Easter Sunday and some Firsts for the Season!

I'll have to double check my records but it seems like every year for the past few years it is just days before Easter that I see my first Yellow-rumped Warblers return. After not seeing any the previous week and even yesterday, I was beginning to think they passed by the park this year. But then this evening I spotted my first one of the season. It was on the north side in the scraggly tree overhanging the trail. I saw just one single bird and I couldn't manage a decent photo –but at least I saw one finally! There were quite a few waterfowl out on the lakes this evening and one that I spotted was something I've not previously documented at the park –a Ruddy Duck! These are one of my very favorite ducks and I was lucky enough to see them close up a the Coon Rapids Dam area last spring. This one (a male too) was pretty far out there with a group of Northern Shovelers, but I took a photo anyway just to confirm my sighting. He is on the far left in the photo. On the south side of the park in the little tiny pond near the parking lot I noticed a pair of Blue-winged Teals and managed to catch a half-way decent photo of the male. Like many of the more wild ducks, they are easily spook-able and tough to get close to. I guess I ought to mention that the weather was incredible today at 75º and sunny. The park was just teeming with people who were out enjoying the weather. The park just emanated Spring today, from the smells to the constant calling of birds, to the Pussy Willows who's fuzzy white catkins are now morphing into bright yellow-green color. I walked the entire 3 mile circumference of the park tonight and boy was I really seeing a lot of birds. I was taking photos of even common birds so that it would help me remember them all when I got home. I will list all the birds I spotted tonight at the end, but one that I managed a pretty good photo of was a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. This is one of the smallest birds we see here in Minnesota, and they are known for not sitting still for very long. I've been seeing them fairly regularly in the past week but it seems that I am seeing more females than males. Like many birds, the species is so named after the male who exhibits a tiny, bright red patch on his head that can raise up like a crest. The females look exactly the same but without the red crown. So this one here is obviously a female. Coming back to the east side parking lot I spotted an unusual looking bird perched in the setting sun. Upon looking closer with my binoculars I realized it was a female Red-winged Blackbird! This is somewhat exciting simply because it's the first female I've seen this year and shows that the females tend to show up weeks after the males do. I have yet to ever come across a RWB nest which seems odd simply because of how many there are in the park. I had one more surprise for the evening as I sat on the granite bench overlooking the eastern most body of water. I could see a few Common Mergansers way out there and this is a species I've only documented one other time before at the park. There were actually two pair –two males and two females but I didn't get them all in this shot. I am always surprised at the variety of waterfowl that pass through the park each spring! It always makes me wonder –if the water was less polluted, would they stay longer? And might there be even more species that would visit Palmer Lake Park?

My total list for the day (32 species):
1. Red-winged Blackbird (and first female of season!)
2. Brown-headed Cowbird
3. Common Grackle
4. Song Sparrow
5. Fox Sparrow
6. American Tree Sparrow
7. Northern Cardinal
8. Blue Jay
9. Cedar Waxwing
10. American Coot
11. Mallard
12. Ruddy Duck
13. Canada Goose
14. Blue-winged Teal
15. Common Merganser
16. Lesser Scaup
17. Wood Duck
18. American Robin
19. Great Blue Heron
20. Pied-billed Grebe
21. Hairy Woodpecker
22. Red-bellied Woodpecker
23. Pileated Woodpecker (heard)
24. Ring-necked Pheasant (heard)
25. Great Horned Owl
26. Tree Swallow
27. Mourning Dove
28. Yellow-rumped Warbler
29. Black-capped Chickadee
30. Ruby-crowned Kinglet
31. American Goldfinch
32. Northern Shoveler

