to Palmer Lake Park this afternoon after getting out of work early for Memorial Day weekend. The weather was near perfect and I saw a LOT of good birds as well as some other interesting mammals including Deer, Muskrat and a Raccoon that was snoozing in an old Cooper's Hawk nest! This was kind of a neat sighting as I don't often see Raccoons at the park. This was only my 3rd sighting ever at PLP, though I've heard they used to be more common in the area. Other good highlights included seeing a Red-eyed Vireo, two Spotted Sandpipers, and then successfully identifying a Great-crested Flycatcher by sound first. Later I was able to see him as well but he was too high up in the treetops for a good photo. But the first bird I wanted to post a photo of today was this little Sparrow that caught my eye. It had a fairly obvious patch of bright yellow above the eye. I'd seen one of these guys once before and thinking that it was just any other Sparrow with maybe the light reflecting weird or something, I never took a photo. Only later did I realize that it might have been a Savannah Sparrow. Though I think they are pretty common, you'd have to pay close attention to you're Sparrows in order to spot one. I'm feeling pretty proud of myself being able to identify at least a few different Sparrow now as in the beginning I thought I'd never be able to tell them apart. I've since learned that there are other groups of birds that are much harder to identify –such as Flycatchers for starters. Later on the north side I spotted a group of four Wild Turkeys. One was for sure a male and he was displaying for the females in between chasing them back and forth across the trail. This was in the exact same place I'd witnessed the same behavior about 2 weeks back. I was able to get extremely close to the male. Actually he was the one that came up close to me and I got the feeling he wasn't too pleased with me. I didn't budge and he walked up to within maybe 6 feet of me! I got to take quite a few photos from this short distance and I am always amazed at the color and complexity of their face and plumage. They are quite interesting birds and always fun to see. I even got to watch a couple of the females fly a short distance across a drainage ditch in hopes of avoiding the aggressive male.

Total species seen today: Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Tennessee Warbler, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Blue Jay, American Robin, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, American Crow, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woopecker, Northern Cardinal, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Gray Catbird, Eastern Bluebird, Mourning Dove, Osprey, Turkey Vulture, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, Common Nighthawk, White-breasted Nuthatch, Ring-necked Pheasant, Wild Turkey, Mallard and Canada Goose.

Conditions: 75 degrees, partly sunny, a handful of raindrops.

My Big Month - Day 22

Well you may have noticed that I did not make it out birding at all yesterday the 21st, thus ending my streak of birding every single day this month. By 6:00pm after work I was "falling-asleep-tired" and I just had to take a day off and rest. Working 9 hours a day and then trying to get in 2 hours of birding plus another hour of sifting through photos and blogging has proven to be just too much lately. But after taking a hiatus for just one day I found myself back at Palmer Lake Park this evening after work. It has been raining off and on and turned much colder again. The temperature when I arrived was only 50 degrees, and with a fairly strong wind I actually considered wearing my stocking cap -though I'd finally put it away for good weeks earlier. I decided to tough it out and was SO glad that I did because of what I ended up seeing this evening. I'd parked on the south side tonight for some weird reason and as I made my way up the 2nd wood chip trail on the west side, I spotted something so bright red there was no way I could have missed it. I could hardly believe it but there on the ground only feet away from me was a male Scarlet Tanager!!! I've only seen a male once ever before in my life and he was very far away and hidden in the treetops. This one however was right beneath me so I instantly started snapping away with my camera. As I did he just continued to forage around through the muddy ground, turning over leaves and wood chips in search of food –and to my surprise, completely ignoring my presence! It dawned on me quickly that I might be able to stalk him for a while and see if I could get in closer and set myself up for a better photo. Luckily the area he was in was muddy and quiet to for me to walk right in and sure enough I found myself getting even closer than when I first spotted him. He was just so insanely bright red that it almost looked like he was glowing. And in the surrounding environment of dark mud and tiny green plants he was quite a sight! That neon-red plumage would make any Cardinal look drab in comparison. I attempted a few different times to place myself in a good spot to catch him in the open before he reached the spot, based on simply guessing which way he would be heading. He actually moved about quite slowly and a couple of times I got tired of waiting for him to come out from behind a log or branch. He tolerated all of my movement the whole time and never flew off once. I just couldn't believe how close he was letting me get. I shot an unbelievable amount of photos –209 to be exact– of just this one bird tonight. It was one of the most exciting bird sightings I've ever had, and after I watching him for nearly 35 minutes I didn't even care if I saw another single bird the rest of my walk -ha ha!

Total species seen today: Scarlet Tanager, Eastern Phoebe, Least Flycatcher, Ring-necked Pheasant, Mallard, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, Common Yellowthroat, Northern Waterthrush, Northern Cardinal, Great Blue Heron, Sora, Common Nighthawk, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Song Sparrow, American Robin, Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Conditions: 50 degrees, windy and rainy.

