End of September and a First of Fall Species

I've had high hopes for seeing fall Warblers this year especially since getting my new zoom lens. While in fact I have seen a fair amount of species moving back south, it just doesn't compare to spring and has been much more sporadic. Seeing as how the month was nearing to a close, I took my fold-up hunting stool with me to the park today and walked way back into the woods to sit and see what I could find. There were indeed a few quick moving little Warblers about as well as the even smaller and quicker Ruby-crowned Kinglets. But none of them would sit still long enough for me to get any photos. Such is the challenge of bird photography and a constant reminder of why it is so rewarding when you do get the shot. After chasing one particular little blur, I spotted something else climbing up the trunk of a wide tree. I thought maybe a Black-and-white Warbler but this was even smaller. Indeed it was a Brown Creeper, my first-of-fall or "FOF" as I've learned to call it. But to my surprise, a second Creeper was on the same trunk and a little higher up, blending perfectly into the bark of the tree. I've never actually seen two like this and I was even able to get them both in the same photo which was great. After another few minutes of chasing blurry birds I decided I'd had enough and hiked out onto the paved trails. Along the north side of the park, a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak landed briefly. I swung around with my big lens and quickly took a few images while some nearby park-goers likely wondered what the heck was so interesting. I always love seeing the males but wow, this was one of the prettier looking females I've seen in some time. I was close enough to see the rusty-orange flanks and boldly striped head that make this bird so noticeable. As always it is the females that I see much more frequently than the males. Further along I picked up a Palm Warbler near the baseball fields on the east side. The behavior was in keeping with many other Palms I see whereas it was in some low hanging branches over the trail and then would dip down onto the green grass to search for insects. Many of my Palm Warbler photos are much the same and show the bird on green grass like this only feet or sometimes inches from the paved trails. Palm Warblers in the fall can look a little nondescript but have two clues that give them away. First if you are able to see them from the back or underneath, they have a warm yellow patch on the bottom side of their butt. Different from a "Butterbutt" aka as a Yellow-rumped Warbler which shows a very bright yellow patch on the top part of their butt and generally only when in flight. The other clue for a Palm Warbler is the fact that they constantly bob their tail up and down, especially while perched or even walking. This is probably the more noticeable trait. Other birds seen today included White-throated Sparrows, Bald Eagle, Mallard and Hairy Woodpecker.

No Warblers but a Rare Bird Indeed!

Lately I've been spending a LOT of time at another park –Silverwood Park in St. Anthony. With the daylight hours dwindling rapidly this time of year, this park is close enough for me to get to quickly after work and allows me as much daylight as possible to watch and photograph birds. At this park I've been seeing tons of Palm and Yellow-rumped Warblers, as well as a few Nashville and Tennessee Warblers. So this morning I was excited to go to Palmer Lake Park and maybe see more of the same. A couple of friends of mine had tallied 10 species of Warblers just days ago but alas I did not see a single one this morning. I wonder if maybe it's already too late in the year? I should note that it was exceptionally warm today in the 80's which may have played a factor. Nonetheless, I was keeping my eyes peeled and after a fairly uneventful walk, I finally stumbled across a bird that got me quite excited. It might be the second most rare bird I've seen in the park and I even submitted it to moumn.org which is the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union website. The bird I found was a Red-headed Woodpecker, a bird that has been in decline in Minnesota for quite some time due to it's preference for a preference for a very particular habitat called an "Oak Savanna." An Oak Savanna is essentially a "lightly forested grassland where Oaks are the dominant trees." I've been to Oak Savannas before, some of them being found in our many Minnesota State Parks. In fact my one and only (previous) sighting of a Red-head Woodpecker was during a special trip to an area of Oak Savanna in East Bethel, MN. So needless to say, spotting this bird at Palmer Lake Park –a mostly wetland– was especially surprising. I first noticed the bird in a very tall, dead tree on the northwest side of the park, near the edge of the cattails. In fact I hadn't a clue what it was until I put my camera lens on it and spotted the bright red head. I almost couldn't believe my eyes. I quickly hiked through the tall grass, feeling the stinging nettles go right through my thin pants and worked my way closer to the tall tree. But as soon as I got into a good viewing area I looked up and the bird had gone. I waited for over 20 minutes and eventually saw another similarly colored bird creeping up the back side of one of the branches. I got excited again and had my camera ready but quickly found out that a Pileated Woodpecker had flown in and taken the Red-headed's place in the tree. Now a Pileated is still a fun treat to see anywhere but I was actually kinda bummed at this point. I really wanted to see that Red-headed again and get a better photo, but due to the rarity of this sighting to begin with, it was likely just moving through the area. Some of the other birds I spotted today were; White-throated Sparrows, Blue Jay, Gray Catbird, Black-capped Chickadee,  Downy Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Phoebe, Cooper's Hawk, Mallard, Wood Duck, Great Egret, American Crow, American Robin and Song Sparrow.

