Birds and Caterpillars and Mink, Oh My!

Well there are slowly but surely signs that the season is changing. There are only a few days left of February (including a leap year day) and then technically winter is over. When I say technically I mean "meteorologically" that Spring spans the months of March, April and May. I had a FOY (first of year) bird right off the bat today when I spotted a Brown Creeper making his way up a tree. I actually heard him first, which is only one of a handful of times that I've ever heard them make any noise. It was a high-pitched sound and I first thought it was a Cedar Waxwing which made me look up and find him. I didn't get a great photo but it was a good find regardless. On the duck pond was one lone Canada Goose who appeared to be soaking up the sun along the shoreline. I've seen a few small flocks moving around as of late which is another good sign. Since it was such nice light and relatively mild in temperature I decided to just stand for a while near where the water flows under the wood chip trail. In nearly no time at all, I heard a loud creature making it's way towards me. I though it was a Deer at first but I could see nothing. Then I saw a flash of white near the ground which made me thing it was a Rabbit or something. It continued toward me in a hurry and all of a sudden there appeared a Mink carrying his prey! I could hardly believe it. He stopped right in front of me on the edge of the water, likely sensing my presence but not actually seeing me. He was carrying quite a large chuck of dead animal and I'm still trying to figure out what exactly it was. It had almost white fur and reminded me of an Opossum but that seems kind of unlikely for the area. Whatever it was, it clearly lost a battle to the Mink which isn't surprising as Mink are apparently quite viscous little critters. It was one of the more interesting Mink sightings I've had at the park! Later I made my way around the remainder of the park stopping here and there for Chickadees, a male Red-bellied Woodpecker, a pair of Red-tailed Hawks and even a FOY Wooly Bear Caterpillar crossing the trail. Actually there were two caterpillars as well, just a few yards apart. Spring will be here soon!

Another Slow Day

This February has been some of the slowest birding I can remember. But I keep telling myself how normal that is for this time of year. Unless you get really lucky, one can only hope to see the "usual suspects" of Woodpeckers, Chickadees and Mallards. I guess the most interesting thing I saw today was a Muskrat who appeared for a bit in the creek on the south side of the park. I feel like I used to see Muskrat more often and now they have become scarce for some reason. When he went down under the water I saw his long, hairless tail slip beneath the surface. A visit to the duck pond turned up the usual Mallards only but they can be fun to watch non the less. I caught this one doing his morning yoga stretches. Later on the south side I spent a lot of time watching some Black-capped Chickadees. I had brought along a jar of peanut butter today and was leaving gobs of it on some nice red Dogwood shrubs in hopes of enticing them to pose nicely for me. But after many minutes of waiting around, they still hadn't found it and were more interested in whatever was on the ground below the shrubs. Eventually some did come up near eye level but when I left they still hadn't found the peanut butter. Other birds seen today included; Red-tailed Hawk and Northern Cardinal.

Goodbye January!

Well another January is officially in the books and I'm pretty happy that today is the first day of February. We're just one month closer to spring in my view! The park is anything but spring-like though and likely wont be for quite some time. I didn't arrive until late afternoon, and with an already cloudy day, I had very limited time for photos. Not too long into my walk around the park, I came upon a group of Dark-eyed Juncos. I watched them for a while, not know if I would see anything else of interest on such a gloomy day. Junco's really fit in nicely on a gloomy day with their lack of color. As of late I've been trying quite hard for better photos of both Junco's and Chickadees. But as they are both small, move quickly and blend into the winter landscape, well it's quite the challenge. At least this one who paused for a brief second had a bit of a warm toned background behind. I think the group of birds were attracted to this particular tree because of it's seeds or something. But then maybe that wasn't the reason. On the ground beneath the tree lay a chuck of bread that looked freshly discarded. And to my surprise, the Juncos would land in a small group around the bread and nibble at it! I would have never guessed they'd try to eat bread, but in a Minnesota winter, I think all animals do whatever it takes. After this I spent most of my time at the duck pond, photographing the Mallards with the fading light. "Whitey" the pure white Mallard was present, but I liked this photo of Mr. Green better.