My Big Month - Day 20

It was raining off and on today and although I had the day off I waited until later in the day for the weather to clear before going out birding. It ended up to be just a beautiful evening and it was a really nice and relaxing walk for me. I really thought I was going to see a lot today but for some reason it seemed a little quieter than normal in regards to bird activity. Maybe they knew there was even more rain on the way overnight. There were a few highlights of the day; seeing a Magnolia Warbler, calling in a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and also getting to see a Mink very close up! I actually did end up with a couple of pretty nice photos of two different yellow birds -a Goldfinch and a Common Yellowthroat but since I've already used both species in previous "Big Month" posts, I decided to post this photo instead. This is a Brown Thrasher sitting on her nest. I don't want to even say where this is but I'll tell you that I would have never have found it without watching the activity of another Thrasher last week. She is quite well hidden and sheltered so I hope the nest is successful. I may check on it from time to time but do not plan to get close for fear of disturbing them. Though it might look like it, this photo was taken from a fair distance away and I don't plan on even coming that close again in the future. As mentioned above, my most fun sighting of the evening was not a bird at all but a playful and curious Mink. I spotted him swimming across a drainage ditch on the far north end of the park and watched him hop up onto the bank through my binoculars. To my surprise he then proceeded to bounce along the water's edge making his way closer and closer to me. I bent down on my knee and just continued to watch him. I think he had planned on crossing the trail to get to the other side of the ditch because he eventually popped out right there in front of me. It was awesome to finally see a Mink in plain view and in such close proximity! I didn't realize just how long their tails are, and it was also darker colored than the rest of his fur. Although I hadn't made a sound he was aware of me right away and looked pretty surprised to see me. All it took was to click my shutter once and he instantly turned around heading back the way he came. It is quite apparent how well adapted this mammal is for the environment in which it lives. It just easily covered so much ground in so little time and then dipped back into the water with barely a splash.

Total species seen today: Brown Thrasher, Common Grackle, Yellow Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, American Redstart, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Cardinal, Mallard, House Finch, American Robin, American Goldfinch, Song Sparrow, Bald Eagle, Least Flycatcher, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Crow, Blue Jay and Canada Goose.

Conditions: 72 degrees and partly sunny.

My Big Month - Day 19

Day 19 of my "Big Month" was actually an out of state field trip that I'd planned some time ago. The Audubon Chapter of Minneapolis does a couple of trips each spring to Tiffany Bottoms State Natural Area in Durand, Wisconsin. You ride out on what was a defunct railroad track that was purchased by a private operation called the Chippewa Valley Motor Car Association. They restored a large portion of the 14 mile track and now operate rides using small, open air rail cars. It is a really neat attraction and one of the only ways you can access this nearly 14,000 acres of wild and mostly unexplored wilderness area. I'm not sure exactly how or when it became known as a hot spot for birding, but I was super excited to see what it was all about. I'm not even sure if I could list all the species we saw in the 4 hours of the trip. There were lots of expert birders and everyone's experience was different, but I'll do my best from my own memory of what I saw personally. Right off the bat at one of the very first stops, I spotted what at first looked like a really dark American Redstart. Only it was a bit too large. I wasn't quite ready for photos so quickly and by the time I snapped this the bird had turned upside down. Just minutes later the guide from Audubon said there might be an Orchard Oriole in the area -which I then realized was what I saw! One of the other big birds the group was hoping to spot was a Blue-winged Warbler. And when I say "big" I don't mean in size, but rather in uniqueness. Like most Warblers it is small and hard to locate in the tree tops. But our guide knew their song and was able to locate a few of them for us. Then getting a photo was a whole other story. After listening and watching for a long time this is the best picture I managed -mind you they're 4.75" from head to tail and a long ways away It was a lot of fun though hearing and catching periodic glimpses of this colorful little Warbler that I'd never seen before! Despite all the abundance of birds I saw on this trip, I wasn't getting many good photographs. For me personally, to get really good bird photos is either pure dumb luck (just being in the right place at the right time by accident) or spending an extraordinary amount of time stalking one bird in particular. Since I was much more interested in seeing as many things as I could, it didn't make sense to be out stalking individual birds -not that I could have anyways because the area is just so darn big. Plus you can only wander off for so long before the train heads off again. That being said, there was one bird that was close and sat still long enough for everyone to photograph. This Common Nighthawk was perched on a branch about 20 feet up and never moved the entire time. I've only seen them flying before and never perched so this was yet another treat for me. Apparently they are known for this behavior during the day, roosting motionless on a tree branch, fence post or the ground but they can be very difficult to see because of their great camouflage. To me they appear to have the original "mossy oak" patterning that is used so prevalently now in camouflage hunting gear.

Total species seen today: Trumpeter Swan, Canada Goose, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Bunting, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Red-eyed Vireo, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, American Goldfinch, Mallard, Common Nighthawk, Least Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Bald Eagle, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Phoebe, Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, Turkey Vulture, Song Sparrow, Mourning Dove, White-breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin and Gray Catbird.

Conditions: 82 degrees, partly sunny and very humid!

My Big Month - Day 18

On a tip from a friend and fellow birder I decided to visit Brookdale Park today which is just north of Palmer Lake Park. In fact they are connected by the trail system and pretty much the same habitat. But what my friend told me is that yesterday other birder friends of ours had spotted 12 Scarlet Tanagers –8 males and 4 females all in one group here! So after the rain quit I set out and just happened to run into the same group of birder friends who saw the Tanagers yesterday. Now with three additional really good pair of eyes, our odds of spotting birds vastly increased. In fact because of this, I was able to break my previous record for number of Warblers spotted in one day! For me personally, with the group I saw 10 Warblers and then added number 11 on my way out with a Northern Waterthrush. In addition, having such experienced birders by my side I was able to correct or confirm identification on two other species that are completely new to me – the Swainson's Thrush and Red-eyed Vireo! Then near the very end of my visit, we spotted just one lone female Scarlet Tanager. At about this point I had to leave so I don't know if the rest of the group ever located the male or not.

