Duck, Duck, Odd Duck!

Today was Monday and I had the day off of work. My car was in the shop however so I hadn't quite planned on getting to the park. But earlier in the afternoon, my friend Ron (a talented birder and photographer) called me to say he'd seen a Duck today at PLP that I might be interested in –a Muscovy Duck! This is a species I've never seen before, much less at the park. So I kind of paced back and forth at home for a while, hoping I might hear about my car soon. As luck would have it, they called and I nearly ran down the street (the shop is only blocks from my house) with my camera in hand. As I hastily signed the paperwork, I told the woman at the desk that I was going to go over the park and hopefully track down this odd duck to photograph it. She must've thought I was crazy - LOL! I drove over quickly to the area of the park where Ron had spotted it –in the "duck pond" on the southeast corner. But when I got on the trail I didn't see ANY ducks anywhere. I decided to walk quietly along the wood chip trail alongside the pond, hoping maybe it was huddled up with some Mallards further up. But then I heard something scurrying very near the water only feet away from me. I stopped, waited and lo and behold there it was! The duck was all by itself but it was definitely not afraid of me. Muscovy Ducks –around here anyway– are not a wild breed, but rather a domesticated duck. They are commonly raised on farms and are only 1 of 2 ducks that have been domesticated, the other being the Mallard. The photos I've seen before of this species have shown the bird to have quite large and ugly folds of skin around the head and bill much like a Wild Turkey. But this bird didn't have that and was actually quite beautiful. He eventually made his way back into the water and seemed to "befriend" a pair of Northern Shovelers that were also here in the pond. He dwarfed the Shovelers, appearing to be almost a full 2x their size. I hadn't quite realized how big he was until then and again later when some other Mallards came near. He seemed content to hang around the banks of the pond, drinking some water by scooping it up and tilting his head back. Here I got great views of his colorful blue back side. I have no idea what might have brought this duck to PLP. Had it escaped from a farm? Was it possibly released here by someone who no longer wanted him? He certainly did seem to be the odd duck out though as he continued to approach other Mallards only to have them quickly move away from him. Later at home I read up some on the Muscovy Duck. Apparently they can be seen at the MN State Fair but that is one place I typically try to avoid.

Some Good Sights for the Late Season

Halloween is only days away now but we've continued to have beautiful weather this late fall with daytime temps sometimes reaching into the upper 60's. It's made for enjoyable walks at the park and I've yet needed to wear my winter hat to do so! This Sunday morning I arrived around 8:40am and saw quite a few birds within the first 20-25 minutes including; Bald Eagle, American Tree Sparrow, American Coot, and a few Red-winged Blackbirds! The Blackbirds could be heard singing loudly from the treetops –a sound I've not heard since Springtime. And with the weather as nice as it was it really did feel like a warm spring morning. Near the pond on the south side I started to watch the Blackbirds and noticed what looked to be a different bird among them. Indeed there was a group of about a dozen "Rusty Blackbirds" mixed in! These have been a somewhat rare sight for me until last Spring when I saw them near the river and also at PLP. But I believe this is my first sighting of one in the Fall which is neat. At this time of year they can look rather similar to the juvenile RW-Blackbirds but they obviously lack the red & yellow wing bar and are even more "rusty" looking in color. The most obvious thing to me is that they have a fairly noticeable yellow colored eye as opposed to the sold black eye of the Red-winged. This one landed close to me but was mostly blocked by grass and is the best photo I got. Either the air temp was warmer than the water or visa versa, but on the "Duck Pond" on the southwest corner of the park, there was mist hanging over the water. To my surprise there are still a pair of Northern Shovelers hanging out here! They both seem to be females and I saw now sign of the male that I spotted back on October 4th. Sometimes I forget just how much smaller a Shoveler is until they come in contact with a Mallard and then it is obvious. Speaking of Mallards, a whole group of them hopped up onto the banks of Shingle Creek on the north side and began following me down the trail! It's obvious from this behavior that people have been feeding them. I just let them huddle around me and continued walking slowly, trying not to step on any of them. By now the morning sun was hanging low in the sky and a few of the males were looking quite brilliant in the sun. I tell people that whenever I can't find any good birds, I resort to trying to capture the iridescent quality of Mallard heads - ha! And in some instances it can actually be worth it. I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. My last photo shared here today is one of many American Tree Sparrows back on the east side. The Tree Sparrow is a bird that is just not returning for the winter time –arriving even later than Junco's in most cases. The best way to ID them is that their upper and lower bills are different in color –yellow on bottom and dark on the top. A few other birds I spotted today included a Fox Sparrow, Northern Cardinal, Dark-eyed Junco, Cedar Waxwing, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker and American Crow.