Quintessential April Birds

This Saturday's visit to the park showed me just about all of the most common birds one would expect to see in the month of April. When I arrived I spotted a mature Bald Eagle soaring overhead but he zoomed past quickly and I never got another look at him. Then almost immediately after I spotted a Ruby-crowned Kinglet. It was yet another female as were the majority of others I've seen so far this year. Next came a Common Grackle, a bird I've seen already but not gotten a photo of yet this year –so this is the first. Much like Red-winged Blackbirds, I am excited to see them returning each spring and then later get completely sick of them by the end of the season! After this I spotted a pair of Wood Ducks and then what looked to be a Cooper's Hawk. But I was to capture one more first of the season photo next when I spotted a Hermit Thrush hopping around near the ground. It is really quite interesting to note that almost every time I've ever seen a Hermit Thrush, there is still snow on the ground. It's almost like they prefer it and seem to travel just far enough north to keep themselves in line with areas that maintain just an inch or so on the ground. So if you ever see a bird that looks similar to this, taking note of the conditions may help you identify and differentiate it from other "Thrushes" that will arrive later in the season. Next I headed out across the big field on the north side, walking out along Shingle Creek to see what I might find. Indeed I found the Bluebirds again but didn't manage any good photos of them. There was however a Song Sparrow perched nearby who was singing out loudly. It seemed to be so engrossed in singing that it let me creep up closer for a couple of decent photos. This is also another bird who's song heralds the arrival of Spring in Minnesota. On the creek I scared up a Pied-billed Grebe who actually took to the air. It was actually the first time I've ever seen one flying and I got to see it up close which was pretty neat. After this I came upon a large group of Cedar Waxwings feeding on dried up Buckthorn berries. Many times I've found that I can get extremely close to this species, especially when they're in a group and eating. For such a beautiful looking bird, they are one of the most tolerant when it comes to people. This combination makes it a great bird to try and get photos of and I've had more good results than with other birds. Though the time of year makes the lighting not as cooperative as the bird! After this I spotted a Dark-eyed Junco, a flock of Double-crested Cormorants, more Ruby-crowned Kinglets and also a Canada Goose to wrap up my hike.

Same Places, New Faces

Except for one of my photos posted today, you probably wouldn't guess that there is still snow on the ground. All of the paved trails have a few inches and it's getting to be late enough in the season that it will just be left to melt versus taking the time to clear it. I've been wanting badly to see the newly born Owlet on the north end of the park. But I also haven't wanted to disturb them. I figured today I could be a little more quiet walking on top of the snow so I hiked quickly out to the tree and past it by just a little. The mother stayed perched only inches from the nest and indeed when I looked up I could see a little face peering over the leaves at me! This was my first good look at the Owlet. A friend of mine has told me that there are two of them but I could not see any signs of another one. Again time will tell. I only stood here long enough for 2 to 3 pics and then hiked back out another direction. On the north side of the park I could see many flocks of birds going over the park. One or two of those flocks looked different enough to have a look through my binoculars. This one was a group of Double-crested Cormorants –which is a fairly common bird around here but one I have not posted on the blog before. Probably the reason being is that I rarely see any on the ground or on the water here. I'm not sure why I've never seen any stop before. Maybe they are but not staying for very long. My guess is that they were heading for the river instead. If you look closely at the photo (click on it for a larger image) you will see their bright orange bills. There is already signs of new growth and greening up at the park, but I thought this photo about tells it all. Plants and grass here in Minnesota are hearty enough to poke right out through the snow in search of sunlight. On April 6th, I saw my first Blue-winged Teal of the season and I'm guessing that I will see much more of them. As the sun was setting this evening I spotted this male quite close to me on the drainage ditch on the north side. I read somewhere recently that the Blue-winged Teal is the waterfowl with the second highest population in our state –behind only the Mallard. But I've never seen any with ducklings before so I'm guessing that they move further north before nesting. I was really pushing the daylight near the end of my walk but I spotted one more bird I wanted a photo of. The Fox Sparrow is also one of those birds that straddle winter and spring here in Minnesota. They are much larger than your average Sparrow, though they have somewhat similar plumage. It is hard to tell from this particular photo, but they have a lot of grey coloring at the top of their head and neck, which besides their size, is the next best way to identify them. They also have a unique song that I think I mis-identify nearly every year. I think it sounds a little bit like a Goldfinch, and so I assume that is what I am hearing.

Day of the Ducks!