Despite all these fantastic birds, the best quality photo I took came much earlier, before I even left my vehicle! While on a phone call before setting out, I spotted what looked like an immature Baltimore Oriole landing repeated right outside my car window. He would land on a thick dried up weed from last year and proceed to pick at it until he found a loose end. Then he'd pull on it as far as it would go, making his own long strip of nesting material. It was fun to watch him do this over and over from such close proximity.

Total species seen today: (These first 11 in blue are all Warblers) Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Magnolia Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Blackpoll Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Swainson's Thrush, Red-eyed Vireo, American Goldfinch, House Finch, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Mallard, Wood Duck, Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, Gray Catbird, Barn Swallow, Song Sparrow, Wild Turkey, Red-bellied Woodpecker, American Crow, White-breasted Nuthatch, Canada Goose and Scarlet Tanager.

My Big Month - Day 17

It was back to Palmer Lake Park for today's birding outing. Unfortunately it was raining just enough to make it difficult to keep my camera dry. My newest trick for this is to use my winter hood like a big sock over the camera and lens. It works but it's a pain in the butt to get to the controls quick enough. Later on the rain kind of fizzled out and so I was able to ditch it. My walk started off good as the first tree under which I parked housed a Blue-headed Vireo. He wasn't coming out into the open for a photo but I could at least tell what he was. The rain seemed to bring out all kinds of birds this evening and I will have a fairly substantial list below. A couple of highlights were spotting another Wilson's Warbler, and also seeing my first Bluebirds at the park this year! I got poor photos of both of these species but is nice to say that I saw them. I spotted both a male and female Bluebird together so it is a good sign that maybe they will be nesting somewhere in or near the park. I also saw a Chestnut-sided Warbler later. One bird I saw a fair amount of tonight were Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. Pictured here is the first one I saw. Later I saw a female gathering nesting material and then another male behind her that looked not quite as handsome as this one. I think maybe it was immature as there were flecks of white over his breast and also over his black head. Oh also wanted to post a 2nd photo here tonight though at the moment I don't have a positive identification. I'm asking for help on my flickr page and hopefully I might have another new species to add to my "Big Month!" P.S. Second photo was positively identified as a Tennesse Warbler!

Total species seen today: Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Eastern Bluebird, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blue-headed Vireo, Eastern Phoebe, Tree Swallow, American Goldfinch, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, American Crow, Gray Catbird, American Robin, Song Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Ring-necked Pheasant, Baltimore Oriole, Great Blue Heron, Sandhill Crane, Mallard, Wood Duck, Canada Goose and Tennessee Warbler.

Conditions: 55 degrees, overcast with light rain

My Big Month - Day 16

With my vehicle being pretty much out of service, my best bet to get out birding today was to visit Hillside Cemetery again over my lunch hour at work. It was a beautiful sunny day, with temps more like summer again -somewhere in the mid 80's I think. Being that I don't "hike" the cemetery as regularly as I do Palmer Lake Park, I haven't quite figured out the hot spots yet for birds. There's a few lines of trees and fences where they let the trees grow more wild and these seem like better areas to me. My bird counting wasn't going all that great in the beginning but then I spotted an odd looking Sparrow that seemed to have a real dark patch on it's face. I wondered if it was a Harris' Sparrow as I've never seen one before. I got one decent enough photo to zoom in on at home and sure enough it was a Harris's! I know these birds are only seen during migration so it was a great sighting for me. As I worked my way towards the back side of the cemetery, I started to hear Bluebirds and followed the sound to a couple of trees that were more dead than alive. Here I found my best birding of the day, with Eastern Bluebirds, a Baltimore Oriole and an Eastern Kingbird all in the same tree. I watched the Bluebirds fly out to a wide open area to perch on various poles and water faucets and then return to the trees. They really do seem to like wide open spaces more than other birds in our area. It was while I was watching the Bluebirds that the Kingbird flew in and perched much lower to the ground. I kept stepping closer and closer to him and surprisingly he/she just stayed put. I couldn't believe how close I got in fact. I was almost in arms length just watching this bird turn it's head from side to side and sometimes upwards. After a while it also started to chirp a little and I was surprised to hear such a high-pitched sound come from this rather large bird. It almost sounded like a Junco to me. Later when I was heading back I ran into a group of 7 or 8 Wild Turkeys, some of which appeared to be almost rolling in the dirt among a patch of planted shrubs. I was also somewhat surprised to see both a Yellow-rumped Warbler and a Palm Warbler!

Total species seen today: Eastern Bluebird, Eastern Kingbird, Harris' Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Blue Jay, American Crow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Bald Eagle, Hermit Thrush, Wren, American Robin, Hairy Woodpecker and Wild Turkey.

Conditions: 82 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze.