A Somewhat Un-birdy Day

I visited the park today around 12:15 in the afternoon. I had been out of town yesterday visiting some MN State Parks in the Alexandria area. In all the hiking I did on Saturday I saw very few birds so I was anxious to get to PLP and hopefully see some more. But much like the larger State Parks, today was very slow for birdwatching. In fact I think I had only seen about 10 birds –not 10 species– but 10 birds total by the time I was 4/5ths of the way around. Then finally near Shingle Creek on the south side I spotted a bit of movement. There were 2 Eastern Phoebes skimming the water here in search of insects. I had many opportunities to photograph them as this particular species is just not very skittish of people at all. Phoebes are known for constantly flicking their tail and also for "hawking" for insects, meaning they will often fly out from their perch after an insect and then land in the exact same spot again. One more reason they are easier to photograph than many other birds. Just a few minutes earlier I had spotted a group of about 40-50 Coots out in the lake near here. They are the first Coots I've seen at the park this fall but they were a little too far away for any good photos. But while sitting on the banks of the creek watching the Phoebes, one lone coot came swimming down the creek nearly in front of me. I took advantage before he scared off and at this close distance I could see his red colored eyes. I was hoping others might come in towards me too but for some reason it was just the one. Eventually he turned around and headed back out towards his group. Also here I spotted a Pied-billed Grebe, another FOF (first of fall) for the park. He too quickly headed out into the larger area of the lake. Other sightings for the day included; American Robin, Song Sparrow, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Mallard, Wood Duck, Ring-billed Gull and one single Yellow-rumped Warbler. Near the end of my walk I noticed that the miniature Maple Tree on the east side was in nearly full fall color. There is NOT a lot of colorful foliage to be seen at Palmer Lake Park in the fall, but this particular tree turns a brilliant red every year about this time. I recently had a friend tell me that this tree was a Maple variety from China. I have a hard time remembering but I'm fairly certain he said it was an "Amur Maple" synonymous with the Amur River in China. Reading a bit about it now led me to the MN DNR's website that lists it under their "invasive species" section! I guess I shouldn't be too shocked as I've been coming to realize just how many non-native and other invasives are present within this park.

Still Some Good Birds!