I hadn't intended to visit the park today. I spent the morning preparing my taxes only days before the deadline. But only minutes after I finished filing them, I got a call from my good birder friend Ron. He was heading to the east side of Palmer Lake Park as another friend of ours (Larry) was there and seeing a variety of Waterfowl including Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal and Redhead to name a few! Since I've never positively seen a Redhead before, I quickly changed and hopped in the car to head over. Wouldn't you know it, the Redheads took off before I got there! From the granite bench overlooking the water on the east side we could see a few other Ducks, though they were quite a ways away. Ron was getting some decent photos as his lens can reach the moon. I snapped this photo of some Northern Shovelers that flew over us, but for the most part I wasn't getting any good photos with my mere 300mm lens and I knew I would need to get closer. So after walking a bit and eventually parting ways, I decided to drive over the west side and hike over to what I call the "Duck Pond" on the southwest corner of the park. Right off the bat I spotted a pair of male Buffleheads and this is a species I've only seen one other time at PLP! I decided I would hike in on the woodchip trail as it would be quieter, and then find a place along the water to sit and wait for them to come closer. And boy did they ever! It took quite a while but eventually the pair came close enough for me to catch some fantastic photos. Buffleheads are small diving ducks and when they would come back up to the surface they would have beads of water clinging to their backs. Though I've seen Buffleheads before in other places, this may have been the closest I'd ever been to them. I had not before fully appreciated what beautiful birds they are! Their head reminds me of a "pie-chart" with 1/4th of the pie colored pure white. But amazingly the other 3/4ths have an iridescent quality and can appear blue, purple and green in the right light. I had a lot of fun watching these two guys. Then, to my surprise another small pair of ducks caught my eye along the shoreline. I couldn't believe it but they were Green-winged Teal. Though I'd seen one through my binoculars earlier with Ron and Larry, this pair were most definitely in range of a photo! This is a species I've not previously witnessed at Palmer Lake so it was quite special to see them up closely. I spent nearly 2 hours watching the pair and hiking back and forth to opposite ends of the Duck Pond attempting to get better photos. Finally after a long time I had secured a spot only feet from the water's edge while the pair were behind some tall weeds off to my right. They came right out in front of me a few different times and I will tell you the male is one beautiful bird! Numerous times I also got to hear the male vocalize which was a series of "peeps" that alternated between a lower and higher tone. I thought it sounded much more like a songbird than any kind of duck. When making this sound his head generally appeared more puffed up or "tufted" than his usual "slick-backed" look. Once or twice I could see his head feathers appear to sort of drape off the back of his head. As for the female, she was drastically different and drab in comparison. I really only identified her by her behavior of hanging out with the male the entire time. And if not for her much smaller size, she would have appeared pretty similar to a hen Mallard. The only other things I noticed was that she appeared to have a wide neck at the base, and possibly a darker bill. Teal are "Dabbling Ducks" which mean they don't dive for their food and spend a lot of time with their heads lowered and bills in the water. It was hard to catch a photo of them when not in this position! Oh I forgot, but earlier with Ron and Larry, I also saw Blue-winged Teals. I caught only this one photo but at least I saw them. It was quite a good day and here is a total list of birds we saw (including a few other "firsts of the season!"): Redhead, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Blue-winged Teal, Canada Goose, Mallard, Ring-billed Gull, American Coot, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Wood Duck, Tree Swallow (first of season), Northern Flicker (first of season), Hairy Woodpecker, Dark-eyed Junco, Bald Eagle, American Crow, Red-winged Blackbird, Song Sparrow, Osprey (first of season), American Robin, Cedar Waxwing, Pied-billed Grebe and Great Blue Heron.

Spring is in Swing on Shingle Creek!