My Big Month - Day 15

I had just an all around crummy day today -despite having a great walk at the park this morning. I would tell you about it here but it would take too long. But the cherry on top of my crummy day is that my vehicle is completely shot. After a $500 last ditch effort to save the transmission just 2 weeks ago, it is now wholly unreliable. So I have no idea how I'm going to be able to go birding every day from here on out. So with that said I'd better tell you about my early morning walk this morning as I can't say when I'll get another one in. The weather was absolutely awesome. It was still cool enough to throw on a vest over my sweatshirt and it felt just perfect. There were no clouds and the lighting is so great in the morning that I was just praying to see birds in certain areas that would have lent to a great photo. But birds never make things easy for you -which is part of the challenge that I like about photographing them anyways. I saw a lot of great birds today including an over-abundance of both Gray Catbirds and Goldfinch. They just seemed to be everywhere I looked and were also the two species making the most noise today.

Other highlights were spotting one of the Sandhill Cranes way out in the middle of the park, and then seeing a group of Wild Turkey's with a male that was "displaying" his fanned out feathers. One of my better pics of the day was of this American Goldfinch I saw on the southwest side. This male was so occupied with singing loudly that I was able to sneak in a little closer behind him for this shot.


Total species seen today: American Goldfinch, Common Yellowthroat, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, Gray Catbird, Baltimore Oriole, Brown Thrasher, Hermit Thrush, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Mourning Dove, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Northern Cardinal, Wren, Sandhill Crane, American Robin, Wood Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose, Red-breasted Grosbeak (female only) and Wild Turkey.

Conditions: 52 degrees and sunny. Little to no wind.

My Big Month - Day 14

I'm pretty happy that today marks two weeks of birding every day! I was able to get back to Palmer Lake Park again after a field trip to a different location yesterday. Our weather has changed drastically (again), this time the other way though as it was 95 degrees this evening! I don't particularly like it that warm but there was no humidity and the strong wind made it feel kind of nice actually. I had spoken with a friend –and very good birder– last night and his prediction was that the swing in temperature coupled with the strong winds might blow out a lot of Warblers from our area, meaning that they would continue traveling northward. This did seem to be true as I hiked around the park and didn't see any Palm Warblers, Black-and-Whites, or Ovenbirds. And I saw a total of only 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers which is drastically less than I've been seeing lately. I did however find one new Warbler that has just recently returned –the Common Yellowthroat. I have been looking for them for quite some time already and in years past they seemed to be the first Warbler I would notice each season. But I wonder now if that was really accurate or if it was a reflection of how much more closely I am watching the birds now each Spring. I watched this particular male and one other one foraging through the dead cattails for insects for quite a while. Once in a while he'd pop out into the open for an unobstructed view. I saw quite a few other good birds this evening but I actually had one more big highlight of the evening that I want to mention and share a photo of here. I'd walked around counter clock-wised tonight (dumb idea with the sun) and when I got to the wood chip trail on the southwest side I noticed a lot of activity high up in a tree above me. I was mostly seeing these birds from the underside but every once in a while I'd catch a glimpse of them from the side and noticed that they were a pretty striking blue color. Only just yesterday I had noticed a photo of a similar looking bird posted on a fantastic Minnesota Nature Blog I follow called "Nature Notes." I snapped as many photos as I could, hoping to compare them to the photo I remember seeing from this blog and sure enough I had seen a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher! In fact there were at least 2, maybe 3 of them in the same tree as I watched and took photos this evening. They were really hard to photograph as they hopped around quickly. I was very lucky to catch this and one other decent photo -the other of which I will post to my flickr page later. I really enjoyed seeing this brand new bird for me and just loved how blue they are on top!

Total species seen today: Common Yellowthroat, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart, Brown-headed Cowbird, Northern Cardinal, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Wild Turkey, Song Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Least Flycatcher, Hairy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Tree Swallow, American Goldfinch, Baltimore Oriole, Great Blue Heron, Green Heron, Brown Thrasher (with female on nest), Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler and Canada Goose.

Conditions: 95 degrees and very windy!

My Big Month - Day 13

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later but I was not able to get to Palmer Lake Park today for birding. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from continuing on my "Big Month" and being out birding every single day in May. So today's post is NOT about Palmer Lake Park. I realize this blog devoted to that park but I'm just going to have to make an exception or two here and there -especially during my Big Month. The only birding I could get in today was at Hillside Cemetery in Northeast Minneapolis. This is surprisingly a decent place to go birding near my workplace and I can sneak in about an hour over my lunch break. I knew with my limited time and very different surroundings that I wasn't going to see half the birds I would see on a typical visit to PLP. Regardless, I was very glad that I went because I ended up seeing two very unique birds -one of which I'd never seen before!

The first was an Eastern Kingbird and I barely managed this one long-distance shot of him. When I tried getting closer he took off and flew a long distance away so I gave up quickly after that. The other highlight was a Black-throated Green Warbler that flew right past me en route to another tree! Had it not flown so closely to me I might not have noticed it's striking pattern. I followed it to it's new perch and tried hard to get some photos but it just wasn't happening. He -and one other one I think- were quickly getting higher and higher up in the trees and with the leaves coming out now it was easy to lose them. I couldn't believe I finally saw one though and it made my short hour of birding in a different place today very much worth it!

Total species seen today: Eastern Kingbird, Black-throated Green Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Black-and-White Warbler, Eastern Bluebird, Northern Cardinal, Wild Turkey, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, American Crow, White-throated Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Mallard, American Robin, and one unidentified bird that I think may have been a Nashville Warbler. (Oh, and one very active Raccoon too!)

