An Extra Friday

Today is Friday the 28th of November and the day after Thanksgiving. I had an additional day off of work today so of course I went to the park. It was a dreary, overcast day and every photo I was taking was turning out dark. I didn't even know until later when I got home that the first bird I spotted today was a White-throated Sparrow, a bird which I've not seen for quite a long time and I'd assumed they had left for the season. There were hundreds of Mallards congregating in the Duck Pond on the southwest corner but no unusual ducks among them. Finally I had a great photo opportunity at a Blue Jay that perched right in front of me. And I completely blew it and this is the least-blurry shot I got. For whatever reason Blue Jays are very difficult to photograph. One would think because they're such a common species that it would not be hard, but just try getting close to one in the wild! Shortly after I spotted a Great Horned Owl perched high up on the trees but he was too far away for a good photo. I took some non-the-less but nothing worth sharing here. Probably the busiest area for birds today included House Finches, Tree Sparrows, Chickadees, Cardinals, Mourning Doves, and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. I'm still trying for better photos of House Finch as they can be a very pretty bird. But with the light being what it is lately I'm lucky if any of the male's violet-red color shows up at all. I was happy though to get photos of both the male and female House Finch today.

A Short Sunday Stroll

My hike around the park today was on the shorter side, only about 90 minutes. I still spotted some interesting things including a dead Deer laying just inside the paved trail near 69th Avenue. It appeared fairly fresh and looked like it had been hit by a car, breaking one of it's back legs. I did take some photos but have decided not to post them. I then spotted a Red-bellied Woodpecker (a male) working his way up a tree in search of food. People often wonder why they are called "red-bellied" but this photo shows just a bit of the reason. Notice how he's also using his tail feathers as a third point of contact to steady himself against the tree. This is something that I believe all Woodpeckers do. The recent snowfall has melted away from the paved trails but is still clinging to the ground in other places. But on the north sided the snow had receded beyond the pavement enough to provide an alluring edge for other birds, including this American Tree Sparrow. In this photo it appears to be pulling at grass, but it would be more likely that it's looking for some kind of seed, or even possibly an insect to eat. I'm amazed at what birds can find all winter long to keep themselves fed. Sometimes it might not be so obvious to us. The Tree Sparrow wasn't the only bird taking advantage of the area. This Dark-eyed Junco was doing a little foraging of his own. I find this bird a tough species to approach closely, which just makes me try even harder to get in closer for a photo. This one is cropped down a bit but has some good detail still. As the winter season rolls in, the Juncos will be one bird I'll start seeing much more of. Other birds seen today included; Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee and White-breasted Nuthatch.

15 Birds, 2 Mink and Some Insects!

I can hardly believe it is only late November now as the weather we've had since our first snow on the 10th has felt much more like December or even January. We've already dipped below 0º and had a couple more snowfalls and it's not even December! This Saturday was slightly warmer and I was anxious to hike around the park. I started tallying up the number of bird species that I spotted because it is just so slow this time of year. After watching some Chickadees and Juncos moving back and forth from the cattails, I spied a small group of Cedar Waxwings picking at the Buckthorn berries. The light wasn't so good and especially shooting upwards like this but I like this picture non-the-less. When I got over to the "duck pond" I started to see all sorts of birds including a few House Finches and Goldfinches. I always enjoy seeing or hearing Goldfinches in the wintertime as they remind me very much of Summer. I'm guessing this one might be an adult male in his winter-time plumage since he shows a bit of very bright yellow still on his face. The Mallards have been slowly growing in numbers since the first snow and I always stop to check out the group just in case there's a stray duck of a different species among them. So far now luck. I did try my hand at catching a picture whenever one would bathe or stretch it's wings and this was the best of the bunch. I'm still no good at catching movement and not having it appear blurry. My very best photo of the day however would be taken just minutes later after I spotted a handful of Cardinals –males and females– moving around low in some dogwood. I crept closer very slowly and positioned myself perfectly on this male somehow without spooking him. He had clearly just eaten something as evident by food left on his bill, so he must have been content just to sit there for a while. So I took advantage and popped off numerous shots and got a couple of very sharp ones. For me, a decent photograph of even a common bird can make my whole day of bird watching well worth it. And at this time of year when everything outdoors starts fading into black or white, a bright red Cardinal is very appreciated! In a short while later I spotted another flash of red, this time being on a Red-bellied Woodpecker. It was here in this same area on the wood chip trail bordering the duck pond that I spotted the majority of the birds I saw today. I believe I had roughly 15 total including:
1. Dark-eyed Junco
2. Black-capped Chickadee
3. American Crow
4. Mallard
5. Blue Jay
6. Northern Cardinal
7. Cedar Waxwing
8. Downy Woodpecker
9. Hairy Woodpecker
10. Red-bellied Woodpecker
11. House Finch
12. American Goldfinch
13. American Tree Sparrow
14. American Robin
15. White-breasted Nuthatch
Aside from these birds, I actually spotted not one but two different Mink! One nearly ran into my foot as I hiked along the wood chip trail on the south side of the park. I could hear shrieking in this area and at first I thought a Raptor had caught a rodent of some kind. But I quickly learned it was indeed a Mink moving through the cattails at a hurried pace –possibly with another one chasing it, though I only saw the one. Then on the complete opposite end of the park, I spotted another one. This time bounding up the banks of the drainage ditch under the northern most paved trail that leads out of the park. Neither one stayed put long enough for a photo of any kind. However it was here that I spotted something interesting –flying insects! There were 2 or 3 of them flying through the air and landing on dried Goldenrod plants. I could hardly believe what I was seeing considering how cold it has been. Simply amazing what nature can withstand.

