Earlier this morning, myself and other members of Friends of Palmer Lake Park held our annual spring cleanup. Except for a couple of known problem areas, we were happy to see that the park was in better shape than usual in regards to garbage. But because you can't do much bird watching while picking up litter, I decided to come back after lunch for a long and slow hike around to see what I could find. I started counter clockwise from 73rd Avenue and noticed that a few trees had been marked for removal. Whenever I see this in the park I get truly upset as I feel there's usually not good reasons that specific trees get marked.
Yes the ones shown here were somewhat dead or dying, but most of them were far enough off the trail as to not pose a safety risk. In fact the one seen on the far right with the hole about 5 feet up was home to a family of Grey Squirrels that I photographed years before. With the city continuing to cut into the woods, where will it stop? And I have yet ever to see a single invasive Buckthorn tree marked for removal. Instead they choose to remove native trees that are 100's of times more beneficial to wildlife. It gets me so angry that about all I can do is pretend not to see it. Moving on. Today was really good bird watching and I saw a lot of species I don't have room to share them all here. Some notable sights were many migrating waterfowl including Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, and Widgeon!
Near the northwest corner I paused to watch a Black-capped Chickadee poking at a seeding out Cattail. It's not too early for them to be looking at nest cavities so I like to think thats what this one was doing with the soft material. Shortly after I noticed a Common Grackle who was much more interested in finding something to eat than with me. I snapped a couple of pics that I feel really capture their colors. I'd tried for years in the past to get shots like this and this year I've managed to get more than one.
When you see them in this light they really are gorgeous looking birds. On the south side near the duck pond I spent a lot of time watching a Ruby-crowned Kinglet who was near the ground inside a thicket. Catching an unobstructed view however was quite another story. I decided to sit right on the wood chip trail and just watch and hope to get lucky.
After quite some time and a lot of attempts I was able to catch a couple of good ones. I like this one as is shows a hint of the "Ruby crown" for which they are named. A little further along the wood chip trail now on the south side of the park I was rewarded with the most close views I've
ever had of a Northern Cardinal. This female sat quietly about 4 feet off the ground to my left and must have thought she was hidden. For whatever reason she barely moved even as I inched closer.
It was quite thrilling to be this close and for a minute I wondered if she was injured or stunned or something. I snapped hundreds of pics at a close proximity and after finally exhausting different angles and even different camera settings, I slowly walked away as she stood fast in the exact same spot. I've never encountered one that seemed so tolerant. The close photo here is barely cropped at all!
Due to loss of proper habitat, Meadowlarks along with other species such as the Bobolink and Dickcissel are in steep decline. It is easy to understand why if you can remember back to when you were a kid and think about all the fields surrounding your hometown that are now fully developed into residential or commercial areas. It is a prime example of how our ever expanding population explosion is affecting our natural world. You may have asked yourself already, why would a grassland bird be found in the area of Palmer Lake? Well that's the same question I've pondered over since my friend first spotted one at the park last year! This making two years in a row one has been seen in the very same baseball field on the northwest side of the park, makes us wonder if in fact it is the same bird year to year. Also the time of year is near migration so it is very possible this bird makes a dedicated stop at Palmer to feed for a few days before moving further north or west to more suitable habitat. 
Whatever the case, it is quite a unique find for the area so when my friend notified me last night, I said "I'll be there in the morning!" We both arrived at 9:00am, parked in the lot nearest this baseball field, walked a hundred feet and there he was! Here in Minnesota we can get both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks and both birds look nearly identical save for one small stripe of color near the base of the bill. From a distance they look so similar that the best way to tell them apart is by song –which differs between the two species. This particular bird wasn't exactly cooperative in regards to a photograph however and I quickly found that it had a tendency to continually turn it's back towards us. This is likely a survival mechanism to conceal it's brightly colored yellow breast with distinct black "necklace" pattern, and instead show us his back side, mottled brown and white in order to blend in more easily. 
The bird stayed out in the open grasses of the baseball field, and it was VERY aware of our presence, continually flying off a hundred feet in the opposite direction every time we approached it. This was kind of a bummer as I was hoping to get better photos, but all in all I was more excited just to finally see and observe one –especially in the very park where I do the majority of my bird watching! After watching the bird for well over 90 minutes, we finally caught a few glimpses from the front and saw it's bright yellow and black pattern. This was the only bird I came to the park to see today but it was well worth it!
