I had this Friday off of work and it was a beautiful day to watch wildlife in the park. There are many dozens of Mallard chicks on the little ponds now and they are fun to watch scoot across the water after their parents.
Near one of these little ponds I noticed a female Red-winged Blackbird straddling between two Cattail stems. Although she had her back to me she turned her head and I thought it made a nice picture! The females can actually be more fun and easy to photograph because they're not solid black like the males where you don't see many feather details.
Near the northwest corner of the park I happened upon a vocal little bird that ended up coming closer to me when I "pished" (making a sound that sometimes draws curious birds closer). It ended up to be a Warbling Vireo and this is likely the best views I've had of this species so far. It came down to nearly eye level and posed well for me a number of times.
I could see even with my naked eye that it had some feathers missing near the bottom of it's breast and so it's possible it escaped a larger bird of prey in recent times. As with all Vireo species, you can see a very thin "hook" at the end of it's bill but I'm not exactly sure why this is. There were also many Tree Swallows visible today. This species and other Swallows are almost always seen in flight and seeing one perched is always a treat.
Their blueish feathering is highly reflective but this one also had a lot of brown visible so it could have been a first Spring bird. Later I stumbled upon a nice big Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant which is a native Minnesota wildflower.
Other birds seen today included; Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch, Wood Duck, Common Grackle, Killdeer, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart (male and female), Least Flycatcher, Hairy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and an Eastern Kingbird –a species I rarely see here for some reason!
Near one of these little ponds I noticed a female Red-winged Blackbird straddling between two Cattail stems. Although she had her back to me she turned her head and I thought it made a nice picture! The females can actually be more fun and easy to photograph because they're not solid black like the males where you don't see many feather details. 
Near the northwest corner of the park I happened upon a vocal little bird that ended up coming closer to me when I "pished" (making a sound that sometimes draws curious birds closer). It ended up to be a Warbling Vireo and this is likely the best views I've had of this species so far. It came down to nearly eye level and posed well for me a number of times. 
I could see even with my naked eye that it had some feathers missing near the bottom of it's breast and so it's possible it escaped a larger bird of prey in recent times. As with all Vireo species, you can see a very thin "hook" at the end of it's bill but I'm not exactly sure why this is. There were also many Tree Swallows visible today. This species and other Swallows are almost always seen in flight and seeing one perched is always a treat. 
Their blueish feathering is highly reflective but this one also had a lot of brown visible so it could have been a first Spring bird. Later I stumbled upon a nice big Jack-in-the-Pulpit plant which is a native Minnesota wildflower. 
Other birds seen today included; Baltimore Oriole, American Goldfinch, Wood Duck, Common Grackle, Killdeer, Yellow Warbler, American Redstart (male and female), Least Flycatcher, Hairy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and an Eastern Kingbird –a species I rarely see here for some reason!
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