Great Backyard Bird Count - Day 2

On my second day of the Great Backyard Bird Count, I saw almost exactly half the total number of the birds I saw yesterday. Yesterdays total was 57 and today was only 28. As I said before it's a bit frustrating to be counting and reporting birds on such a slow time for them here in Minnesota. I guess the flip side is that it is much more manageable and easy to remember. I photographed only 3 species total; another Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Red-tailed Hawk from a long ways away, and finally this Crow who was right above me.

I've gotta say that I don't always pay that much attention to Crows as they are so common, and not much to look at. They're also very hard to photograph because their lack of color often hides their features. So I like how in this photo you can see some of his feathers and even his eye.

Total bird count for Sunday February 17th, 2013
Black-capped Chickadee – 6
Mallard – 8
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 3
Downy Woodpecker – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – 1
Red-tailed Hawk – 1
Northern Cardinal – 3
American Robin – 1
American Crow – 3

Gonna be a Cooold Christmas!

Today is Monday, December 24th and my workplace is closed for the Christmas holiday. With all the days off this late December I am trying to squeeze in as many visits to the park as I can before the new year. The only downside is that it's been quite cold -even for this time of year. It feels a bit more like January or February instead of December. This Christmas we are predicted to hit a low of 0 degrees for the first time this year -and it will supposedly be the coldest Christmas day in 12 years! The first thing I spotted today on the southeast side was this Red-tailed Hawk who didn't enjoy my company very much and immediately took off as soon as I raised my camera. Typically I wouldn't get the shot but I must have been just a split second ahead of him and caught him right as he was about to dive. With the cold temps I am finally starting to see a lot more Woodpeckers -Downy, Hairy, and Red-bellied, though I'm still struggling to catch a good photo. Juncos have been fairly scarce lately though I'm not sure but there are still lots of Blue Jays, the occasional Cardinal and of course tons of Chickadees. Sometimes Chickadees seem to be the only birds that are out and about on many of my winter walks. Today I caught one in the act of grabbing a Buckthorn berry. I've seen plenty of other birds eating them but never a Chickadee so I thought that was kind of interesting. A new friend of mine (and an expert in trees and plants) recently told me that the species name of Common Buckthron is "Rhamnus cathartica" which refers to the laxative properties of it's berries. Birds eat them but then quickly poop them out, ensuring the spread of more trees. At Palmer Lake Park there are enough Buckthorn berries to last the entire winter and then some. Later back on the east side I noticed this Crow with a snack of his own that definitely didn't come from a tree. It looked as if he had either one of those snack crackers or possibly a piece of cheese. I didn't see where he got it from but he looked quite proud to have found it and held it in his beak for quite a while without any attempt to eat it. I thought it was kind of funny so I snapped this photo after watching him for a while. Oddly about 15 minutes after I'd walked away, he showed up again in another tree just above me still holding the orange treat. This time he was by himself and he finally set it down on the branch and began picking at it. Crows will eat just about anything and it makes me wonder what they think when they taste something brand new for the first time.

Last Day of June and First Hummingbird

This Saturday I arrived at the park just after 8:00am to a bright, sunny and cloudless day. I can't believe today is the last day of June already. April, May and June are probably my favorite months now after discovering birding and spring migration. After that it's a little downhill on the birding front for a while. I've not been seeing a lot of Deer lately and in fact I'd really expected to see some newborn Fawns by now. I did catch one this morning shortly after coming round the south side. I thought it made kind of a cool picture because you can the park and street signage in the background. At the railroad ties on the edge of the lake, a flock of unidentified birds were zooming around it a circle, dipping below the edge of the cattails and then coming back up. They were moving too fast for me to make out but they were something I knew I've never seen in the park before. I had a faint idea but it wasn't until I caught a mid-flight photo that I could confirm they were indeed Rock Pigeons! This was such a weird sight to see at Palmer Lake Park. I usually only see Pigeons in more populated areas under bridges and such -not in a more natural area like the park. Just one of them was of a very different color, being more brown and white versus gray. Later I saw a few Crows up ahead and I decided to take few photos only because they were close and in just the right light to see a lot of feather details. Crows, like European Starlings are incredibly tough to photograph because they are so dark. This is probably as much detail as I'd ever seen on a Crow I figured I would post it today. Going round the north side I spotted a tiny little bird on the tip of a dead branch and had to do a double-take. This is the first Hummingbird I've spotted all season though I've been on the lookout for them all this month. Though I've definitely seen them earlier in the park, this date falls right in line with the majority of my Hummingbird sightings. The most common timing to first notice them at the Park is either the last week of June or the first week in July.

