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.