Partly Sunny Snowy Sunday

Though I hiked all the way around the park today I really don't have any photos worth sharing. But I'll have to pick at least one I guess. With a good few inches of snow on the ground already, the wildlife activity has slowed quickly. There were however Mallards in the Duck Pond and up on the banks sitting in the snow. I also saw Black-capped Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker, an American Crow and a few Cedar Waxwings. One bird I had a tough time figuring out was this one pictured below. It was hard to make out agains the low sun but I finally determined that it is a female House Sparrow.

A Gem of a Bird Sighting

Just a day or two ago, a birder friend of mine who frequents the Palmer Lake Park area, notified me of a most unusual sighting. When I heard the news I could hardly believe it. The particular bird was a species of Owl that is rarely seen, even by the vast majority of bird watchers. But not necessarily for reasons of having a small population. Rather, this Owl is highly nocturnal, very small, and moves very little during the daytime. Like a few other species of Owl it is actually considered "common, but rarely seen." My friend volunteered to meet me at the park today in hopes that we could find it again together. It was 10am and there was a touch of hoarfrost on the trees still left from this morning. It also felt like it might start snowing at any moment. I paced nervously back and forth, mulling over the odds of whether the bird would still be there or had moved on. Finally my friend arrived and we hiked a short distance to the area. There smack dab in front of me was in fact a Northern Saw-whet Owl! At this time I knew very little about this species other than it was small. Well "small" is a relative term and I wasn't quite fully understanding of just how small this bird actually is. Because of it's "square-ish" head shape and stature, my friend had compared it's size to that of a "can of pop." That comparison was hard to believe, that is until I saw the bird in person. It was in awe over it's diminutive proportions and equally in awe of just how little it moved even though we stood just 12 to 15 feet away from it. It appeared like a statue, with only the very slightest of slow, drawn out movement. In viewing the bird for only a few minutes, I fully understood why this was such a special sighting. Indeed the reason for it's extreme lack of movement was that our "daytime" was it's "nighttime." This bird likely just spent the entire night, and most of it's energy to hunt and feed itself. Now it was time to sleep, and equally important, to remain hidden from other larger predators. With the bird hardly having opened his eyes only halfway just to check us out, we decided to back off and hike around some other areas of the park for a while. At this point, I could have seen absolutely nothing else for the rest of the day and I would have still been on cloud 9 having added this very special bird to my "life list." It had begun snowing shortly afterward and as we made our way along, we both noticed a Doe underneath a large Buckthorn tree. Scanning through the tall grass, I picked up on a much larger Deer, a big Buck with a large neck and a healthy 8-point set of antlers. He was mostly hidden in the grass and this was the best photo I could muster. It seems like Bucks are harder to come by in the park lately, possibly due to the continued bow hunts sanctioned by the City of Brooklyn Park each Fall. In fact it seems like the Deer population in total has dropped considerably over the last year or so. In watching the Deer, we also noticed a bird perched near the very top of the same tree sheltering the Doe below. In the Fall and Winter time if you see one lone, robin-sized bird perched at the very top of a tree, you should look twice as we both have learned to do. For it could be...and it was this time...a Northern Shrike. I'll have to double check but I belive this is my first sighting of one this year! This is yet another special bird for all of it's own reasons. Unlike other birds it's size that eat seeds, berries and insects, this bird hunts and eats small rodents and other small birds! This would be comparable to the diet of other raptors, including the Saw-whet Owl seen earlier. However the Northern Shrike is not considered a raptor because it does not "catch" it's prey with it's feet –or talons, which it doesn't have. Instead it "hooks" it's prey, sometimes in mid-air with it's sharp and hooked bill. Further adding to the charm of this killer bird is the fact that it will often "impale" it's victim onto a sharp twig or even barbed wire. This is done for two reasons actually. Probably the most important is that so the Shrike can then pick and eat at it's prey without having to hold it's meal down with it's own feet. Though I have seen them do so. The second reason though is that the Shrike with catch more food than it can consume in a given day and will store, or "cache" it's meals for future consumption. So if you're ever out walking and discover a mouse or vole impaled upon a twig or even barbed wire, it was most likely placed there by a Northern Shrike! Pretty interesting bird huh? Definitely one of my favorite species. With the snow picking up and coming down in big white, fluffy flakes, the two of didn't see much more for the remainder of our hike. Having called it a day, we decided to see if the Saw-whet Owl was still there, so we hiked all the way back. As testament to how little this bird moves, we found that the little Owl had sat quietly this entire time in the exact same spot and simply let the snow begin to pile up on top of his little head! The more I learned about this Owl's behavior the more fascinating he became. This time he had his eyes open now, at least part way. We stood the same distance away just watching the snow pile up on his head while he did his best impression of an Owl statue. Something I noticed now that I hadn't before is that the small white markings on the top of his head. They seemed to be designed to resemble the falling snow that was now landing on him. What an interesting bird! I can't possibly give enough thanks to the friend who shared this sighting with me.

