Memorial Day 2014

Memorial Day is always seen as the "official" kick off to the Summer season and today it surely did feel like summer. It was warm and humid and felt more like a July day than late May. I didn't get to the park today until just after 4:30pm. But once I got there it was so beautiful I spent a long time making my way around the entire loop. I have more pictures than I can possibly post here today so I've picked a handful that represent some of my more fun sightings. The first was an unexpectedly close encounter with a beautiful Cooper's Hawk. It bumped out of a tree merely feet above me over the paved trail on the south side. It didn't go far and perched again in another shorter tree allowing me a very good look. I assumed it was a Cooper's Hawk right off the bat due to the very long, banded tail. But later upon looking at the photo more closely I realized it's breast was not the orangy-banded pattern I am used to seeing. I shared this photo on the Minnesota Birding Facebook page and someone pointed out that it is likely a first-year bird and has not grown it's full adult plumage yet. My second sighting of note was a fun one and I took a LOT of photos. Along the woodchip trail on the southwest corner, I noticed a Red-bellied Woodpecker land at the same spot on the same tree more than once. Upon looking closer I noticed a little hole in the side of the tree and then the Woodpecker disappeared into it! Sure enough it had a nest here and was busy feeding it's young. First the male landed with a mouthful of food and slipped inside the hole. When he came back out, I could plainly hear the loud squealing of little ones inside the tree. Then the female came in only seconds later with another mouthful of bugs and caterpillars. I watched this repeat once more before finally moving on. I ended up seeing a lot of good birds today but I had quite a good photo opportunity on the north side along the straight, paved trail. There hopping around in the small Willow shrubs was a female American Redstart. She was staying mostly near the ground and seemed to be searching for insects. I tried to predict where she might land next and it paid off as she hopped up on this small branch right in front of me! It is probably the single best photo of any Redstart I've ever gotten –not to mention a female too. I read somewhere later that the female American Redstart is somewhat unique among the Warbler family in that she does not vocalize (sing or call). And furthermore if you see what you think is a female Redstart and it it singing, then it is most likely a first-year male –who's plumage can look similar to the female when still young. I never knew that! One more photo I took not too much further down the trail was yet another female bird, this time a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. She was busy gathering nesting material and in my first few shots she actually had a bill full of fine twigs. But as I watched, she must have decided against them for some reason, or inadvertently dropped them. You've gotta appreciate birds sometimes simply for the fact that they can construct intricate nests without the use of any limbs. I did not see the male anywhere around but I'm glad to know that this species may possibly be nesting in the park! Other notable sights spotted this evening included; American Goldfinch, Least Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Question-mark Butterfly chasing a Red Admiral Butterly, Black-capped Chickadee, Yellow Warbler, Tree Swallow, a few Deer, Cedar Waxwing, Baltimore Oriole and Brown Thrasher. Oh, and a couple Morel Mushrooms!