Passing of January

If you've lived in Minnesota for any length of time you'll probably agree that January and February are the toughest months to get through. In a typical winter the majority of these months have high temps of below freezing and it's pretty easy to spend all your time indoors. It's also easy to go weeks without seeing the sun. This winter has been really different from that however and the sun has been shining nearly every weekend. Though the temperature today was cold at just 10 degrees, it is still great walking weather -especially without the snowy, icy paths like last year. The first thing of interest I spotted was near the northwest corner of the park where hundreds of European Starling decided to park and make a lot of noise. After a while one or two would dart off, tempting the others to do the same and the whole flock would move to a different tree for no apparent reason. Then it would happen all over again in another few minutes. If you ever see this many Starlings at once, make sure to listen to the noises they make. You can often hear imitations of other birds such as Hawks or Blue Jays coming from the group. Later I spotted some Downy Woodpeckers but things were generally quiet after passing the Starlings. When going around the southeast baseball diamonds, a few Crows were scattered around not to high up in some scrubby trees. One was obviously busy with something so I was able to get closer and catch this shot showing a mouse in his beak. It's easy to overlook how resourceful Crows are. If you think about how big they are and how large in numbers they are, you gotta wonder how are all of them are surviving each day. In order to make it, they can't be too picky about what they eat.

Lots of Birds for Christmas

Today is the day before Christmas but luckily I was able to visit the park in the morning just after 8am. The temp was a bit cooler today at about 20º. It's obviously going to be a "Brown Christmas" this year as our temps have just been way too mild and we've only received small, periodic dustings of snow lately. I saw a surprising variety of birds today including a Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Chickadee, Nuthatch, Robin, Junco, Starling, Northern Shrike and finally a Hawk that was too far away to identify. My best sighting of the day was of the Shrike whom I watched move three times from his original perch on top of some Buckthorn trees on the north side. By the time I pulled up my binoculars he took off and I spotted a lone Deer who'd walked almost right underneath his tree. I lost him for a while until came around the corner and saw him again up in the tall dead tree near the trail. Though still far away I was happy to see him in some decent lighting as opposed to the normally overcast conditions I tend to see them in. From here, the Shrike took off again and did something I would have never guessed. He passed above me and then "dive-bombed" a Crow that was perched high up in some trees behind me. The Crow had to be at least 4 times larger him, but his attack was serious enough to flush the Crow off of his branch. He did this once more, again prompting the Crow to move. I'm not sure if he actually had a beef with the Crow or if he was just playing, but soon after he moved to another tall tree where stayed put for a long time. When I rounded the northeast side near Penn Avenue is when I spotted a small group of Juncos and an even smaller group of Starlings -probably 3 or 4. I heard their strange "whirring" call before spotting them. Most birders are not fond of Starlings but I think they are quite interesting. The ones I saw today looked a tad darker than they have looked this Summer and Fall.

Thursday Stress-Reliever

It's been easy to forget that our summer weather isn't going to last forever and I've been slacking on visiting the park during the week. Tonight was an exception as I really needed to de-charge from a stressful work week. There were relatively few birds about until I was walking up the west side and noticed this Mourning Dove sitting very still in the evening sun. They're not the most interesting of birds but since it was so close I figured I'd snap a photo. Shortly afterward I saw yet another Cedar Waxwing as well as a single Doe in the woods. On the north side I spotted a large bird way off in the distance perched in the tall dead tree often favored by Raptors. I could barely make out from this distance that it was an Osprey and he was surrounded by 6 or 7 Crows perched near him. He looked obviously perturbed and I'm sure the crows were hassling him just like they do other large birds of prey like Eagles, Hawks and Owls. A while later I came upon the granite bench on the southeast side and noticed a little yellow bird hoping about in the cattails. Since there was a bench right there I decided to sit and watch for a bit and hopefully catch a picture. After a bit, it came out rather close to me, enough to identify it as a male Common Yellowthroat -evident by the black and white mask across it's face. I found that kind of surprising, having seen only female Yellowthroats deep in the cattails before. Since I've not seen any Yellow Warblers for a while, I believe the Yellowthroats must be the last Warbler species to still be hanging around.