First Snow of the Season

Today was Monday and again I was off of work –trying my hardest to use up my many vacation days still remaining for the year. It was pretty well predicted that today we were going to see our first snow of the season. I had been preparing next year's butterfly garden in my yard the day before but planting oodles of milkweed seeds before the snow fell and I was just in time. By morning it was snowing pretty good and quite windy so I decided to visit the park just because I could. The wind was blowing so hard that I was getting stung in the face by the wet, icy snow and thus I decided not to go around the entire park. I started on the east side, going to the bridge over Shingle Creek on the north side and then back again. The birds were certainly aware of the weather too and I honestly can't say I really saw anything of interest other than a large flock of Canada Geese grounded by the winter storm. They sat together in the baseball field on the east side, most of them with their heads tucked under their wings. We could be in for a long winter it seems.

Second Saturday in November

In the previous few years these are days that I would not have been to the park. Instead I would have been out Deer hunting. Like many Minnesotan's I'd grown up in a family where Deer hunting was a family tradition. I enjoyed some memorable times outdoors with my Dad, hunting in various places across the state. When my dad tired of the activity, I took it up again with some friends. Long story short, I too tired of it –but much earlier in life than my father had. I believe this is the 2nd year now that I've not gone and I really don't miss it at all. Since taking up nature photography, I get the "thrill of the hunt" every time I embark on a nature hike. And through my photos, I get to take and keep the things that I see. The first thing of note that I saw today was a White-breasted Nuthatch who shuffled around a tree just above me. This is one of those under-appreciated common birds that become even more common this time of year. It's "yank yank" call together with Chickadees and Blue Jays are the three birds that remind me most of Deer hunting. I decided to check out the "duck pond" on the southwest corner and was surprised to still see a couple of Northern Shovelers here! I was excited to find this species at the park at all this fall, but to have them still hanging around near mid November is even better. I saw what looked to be 2 females but no sign of a male. Shovelers are one of the first springtime Ducks I see each year at the park. Other than a Woodpecker and a Red-tailed Hawk I wasn't really seeing much else on this quiet day. I decided to hike through the woods to see what else I might find. To my surprise, I came across a shed antler deep in the woods on the north side. This is only my second shed find ever, but it was in such rough shape that I let it go. Covered in green mold and the tines chewed in half, I would think this shed must have fallen sometime this early spring. It was still neat to find and at least I have a photo to show it. I found it very fitting that I found this on opening day of Deer hunting, took a photo and then left it. I recently saw a quote somewhere that read "take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints." I really like that phrase and it fits well with my new attitude towards nature.

Two First-of-Fall Birds

This Thrusday I was off of work and so I made a quick visit to the park. I would walk only from the culdesac on 73rd Ave. to the bridge and back. It was a quiet day with not a lot of wildlife activity. The first thing I spotted were a couple of Cardinals munching on the Buckthorn berries. Here in this area of the park there are always a handful of birds attracted to these berries. I've even recently seen the Junco's eating them. A little further down near the dried drainage ditch and big Cottonwoods, I spotted my first-of-fall European Starling. It's not all that exciting to see Starlings. I've been told that they are just 1 of only 2 birds that are not federally protected by the US Fish and Wildlife Service but I'm still trying to verify that. Starlings are indeed a non-native species that were introduced to the US from Europe in the 1800's. While watching the Starling, I could hear two other birds with a familiar "squawk" call. One of these for sure was a Red-winged Blackbird, but I could swear the other one was a Grackle –which I've not seen in some time now. I searched around everywhere trying to follow the sound to the bird, which is sometimes more difficult than you think. There he was, straight out from me and much higher than I thought the sound was, a Common Grackle. Slightly larger than a RWB and with bright yellow eyes, he appeared no different in plumage than when I'd seen them in the spring and summer.