Conditions: 62 degrees and raining off and on.

My Big Month - Day 12

Today was a beautiful day, a little warmer and a lot less windy than yesterday. After seeing so many beautiful Warblers yesterday I wasn't sure what to expect today. I thought just maybe I'd catch a glimpse of either the Chestnut or Magnolia Warblers again but I never saw either of them. It's possible that they've moved on already or maybe they've just taken to the trees instead of the ground to find food. I did end up seeing a good variety of birds though regardless of two less Warblers. In fact I spotted 2 other birds today that I rarely see at the park. The first was the pair of Sandhill Cranes who were walking out in a field on the northeast side. I caught a halfway decent photo of one that I'll put on my flickr page later. The other unusual bird I saw was (a pair again) of Turkey Vultures soaring overhead just a short time later. These birds are probably just as large or larger than Sandhill Cranes when they're flying so it was unique to see two of the largest birds I know of when I was out in search of the smaller Warblers. My choice of photo to post today is not a Warbler at all but a White-crowned Sparrow.

I've seen only a handful of them at the park before and until today have never had such a good opportunity to photograph one. I'd thought I'd caught a glimpse of it's distinct black and white striped crown poking around in a pile of dead branches and so I patiently waited for it to come out and pose for me. I just read in my Birds of Minnesota Field Guide from Stan Tekiela that this particular Sparrow does NOT nest anywhere in Minnesota and is only a migratory visitor.

Total species seen today: White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, House Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Mourning Dove, Black-and-White Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tree Swallow, Chimney Swift, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Wild Turkey, Sandhill Crane, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Mallard, Gadwall, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Canada Goose, American Robin, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Phoebe, Least Flycatcher and American Goldfinch.

Conditions: 55 degrees, mostly sunny and a slight breeze.

My Big Month - Day 11

I just can't believe how much our weather changes day-to-day here this Spring. After such a gorgeous day yesterday, I found myself wearing my winter hat again this morning. It was only 45 degrees and extremely windy. Twice during my walk it even sleeted for a short time! BUT, despite the weather today may likely have been the best day of birding I've ever had at the park. I took just under 300 -yes 300 photos in one outing today. Of course a heck of a lot of them were of the same bird(s), attempting to get the best shot possible. There were too many highlights to even mention them all -but the biggest was finding an area of the park that was packed with different kinds of Warblers. It's an area I don't even typically walk, on the paved trail closest to 69th Avenue on the south side. All in this one small area I spotted Black-and-white, Yellow, Palm, Yellow-rumped and Chestnut-sided Warblers! To my amazement I tallied up 9 different Warblers that I saw and photographed today, which is definitely a record for me! So my list of total species below should be bigger for that reason alone, plus I just saw a lot of other neat birds today.
I couldn't believe I was seeing the Chestnut-sided so easily as my only other encounter with one at the park was extremely brief. I took LOTS of photos of one of the Chestnuts that stayed on the ground and let me get closer than I would have thought possible. It was great fun to see all these Warblers but I was in for another treat later on when I got to see that Magnolia Warbler I mentioned yesterday in full view on the ground where I could also photograph him easier. I sat and watched and photographed this bird more than any other today. I just found him so striking that I devoted quite a bit of time to getting the best shot I could. So for the simple reason that I was able to photograph two stunningly beautiful Warblers today, I'm breaking my rule and posting two photos today.

Total species seen today: (These first 9 in blue are all Warblers) Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, American Redstart, Yellow Warbler, Palm Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-White Warbler, Hairy Woodpecker, Bald Eagle, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Hermit Thrush, Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, American Goldfinch, Black-capped Chickadee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Crow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, American Robin, Least Flycatcher, Canada Goose, Mallard, Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Wild Turkey, Gadwall, American Coot, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow.

Conditions: 45 degrees and very windy. Some sleet.

My Big Month - Day 10

I'd say that this evening after work was likely the nicest weather we've had this entire season. And it was mostly sunny which would give me a little more daylight and more opportunity to take picutres. I took about 120 photos while walking around and I did see quite a few interesting birds. Right off the bat on the east side I spotted a Northern Waterthrush, close to where the Sora was the night before. Probably the best highlight of the evening was seeing a really beautiful Warbler with a bright yellow breast and heavy dark streaking. I didn't know what it was at the time and tried had to get a decent photo but this bird was near impossible to photograph as it just moved around behind the trees too much. I had a suspicion that it might be a Magnolia Warbler and later my Stokes Field Guide to Warblers confirmed that it was indeed a mature Male Magnolia. I'd only ever seen an immature before and they looked quite different. I also saw my first American Redstart of the season, as well as a few close Yellow Warblers, and a Blue-headed Vireo again! My chosen photo of the day is this Yellow-rumped Warbler that I watched for some time almost hovering in the air over the channel on the southwest side. I think he was picking off tiny insects in the air and then would land to rest on one of two trees to my left or right. From this photo you cannot see the bright yellow patch on their backside for which they are named. It is quite obvious when they fly away from you and is also why some people call them "butter-butts."