Common Minnesota Birds

Sunday morning was another cold day and I took just a handful of pictures. Surprisingly enough, after reviewing my field guide, 2 of the 3 bird's I'd photographed were new species (as per listed on the right hand side of my blog). This first one high up in a tree I took for another Downy Woodpecker. Fortunately for me, another Woodpecker was hammering away down below at the bases of some cattails. Only because I'd photographed both of them within minutes of each other did I notice the subtle difference later. The larger one up in the tree clearly had a much longer bill, tipping me off that he was in fact a Hairy Woodpecker. Later, I spotted an odd looking bird sitting right alongside a Robin up in a tree. Though almost the exact same size, he was dark and spotted on the breast. Based on the photo in my field guide from Stan Tekiela, I believe it might be a European Starling. There was not a whole lot more to see other than this lone Crow who was cackling loudly up ahead on the trail. Though one of the most common birds I see, I rarely get a decent photo of one as they tend to stay far away. I will have to get a better photo soon.

Big Winter Birds

Today ended up to be a great visit to the park although it started off slow. I arrived at about 9am and it was about 7º above zero. This was not too bad considering the last few days have been below zero in the mornings! Picture opportunities were slim for the first half with just a couple Woodpeckers and 3 or 4 Blue Jays. Then on the northeast side I scared up a Pheasant who flew upwards to roost high up in the trees. This was actually the first time I've seen a Pheasant up in a tree before. This Rooster flew waaaay up in a Birch tree so I decided to off-road it through the snow for a better angle. In the process I scared up a couple of Deer -on both sides of the trail. I think both were pairs of Fawns who were bedded down in the snow. As I neared the south side near Shingle Creek, I noticed another large bird high up in a large Oak Tree. There were 5 or 6 Crows surrounding him and squawking relentlessly. Even from a long distance I could tell that it was a Bald Eagle. I watched the Crows roost within only feet of him and squawk loudly at him. As I neared closer for a photo, the Eagle took off with all of the annoyed Crows following behind him. With all the ruckus of the Crows, I could kind of make out where they landed just up the trail a ways. As I walked closer I could again hear the loud squawking and I figured I might be able to get another, better picture of the Bald Eagle. Again I ventured off the plowed trail but this time found myself knee-deep in 2 to 3 foot snow drifts! Heading towards the sound of the Crows, I trudged stupidly through the deep snow, only to find no signs of any Eagle. Though I could now see the Crows only half way up in the tree tops, I was dumbfounded as I could not spot the large Eagle. Then right there in front of me was a gray shape, large but almost invisible against the white and gray background. -the first Owl of the season, a Great Horned Owl! I am always excited to see them as they normally are only apparent in the winter time and are one of the few birds who will sit nice and still for my camera. Aside from his huge yellow eyes, you might never know this bird of prey was even there. Apparently the Crows knew he was there as the stopped bothering the Bald Eagle in favor of him.

Cleaning up on last day of September

I took another "Spirit Day" off of work this year to do another clean up of the park. All in all I think it was just as productive as last year as I ended up filling three 50 gallon bags full of litter. The nicer thing this year was that there are now more garbage cans around the path. I couldn't have planned it any better but every time I had filled a bag to the top, I found myself at a garbage can. I still ended up bringing one bag home though as one can at the park was already full. The walk itself was way more uneventful than last year. I saw no deer and only a few birds. In fact I barely took any photos the entire time. The only half interesting sight was this flock of Crows in the tree tops on the south east side.

Pesky Crows

Shortly after setting out I caught a glimpse of this Bald Eagle hovering over the main swamp area. At first he headed away from me but then ended up coming back to roost on the super tall power lines that run across the east side of the park. Once landing there, about a half a dozen crows decided they didn't want him there. Some parked right next to him while others fluttered right in his face. All of them squawked continuously. When the Eagle finally had enough and took off, a few of the crows followed him right behind. On the north end I almost stepped on this neon-green leaf before realizing it was in fact a Katydid. They don't seem to hop away like a grass hopper but instead crawl very slowly in a strange, precise manner. It actually reminded me a lot of how a Chameleon walks.