I had the day off work today and it was gorgeous outside. But despite the awesome weather I purposely waited until about 5pm to visit the park in hopes to capture some waterfowl bathed in some nice orangy-sunset tones. Yesterday I had hiked downstream and sat for a while too but quickly realized I was on the wrong side and facing directly into the sun instead of away from it. So this evening I did the same but on the opposite (west) side of Shingle Creek. It was warm and sunny out without a single cloud in the sky and before I knew it, a pair of Bluebirds were perching very nearby. The male perched almost right above my head for a minute, very closely and I grabbed this shot. A great way to start off my photo expedition! Soon I had my eyes on various pairs of Northern Shovelers swimming along the creek. The male and female were both busy poking their long bills into the shoreline and I waited patiently behind a natural blind of fallen trees for them to come closer. They never did get all that close to me so I had to crop in tight on my photos. Here is my favorite one of the Shovelers, cast in a nice glow from the setting sun. My luck continued on as a pair of Wood Ducks later flew in from the north and hit the water just to my left and out of sight of me in my blind. I readied my camera and waited for them to swim right out in front of me. This resulting photo is probably one of my favorite shots of the whole year. I just love the colors on wood ducks and the reflections of the tan colored weeds and blue sky in the water compliment him nicely. Where ever there is any waterfowl there are bound to be some Mallards in the mix. I certainly don't go out of my way to photograph them but this male that swam slowly past me was just so pretty in the sunset that I couldn't resist. His green iridescent head just seemed to almost glow in the sunset and again the reflections on the water made for a nice photo I think. Much further down the creek, I could see some other interesting waterfowl with my binoculars including Ring-necked Ducks and a lot of Canada Geese. The Ring-necked stayed far away never coming any closer which was a bummer since they are also quite beautiful. But I was able to catch a few photos of one other interesting bird that would dive repeatedly before popping up very near me at least a few different times. Pied-billed Grebes –and other species of Grebes– are somewhat similar to Loons in that they are much more adapted to water and diving than they are to land. They behave similar in that they can stays submerged for quite some time before returning to the surface. Now that I think of it, I have never even seen a Grebe in flight before, only on the water.

A Nice Sunday in Early April

Today is Sunday, April 6th and it was a nice evening for walk around the park. The majority of snow is melted except for in very shaded areas or where it has been piled high on the edges of the paved trails. There were a fair amount of birds (and people) out today. Where the snow melt has pooled alongside the trails, the water was attracting everything from Robins to Ducks, giving me some good photo-ops. This Robin just looked so bright and orange I had to take a photo. American Robins are in the "Thrush" family of birds that includes (in the MN area); Eastern Bluebirds, Veery, Swainson's Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Hermit Thrush and Wood Thrush. If you were to compare all of these species next to one another, there may be some small difference in sizes, but the overall general shape and posture of the birds would look very similar. Unfortunately everything I saw today wasn't all so pleasing. What had initially brought me to the park today was actually a report of someone who had dumped used auto parts as well as used motor oil in the parking lot! It is beyond reasoning to me why anyone would do such a thing. An acquaintance of mine who I've come to know through our Friends of Palmer Lake Park group was nice enough to contact me after she initially saw the garbage discarded in the West Palmer Park lot. Another Friend of the Park wanted to come out and take some photos before we picked up the trash and consolidated it in a more safe area. We then called the city who promised to come and pick it up the next day. Though I was upset about the incident, this was a great example of how having a "friends of" group dedicated to the park resulted in a quick response. Though it appeared that some of the used motor oil actually spilled onto the ground and traveled into the grass by way of melting snow, things could have certainly been worse if not addressed when it was. Later on when I was able to turn my attention back to the wildlife, I spotted a pair of Blue-winged Teals swimming in the snow melt right near the paved trail on the northwest corner. This is not a great photo but I wanted to share it simply because it's a great comparison in size to the Mallards swimming on the left. A great many of the more "wild waterfowl" such as Wood Ducks, Teals and especially Ruddy Ducks can be quite a bit smaller than you would imagine. Later in the evening after I parted ways with my friend, I decided to hike out along the banks of Shingle Creek and sit for a while. Since last year this has been a favorite viewing place for me, just quietly waiting to see any interesting waterfowl that may swim by. After watching Northern Shovelers and a Pied-billed Grebe, I spotted something walk out of the cattails. It was a Ring-necked Pheasant who walked almost right up to the water's edge. It can be tough to actually spot Pheasants as they can so easily hide among the tall grass and cattails, so this was a fun sighting. I thought maybe I would witness him taking a drink from the creek but in a quick second he burst into the air and flew to the other side. Again, not a great photo here but I think it might be my only photo of a Pheasant in flight. A few other notable sightings today include: Brown Creeper, Northern Shrike, Great Blue Heron and a Cooper's Hawk!