It was warm this Sunday in early October but I did not make it to the park until late afternoon around 4:30pm. Daylight runs out quick these days so I knew I only had a limited time to find some birds today. I started out by hiking across the field just east of the creek on the north side. It is still full of tall grass but most of it is laying down now making it a little easier to see. Here and there I was scaring up sparrows and they would fly to the next withering bush just out of range. But finally I caught up with a small group of them and began taking photos. I could tell right away that they weren't "common" sparrows like maybe a Song or White-throated Sparrow. These showed more rusty-red coloring on their wings which is usually indicative of a Swamp Sparrow. I had to get clarification on this photo to be sure but indeed it IS a Swamp Sparrow! I only just learned this species earlier this spring so I was happy to see one again and even happier to get a decent photo! I kept creeping through the grass which led me to the edge of the woods on the other side of the field. Here I found kind of a neat area that I've only maybe walked through one other time. It is an interesting part of the park with a bit of diverse habitat. Here I started to see other birds flying about and I quickly picked up on one that I've been trying to find again since last week –a Swainson's Thrush. By this time the evening sun was casting an warm, orange glow on everything which to me is ideal light for photographs. I tried and tried and tried to get close to the Thrush but he would quickly move further away from me each time, so I had to settle on this photo which is quite cropped. I didn't actually see his backside or tail which is the best way to differentiate the various species of Thrush. I can't be 100% but since my good birder friend pointed out a Swainson's Thrush to me only yesterday, odds are best that this is also a Swainson's. In this same area I was seeing some even smaller birds flitting about, some moving quickly which would usually indicate a Warbler. Indeed, I spotted a Yellow-rumped Warbler and then suddenly a flash of bright yellow appeared. This was too bright for a Kinglet so it also had to be some kind of Warbler. To my surprise it was a Nashville Warbler as indicated by it's gray "hood" and sharp white eye-ring. I think I saw more Nahsville's this year in the park than in all previous years. But I think my identification skills are getting better too. Or at least I hope they are! Regardless, this was one pretty bird to see yet nearly one week into the month of October.

Two Visits and Another FOF

My visit –or should I say visits– to the park this Saturday were memorable for a number of reasons. First when I arrived in the morning around 10:45am, I ran into another bird watcher/naturalist who has become a good friend of mine simply through bumping into each other at the park. He is much more experienced than I am and so I figured I would walk with him a bit as two pairs of eyes are always better than one. He quickly pointed out a few birds I may have missed; an Eastern Phoebe, Swainson's Thrush and then some Warblers. As we watched the Warblers from afar I identified one of them as a Magnolia, which was a great sighting for the day. We then crept closer and found some Palm Warblers who actually held still for a few photos from me. They are easily the most photogenic of all the Warblers, sometimes seeming to even pose for you. We then hiked to the culdesac on 73rd Ave where he had parked and were about to part ways when another bird watcher/naturalist friend of mine showed up. So then we hiked the remainder of the way around the park, covering twice the amount of ground in about half the time I had just gone - LOL! While I certainly enjoy the company of like minded nature lovers –and boy do I ever learn a lot from them– I often don't pause or lollygag around much when I'm with another person. And that is when I tend to get my best photographs when I'm by myself. So after coming home for a quick lunch I actually headed back to the park for a lazy afternoon of bird watching on my own. After sitting in the woods for a while and again always just missing shots of too quick Warblers, I decided to go over to the drainage pond or "Duck Pond" on the southwest corner of the park. I knew there were a few Wood Ducks around and so I thought maybe I could sneak up on one. But while walking on the wood chip trail that borders this pond I noticed a smaller sized duck with a very large bill. It was a Northern Shoveler! Only just that morning I had got into a discussion with my friend about Shovelers and we both said that neither of us had seen one at the park in Fall. And just like that, here they were, at least one male and one female swimming alongside the Mallards. I quickly took a few photos while I was close enough but each duck was kind of in the shade of the trees. They quickly scared off and took flight much like Wood Ducks do. I decided to hike around to the other side of the pond. Here there is no trail so I went through the woods and inched my way up to the edge of the water, concealing myself behind the tall grass. I had my stool with me and after sitting for a while the group of ducks would swim towards me. There again among the Mallards was not just one pair but two pairs of Shovelers! This was a much better view, with the light from behind me this time though a bit further away. I snapped many many pics hoping to get at least one decent one with both the male and female together. I went back through my blog postings later in the day to verify and yes indeed these were the first Northern Shovelers I've ever seen at the park in fall! It makes one wonder if they might even be the very same birds that I saw in April of this year. Later a few Wood Ducks eventually became comfortable with me too and moved in a little closer. The light was fantastic by this time in late afternoon and the colors of the male shown spectacularly. This one did a big old stretch and I took a photo right then which was my favorite of the day.