Total species seen today: Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Palm Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Waterthrush, Blue-headed Vireo, Hermit Thrush, American Robin, Song Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Gray Catbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Catbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Wild Turkey, Great Blue Heron, Northern Shoveler, Wood Duck, Mallard, American Coot and Canada Goose.

Conditions: 68 degrees and mostly sunny.

My Big Month - Day 9

"Unexpected" would be the word to describe my walk around the park this evening after work. After beautiful weather earlier in the week, it appears we are on the downhill portion of our ongoing weather-roller-coaster this spring. With the temperature at only 46 degrees and strong winds, I actually wore my winter hat this evening! I also had to scour my entire vehicle to find a pair of gloves too. So with such crummy conditions, I was truly not expecting to see much tonight but I was entirely wrong about that. There were many highlights of the evening -some of which I'll put on my flickr page as I'm trying to keep these daily posts short and manageable. The first was seeing a pair of male Baltimore Orioles fighting over territory. Another was seeing an unidentified Warbler -which I now know was a Wilson's Warbler (very first for me) and still another was seeing a Sora up close and out in the open! Oh, I also saw hundreds of White-throated Sparrows who were singing constantly as well.

The one bird I want to post here tonight however is a Warbler that I've only seen once before. Because I've been watching for birds more on the ground than in the trees, I was able to spot this Ovenbird on the north end of the park. I desperately wanted a better photo and so I stalked him through the woods as best I could. That proved to be extremely challenging because every time I got too close for comfort, he quickly doubled the distance between us again. Eventually I must have been making too much noise and he flew up into a tree some distance ahead of me. At least he was out in the open here and not hidden by all the ground cover.

Total species seen today: Ovenbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Black and White Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, American Crow, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Mourning Dove, Black-capped Chickadee, Brown Thrasher, Wild Turkey, Ring-necked Pheasant, Great Blue Heron, Mallard, American Coot, Canada Goose, White-throated Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, American Robin and Sora.

Conditions: 46 degrees, overcast and very windy.

My Big Month - Day 8

Well I'm into the second week of my "Big Month" now and I'm quite happy that I've been able to get to Palmer Lake Park every day so far. After visiting at 6am yesterday, it actually felt like a long time in between my 6pm visit this evening. I saw maybe only 5 or 6 Yellow-rumped Warblers today as opposed to hundreds just days ago. I'm afraid they might not be sticking around too much longer. I am continuing however to see lots of Palm Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. Over all though it was on the quiet side as a rain storm was approaching as I hiked around. There were two highlights of my visit tonight. One was seeing my first Green Heron of the season. He was running on the ground along the banks of a little pond on the east side. Then later when I was hiking through the woods on the northwest side, I saw a bird land up ahead of me in some very thick Buckthorn trees and it did not look familiar at all. It looked like a Blackbird of some kind but with a big white patch on it's back. As I peered through my binoculars I could hardly believe that I was seeing a Rose-breasted Grosbeak! I've never ever seen one this early in the season before -and I typically think of them as Summer visitors to the park. Of course in the thick Buckthorn I did not get a great photo but hopefully I will see him again soon. Around this time it had started sprinkling and only a short time later it was full on raining.

I had to put a plastic bag around my camera and that more or less ended my photography session. But almost right before I got to my vehicle I spotted a pair of Northern Shovelers! I had only seen Shovelers way out in the lake this year and never really got an opportunity to photograph one. So I pulled the plastic bag off my camera, slipped in between some willows and grabbed a few photos anyway. It was also getting dark out by now so I didn't end up with a great photo here but I was happy to see that Shovelers will still around the park. It was also neat to see the female up close as well.

Total species seen today: Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Wood Duck, Mallard, American Coot, Canada Goose, Blue Jay, American Crow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Green Heron, Great Blue Heron, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Song Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Mourning Dove, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Northern Cardinal, Sandhill Crane and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Conditions: 68 degrees, breezy, stormy skies and raining at the end.

My Big Month - Day 7

My visit to Palmer Lake Park today had to be waaay earlier in the day than I would have cared for. But with an 8 to 5 job, and numerous appointments after work, I knew there were going to be days I would have to make adjustments in order to continue on my Big Month. So this morning I found myself at the park around 5:45am. I was kind of looking forward to it after how busy the park was yesterday, but wouldn't you know it, I got "on-your-left-ed" at 5:50 in the morning!!! So I decided to stick to the wood chip trails as much as possible. I wasn't quite prepared for just how dark outside it is yet at this time and though I was seeing plenty of birds, my photos just weren't turning out. I also had to keep up a fairly swift pace in order to get to work on time so I felt a little rushed. However I ended up have a great walk as I got to see both a Mink and a Coyote within just seconds of one another. I scared up both of them right near the railroad tie overlook on the south side and the Coyote ran off into the fog still hanging over the cattails. I got a few half-decent photos that I'll put on my flickr page because I want to keep "My Big Month" about birds only.

My pick for today is a Common Grackle that I saw near the end of my walk. It wasn't quite the most interesting species I saw but honestly it was one of the only bird photos that turned out at all! I've actually been watching Grackles for some time, trying to capture their iridescent colors and I think this one does just that. I like the way it's upper wings appear almost purple. A couple other noteworthy items for the day; I heard (and barely saw) my first Yellow Warbler of the season. And I also spotted my first Baltimore Oriole of the season (better photo's pending!) STILL NO SIGN OF BLUEBIRDS YET!