Lazy Day in Late September

Today was Sunday and the weather was just beautiful for hiking through the park. I decided to bring my collapsible stool with me today and possibly just sit in the woods to see what I could see. I did just that on the southwest corner of the park –off the wood chip trail just north of the duck pond. Here I spotted a Magnolia Warbler in fall plumage! This is a beautiful Warbler any time of the year because of it's bright yellow breast with black spotting. I followed this bird everywhere, picking up my stool time and time again and setting it down closer. But as soon as I would sit down the bird would move again and so I finally just slung it over my shoulder and followed the bird on foot. It took my all the way to the opposite end of the park, all the while trying and failing at a nice, sharp photo. This was my best one and I joke that at least the butt was in focus. Besides the one Warbler, I also spotted Great Egret, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, Least Flycatcher, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, American Robin, Red-eyed Vireo, Red-bellied Woodpecker, and Gray Catbird. The last of which I managed a post-able photo of. I like the blue sky as the background and the fact that you can see a hint of the birds "rusty" colored rump patch. Near the end of my walk I scared up a couple of Wood Ducks near the railroad tie overlook at the lake. But there was one bird left that I managed not to scare away and I hid behind the cattails long enough for it to get comfortable again. As the duck closed his eyes I pushed my lens through the cattails to create my own view and snapped a few images. This was my favorite.

My 2014 Nemesis Bird Captured!

This spring, I had the fortune of having some unexpected time off of work. I spent as much of this time as I could at the park searching for springtime migrants and I had done very well for the season, even picking up a couple brand new species. But there was one bird in particular that I never spotted all spring –a Scarlet Tanager. There were visits I made where I specifically went in search of this bird, parking on my stool sitting and waiting and waiting and waiting only to never see one. On May 22nd of last year (2013) I had an amazingly close encounter with a Scarlet Tanager who was on the ground. So of course I expected to have a similar encounter this year! Yeah right. Remembering that day made me appreciate it even more after the entire spring of 2014 had passed without even a glimpse of one. I had given up hopes that I would be able to log this species for 2014, which of course is generally when something tends to happen. On the south side wood chip trail today I noticed some movement in the thick Buckthorn trees above me. I saw some bright yellow, which is always a color that makes me look closer this time of year. But this was too large to be a warbler. It was mostly obscured by the thick foliage and I didn't even have my binoculars with me. But after a few mostly blurry photos through the trees, I noticed the bird had very dark wings. Ah ha, it was a Scarlet Tanager!!! I waited and watched as patiently as I ever have for this bird to come out into the open but it just wasn't happening. A few times I could catch a better glimpse through a small opening in the leaves but every time I did, the bird would move again. I decided to try and lure it out with some bird calls but for the most part it did not seem interested. Finally after tracking faint glimpses of it's movement back and forth, it began working it's way to the edge of the tree. I found a pile of logs to climb up on and precariously tried to put myself in a good position for when it came out fully. Finally after nearly 45 minutes the bird appeared in front of me, unobstructed and with a nice blue sky behind. I quickly snapped as many pics as I could and I'm glad I did because only seconds later the bird flew off again. I tracked it to it's new spot even higher now in a Boxelder tree. To my surprise a second Scarlet Tanager flew in to meet it! Then I got an even bigger surprise when this second bird opened it's gape wide to beg for food! Indeed this was a juvenile who had been following around the parent Tanager. Though nearly impossible to capture a photo of this moment, I felt fortunate to have witnessed such a sight –and with such a special bird for my year. Though not in it's typical bright red "scarlet" coloring, I believe the parent to be a male. I could certainly be wrong but according to my Stokes Field Guide, the male would still possess black wings even in it's "yellow" (fall/winter) phase, while the female would show dark –but not black wings. Oh, I forgot to mention but in the very same place, a male AND female Rose-breasted Grosbeak both landed. They were in a very shaded area and I was not able to get a decent photo. I was so happy after my Tanager sighting that I hardly paid much attention to other birds for the rest of my walk. I did however see other species including Yellow-rumped Warbler, Eastern Phoebe, Wood Duck, Mallard, Black-capped Chickadee, Common Yellowthroat and my first "fall" White-throated Sparrows. Further on the south side I was surprised to catch a Monarch Butterfly again. It has been so cold last week that one would have a hard time imagining that they are still hatching or making their way south to Mexico for the winter. But indeed they are still around. This one grabbed hold of a small yellow flower that I believe to be Tall Hedge Mustard –a non-native if I'm correct. This was my favorite shot with the bright blue as a backdrop. Later I found another butterfly, this time a Cabbage White Butterfly on the only thistle flower in the area. In fact I'd stopped to see what was so bright pink on the edge of the trail first, right before the butterfly landed on it. I've recently read that this species of butterfly which is so common to our area is declining in the state of Florida. I am not sure what the reason is.