Searching for Owls on Monday Afternoon

I had off of work this Monday and decided to visit the park in the late afternoon around 3:30pm. I hadn't intended to hike around the entire perimeter of the park but make it to the foot bridge over Shingle Creek and back. Shortly after setting out on the north side I spotted a nice looking male Cardinal that I tried to sneak up on since he was at eye level. I caught him through an opening in the thick brush and snapped a couple of photos that turned out very well I think. After heading on and nearing the creek, I heard a very strange noise and stopped to listen. It was a ways away but to me sounded very much like a Screech Owl. Since I've never seen one in the wild I got excited and decided to trek around the outer edge of the field on the north side that butts up against a drainage ditch and some townhomes. After poking around for a long while the only thing I saw was a Buck who took off running at top speed. I decided to try for a photo anyway since it was a Buck and this is what I got. Funny thing I hadn't noticed at the time that his tongue was out. I wonder how they don't bite their tongue while running so fast! After spending a lot of time in this area and not seeing anything else, I'd run out of daylight already. But upon heading back towards my vehicle, I heard another Owl –this time an unmistakable sound of a Great Horned Owl. It sounded very close too so I headed back on the other trail that leads out of the park. Sure enough there he was, perched high up in an Oak tree. I took this photo at 4:56pm and at the time the Owl was mostly just a dark blob. So I lightened up the photo the best I could. This is the first GHO I've seen this fall at the park!

Another Sunny Day

I arrived at the park in the afternoon today sometime after 2:30pm. By now it had warmed up quite a bit and it was yet another gorgeous day to be outside. Now that November is here, every day like this is all the more precious. With all the hiking I've been doing around the park this Spring, Summer and Fall, I need to really start keeping my posts shorter and more manageable. Right now I have over a dozen folders from previous visits that I've not posted yet. Because my goal with this blog is to document every single visit, I sometimes find myself in the situation of having to write about a walk I took months ago. Oh well, usually my photos are pretty good reminders of each and every day. The first good photo I got on today's visit was this Hairy Woodpecker. The light was really nice and I like that the background showed up darker than the bird. It's that time of year now when sadly, I start to get excited about Woodpeckers. The thing is, they really start to be the only interesting birds around on a regular basis. Excluding Owls I mean, which can be way tougher to find. I caught another Woodpecker today –a Red-bellied– in the act of probing a tree for insects. This is a male with the red crown coming at least over the top of the head. My last bird I was really happy to see and photograph today was a Fox Sparrow. I'd been seeing one here and there but struggling to get a shot. This one posed for me along the wood chip trail on the southwest side. He was kind of half in the sun and half in the shade but at least I got close to it. From it's bill, it appeared to have been eating some dark berries. I'm guessing probably Buckthorn berries. Other birds spotted today included; Dark-eyed Junco, American Robin (oodles of them), Blue Jay, Cedar Waxwing (juveniles), Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadees, and the Muscovy Duck was still there too! Oh, I also found a dead, pure white mouse way out in the field while hiking off trail. I thought that kind of odd and don't know what to make of it. I guess it's just an albino.

An Icy Morning and a New Month

This Saturday morning was the first of November and a chilly one at that. It was the first time this fall that I've noticed a thin layer of ice any water. When I stopped at the railroad-tie overlook on the south side I spotted a Coot standing right up on the ice while others swam in the water just feet away. It was a beautifully sunny morning though and I thought this was a nice view with the reflection of the birds and cattails. Near the south east corner on the wood chip trail, I was surprised by these two younger looking deer. I pretended not to pay any attention to them, looking the other way for a bit which I've found to make them more curious and sometimes come closer. It did prove effective again and the pair inched closer as I took more photos. At a certain point the nearest one began stomping his front leg into the ground which I take to mean that they wanted me to go away! I was about to get up and move back to give them some more space when they both leapt up and into the nearest woods. I spent a lot of time later around the "duck pond" as I was seeing periodic glimpses of a Fox Sparrow which is a bird I don't have very good photos of yet. By the way, the Muscovy Duck was still here today. In between chasing the Fox Sparrow back and forth, I came across many Dark-eyed Juncos. Though they are such a common bird I think they are fun and challenging to photograph. This one turned out with a lot of detail but like SO many photos I take there are twigs in the way. Oh well. Along with a few Black-capped Chickadees, I saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker and then this Downy Woodpecker who paused just for a brief second before digging into the bark of this tree. Oh, I almost forgot. I saw something else very interesting just minutes after leaving my vehicle on the east side. Right at eye level in the Willow and Dogwood was a dead mouse draped over a thin branch. This was probably the most obvious "Shrike cache" that I've come across yet at the park. This mouse was killed and placed here for later by a Northern Shrike, a bird that is known for doing just that. I've not seen one at the park yet this fall but I've heard from others that they are back. Hopefully it wont be long now until I finally spot one!