Total species seen today: Common Grackle, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Cooper's Hawk, Great Blue Heron, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Blue-winged Teal, Wood Duck, Mallard, Canada Goose, Wild Turkey and Baltimore Oriole.

Conditions: 46 degrees and EARLY! (Early morning fog against sunrise was beautiful)

My Big Month - Day 6

I was so crabby after work today that I hardly even wanted to go to the park. I didn't even want to be anywhere -if that makes sense. I kept telling myself that I set this goal for a reason and that I might not fully realize what that reason is just yet. I definitely needed to be alone and going to the park almost always helps that. However it was quite busy with bikers and joggers this evening due to the outstanding weather. When one person tried to engage me in conversation it took all of my effort not to just walk away. Well enough about that. I did end up spotting a fair amount of bird species tonight but I don't have much daylight left for photos when I arrive after work at 6:00pm. Again I saw hundreds of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Palm Warblers and Kinglets but the absolute highlight of my evening was getting to watch and photograph a Black and White Warbler.

I'd walked into middle just a little ways on the north side and staked out a place that seemed like a good hot spot and it totally paid off. The Black & White Warbler flew in out of nowhere and proceeded to bounce around inside this large clump of Willow and other shrubs in search of food. I was determined to get a better photo of this beautifully patterned bird and it took close to 50 shots in order to come out with this one. I believe this one is a male.

Total species seen today: Black and White Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brown Thrasher, Northern Cardinal, American Coot, Mallard, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Great Blue Heron, Ring-necked Pheasant, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woopecker, Mourning Dove, American Robin and Canada Goose.

Conditions: 73 degrees, mostly sunny and no wind.

My Big Month - Day 5

Well so far I am 5 for 5 in getting out to Palmer Lake Park this May. Today the month of May finally lived up to expectations as both the weather and birding were fantastic. I spent roughly 3 hours birding today and took 131 pictures in all. It was warm enough to notice larger insects and I even saw my first Mourning Cloak Butterflies -which seems very late in comparison to other years. Three of the big highlights for the day were seen while I was stationary, sitting by the edge of the little pond right by the parking lot on the south side. As I sat there, a pair of Blue-winged Teals flew in, then an Osprey flew overhead, and best of all a Black and White Warbler landed only just feet from me in some Willow Shrubs. I had my camera on him quick but I snapped the shutter even before it had time to focus and I lost my only chance at photographing him. My pick to post today however was the very last bird I saw today.

Definitely not by best photo of the day but this is a brand new species for me that I've never photographed. I'm pretty sure this is a Northern Waterthrush which is actually in the Warbler family. I watched it walk with it's tail bobbing up and down along the edge of a small pond on the east side. He was tough to get a photo of as they really blend in well. The only thing that stood out at all was it's bright pinkish-orange legs.

Total species seen today: Northern Waterthrush, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Goldfinch, Hairy Woodpecker, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Brown Thrasher, American Coot, Common Merganser, Bufflehead, Blue-winged Teal, Mallard, Wood Duck, Canada Goose, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Osprey, American Crow, Tree Swallow, Mourning Dove, American Robin and a couple unidentified Warblers.

Conditions: 60 degrees and little to no clouds

My Big Month - Day 4

Well it was going to be hard to top yesterday's sighting now that I've confirmed what I saw was indeed a Blue-headed Vireo! The light was a lot better today so at least whatever I did see was coming out a bit better in my photos. I ended up running into a friend of mine fairly early into my walk so we walked around the rest of the way together, pointing out all the Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets we saw. Together we spotted quite a few different birds and my daily total was 27 species! Some highlights of the day were a group of 5 Wild Turkeys, a White-crowned Sparrow, and the first Great Egret I've seen at the park this year! Though I took nearly a hundred pics of Yellow-rumped Warblers, my pick for today is a Palm Warbler that walked right out in front of us near the edge of the trail.

I'd seen one earlier in my walk but it was in the woods and all my photos had branches in them. When we first spotted him he was up in a tree and we just saw a flash of his yellow underside before he landed on the ground in front of us. This is only maybe my 3rd sighting of a Palm Warbler so I really wanted to make sure I was able to share a photo of one during my "Big Month" this May.

Total species seen today: Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, House Finch, American Goldfinch, Wild Turkey, Winter Wren, Red-tailed Hawk, American Crow, Common Grackle, European Starling, Red-winged Blackbird, Brown-headed Cowbird, Northern Cardinal, American Tree Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Great Egret, Sandhill Crane, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Ring-billed Gull, Tree Swallow, Mallard and American Robin.

Conditions: 46 degrees and overcast skies.

My Big Month - Day 3

Being that it is Friday I was slightly more motivated to get out birding today, though I quickly found out how truly nasty the weather was today. Unbelievably, it snowed again all morning long but didn't really accumulate except for on the grass. After noon it turned to rain which melted whatever snow had stuck to the ground or trees. So at only just 33 degrees I was dressed nearly the same as I do in January -only switching out my heavy winter coat for a rain jacket instead! To fully communicate just how foul the conditions were, I did not see a single other person during my entire walk around the park -and I was out there for a good hour and a half! Though I was definitely dressed properly, I was getting discouraged quickly as I had a hard time keeping my camera and my glasses dry and the dark overcast sky was like a bad filter on every photo I took. Gradually things got better as I went, and especially after I got to watch and photograph a Yellow-rumped Warbler up close as he preened his feathers. Actually I was quite please at the number of birds I was able to see in such crummy weather, including a tiny little Wren that I noticed hopping around through the dried up weeds. I can't say if it was a House Wren or maybe a Winter Wren. But for today's photo I'm going with the very first bird I spotted today.