Sights of September

Every year that I hike around the park, there seems to be a day or two where the Carp living in Shingle Creek go crazy. They jump wildly from the water, splashing loudly and crashing back down, making quite a sight and sound. In prior years I've attempted to catch one in mid-jump but that was back with my old point-and-shoot camera which had the focus speed of a snail. This Sunday afternoon was apparently the height of "carp jumping" season as I hiked along the creek on the north side near the foot bridge. I was in awe of just how frequently one would jump –roughly 20 seconds or less apart! So I found myself a good spot to sit and watch the show and clicked away repeatedly hoping to catch just one. To my surprise I caught more than one. In fact I had enough to share an album on facebook with! This is just one of the many but I like how you can even see the fishes face in this one. On the north end of the park I wasn't seeing much for birds. But almost at the very second I crossed paths with a pair of other hikers, a bright red Cardinal came in and landed right between us! The couple obviously noticed him and pointed down, nearly touching the bird and saying "ooh look at that!" I was shocked the bird didn't fly away so I snapped a few photos just seconds later. I think this is one of the more interesting photos I've ever gotten of a Cardinal. Later on the same path, I spied a fuzzy (almost hairy) yellow-orange caterpillar. I've seen this one before but never paid much attention to it so I decided to photograph it and look it up later. If you think it looks similar to the orange and black ones known as "Woolly Bear" caterpillars, you are on the right path. This is what is known as a "Yellow Woolly Bear" or even shorter version "Yellow Bear" Caterpillar. It will turn into a nearly all white colored moth known as the "Virginia Tiger Moth."

A New Month and the Start of Fall

If you haven't realized it yet, I came up with a method of splitting up our 4 seasons into specific months for the purpose of this blog. It's not always perfectly in sync with the weather but I think it works pretty well to say what general season I spotted something in. I use December, January and February for Winter. Then March, April and May for Spring. Summer is June, July and August and Fall is September, October and November. Thus today, September 1st is the kick off of the "Fall" bird-watching season for me. And I was lucky enough to spot a Warbler in Fall plumage this evening after work. On the north side of the park I found a couple of Magnolia Warblers hopping around on some fallen branches very low to the ground. I didn't quite get a good shot but enough to positively ID the bird anyway. In fact this was the only bird I photographed tonight in the dwindling light. In the lighter areas I did notice a few different Dragonflies that were interesting. There's only a few species that I can identify but these were ones I do not know. With the day's getting shorter and cooler, they all seemed to be staying rather still and let me get right up close to them. I thought this one had a lot of color to it!