Although I actually don't have it positively identified yet, I have a good suspicion what it might be and it I'm correct it would be a very first sighting of this species for me. As I watched it bounce around in the trees above me, I thought for sure it was a Magnolia Warbler. But when I got home and looked more closely at my photos I realized it was clearly not a Magnolia. I struggled quite a bit in order to get even these poor photos and they are zoomed in quite a bit. When I have a hard time identifying a particular bird, I like to make a little montage showing different angles. As I write this I've posted the same image seen here onto the flickr birdshare group and hopefully I will have a positive ID very soon. And I will be even happier if that matches what my hunch is now!

Total species seen today: Blue-headed Vireo (yeah new species for me!), Mallard, Canada Goose, Red-winged Blackbird, American Coot, Ring-necked Pheasant, American Tree Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Common Grackle, European Starling, Blue Jay, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Wild Turkey, American Robin, Winter Wren, Ring-billed Gull, Black-capped Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker.

Conditions: 33 degrees, rain and fairly windy (crummy in other words!)

My Big Month - Day 2

On only day 2 of my "Big Month" I wasn't quite as motivated to be out hiking. My vehicle has been having problems and I wasn't even sure if it would make it to the park. In addition my chronic back problems have me worn out, and to top it off it's still just plain old COLD again. It's hard to believe that we had 2 days near 80 degrees and now we're back into the upper 30's and low 40's! It's May 2nd for god sakes and I'm still wearing flannel pants and a winter hat. At least we avoided the 15" of snow that fell only 60 miles south of the Twin Cities yesterday! What a seriously weird Spring this has been. Though I didn't make it all the way around the park today, I saw a handful of good birds just on the northeast side. Right off the bat I spotted tons of Yellow-rumped Warblers and as I watched them closely trying to get better photos, I noticed one on the ground that looked different. This one had more of an olive-yellow color plus a rusty cap and I recognized it quickly as a Palm Warbler! This is only the 2nd Warbler I've seen this year so it was quite exciting. I tried desperately to get a good photo but it was extremely tough through all the underbrush.

I did manage one or two, but for today I've decided to post something else that I really wasn't expecting to see. As I hiked in an out of the woods from the trail, I popped out and found myself staring right at a Barred Owl. He was perched right off the paved trail in plain view. It was getting a bit dark already but I snapped a few pics that turned out OK. I just couldn't resist going in closer to him and of course I scared him off pretty quickly. I followed him to another perch but the light wasn't as good and by that time he flew off again. It was a good and unexpected sighting amidst the much smaller birds I was hoping to see today.

Total species seen today: Barred Owl, Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Sandhill Crane, Northern Flicker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Tree Sparrow, Mallard, White-breasted Nuthatch and Northern Cardinal.

Conditions: 43 degrees and partially sunny.

My Big Month - Day 1

One of my good birder friends had been telling me about this movie for some time that had something to do with birding. So in the depths of our long (long) winter, I finally got to see it and found it both funny and inspiring. "The Big Year" starring Steve Martin and Jack Black is the story of some serious birders who devote an entire calendar year to birding -and specifically to spot as many different species as possible. Believe it or not, this is something people do in real life. If you see the movie you might think the lengths they go to are embellished, but from what I know it is quite true to life. But unlike the characters in the movie, I'm not ready to quit my job and spend my life's saving's traveling all over the country. However it did give me the inspiration to do my own "Big Month!" I've made up my own rules but basically my first and foremost goal is simply to be out birding every single day during the month of May. I'm going to attempt to do this all at Palmer Lake Park -though I really can't predict where I might end up in order to be out every single day. Also, though I will try to document a total number of species for the month, I'm not necessarily out to see the most numbers I can. For me, it will be about "being out there" every day during what I would consider the most glorious month of all for birding in Minnesota. To keep things do-able, my blog posts for the next 31 days will feature only one photo. It will be my favorite photo for whatever reason strikes me that day. It might be the most interesting bird I saw, or it might just be a nice photo of a common bird.

My pick for my very first day is a returning bird I've not seen since last season -a Brown Thrasher. I actually heard it long before I saw it and the beautiful song struck me as something out of the ordinary. At first I thought it was a Gray Catbird but as I listened, I started to pick up on notes or phrases being repeated twice. This is a dead giveaway for the Brown Thrasher and I followed the sound in order to finally spot him. None of my photos turned out that great today as it was extremely overcast and dark. In fact it had been snowing most of the afternoon while I was at work, but nothing stuck to the ground thankfully. Anyway, I was most happy to see this bird today and was the highlight of my visit.

Total species seen today: Brown Thrasher, Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, American Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Canada Goose, Mallard, Wood Duck, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Brown-headed Cowbird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, American Crow, Northern Cardinal, Common Grackle, Mourning Dove, Sandhill Crane, Bald Eagle, and One Unknown Species.

Conditions: 37 degrees and overcast with rain sprinkles.