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.

43º and Sunny and Birdy

This Saturday's visit to the park was a fun one. First off the weather was unbelievable with a high of 43 degrees and completely sunny to boot. Secondly I was able to catch some neat photos which always makes my day! The very first bird I spotted was a Dark-eyed Junco and I'm kind of obsessed with them though they're a pretty common winter bird in our parts. They're difficult to photograph because they're little, move quickly and have a dark head against a dark eye. For that reason they're similarly difficult to shooting a Chickadee. This one cooperated with me though there's some shadows on it's face that I could have done without. My next stop was at the duck pond on the southeast corner. The warm weather seemed to please the Mallards and the large group was very active. I witnessed some courting behavior and some fighting between the boys as well. I really love how their green heads just glow in the sun and I've come to appreciate Mallards as an easy and reliable photo subject. After seeing a few Chickadees and Cardinals and other common birds, I spotted not one but two Great Horned Owls high up in a tree. They were both quite far away with lots of woods between so I decided not to go in any closer. It wont be long now before one of these pair will be sitting on a nest somewhere. Great Horned Owls are our earliest nesting birds in the state, starting as early as mid to late January. When this happens we birders need to take extra precaution not to approach the nesting sight or disturb them in any manner that could be a detriment to the success of their nest. Having seen two Owls already today, I nearly fell over when I ran smack dab into a third, this time a Barred Owl! A Barred is likely our second-most common Owl around central Minnesota, but they can be as tough as any of the other Owl species to find. This one however decided to perch barely 10 feet off the paved trail and at a height of only 6 or 7 feet! I was stunned to have been so close to it. I stopped dead in my tracks and cautiously brought my camera up to my eye. Thankfully the Owl appeared a bit sleepy and was taking advantage of the warm sun and really didn't mind me being there –at least for now. I couldn't take my eyes –or my camera– off this beautiful bird and of course I started to draw attention from other park goes. The first one stopped to inquire about my camera and lens. Interesting she never asked me what I was taking a photo of and thus I decided not to even bring it up! The next pair of walkers were more curious and so I pointed out the Owl to them. They were quite happy and surprised to see it as well. As we talked however the Owl did move, though it only went a few feet over and higher up in another tree. I was kind of bummed and wish I had whispered to them instead. Nonetheless the Owl was still very close to the trail and I took a few more photos before it decided to move further back into the woods. I believe this was my third Barred Owl sighting this season which is a good sign. Previous to these recent encounters, my last Barred sighting was in May of 2013. The last avian subject I decided to focus on today were Robins. These Robins are not coming back to Minnesota due to the warm temps, but rather have "over wintered" here at the park. Not all Robins migrate south and quite a few will stay here all winter long. This number appears to be increasing based on other things I've read. There apparently are enough food sources and shelter to see them through event the coldest of winters. Though this winter has been a little light in regards to snow depths and I believe this would also be to the Robin's benefit. I enjoy photographing them in the winter, though I rarely pay attention to them the rest of the year! Other birds I spotted today included; Downy, Hairy & Red-bellied Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing and a pair of Red-tailed Hawks.

Last weekend of December

I wasn't even sure if I was going to go to the park today. But after my wife came down with a bad cold the night before, I didn't want to be around her germs. When I arrived at the park, some other bird watcher friends had already been hiking around for a while. Eventually I met up with them for some more hiking and we went around the entire perimeter –albeit in a roundabout fashion. With fresh snow it is easy to go off the trail and venture into places that aren't visited that often. But before all this, I had been watching a few little "tweety birds" as another friend of mine puts it, along the paved trail just north of 73rd Avenue. There were Cardinals, Chickadees, Finches and Juncos among the thick brush. Here I caught a snapshot of a Dark-eyed Junco eating from what appeared to be a dried up Goldenrod plant. I've been reading recently about how important it is to leave native plants standing through the winter as they provided food sources to many different species of birds insects. And this is proof of that for sure. Somewhere along our long hike today we logged dozens and dozens of Robins, many of them singing like it was springtime. I tried a number of times for a photo but they were always right above my head at the wrong angle. In this area one of our group spotted an Owl fly past but we never saw it again after some searching. The sun came and went today on a whim every 10-15 minutes or so. When it happened to be out I noticed this bright red male Cardinal going for the very last berry on this tree. A sight for sore eyes to see some color again after such a dreary month of December. Someone told me that we had just 2 days of sun in the entire month of December. But with yesterday and today that would now make 4. A stretch like that makes even seasoned Minnesotan's reevaluate why they live here! Finally when our group returned to the paved trail just north of 73rd, we stopped at the same place to watch the tweety birds. This is when I caught this House Finch snacking on a Buckthorn Berry. Yet another species in a growing list that I've seen eating Buckthorn Berries.

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.

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!

A Few More Birds than Normal

I'm not even supposed to be in town today but due to a major change in holiday plans, I was at the park again today –the day after Christmas. It was just a tad warmer than it's been lately, and with my back brace still helping, I was eager for another walk around the entire park today. For whatever reason I was on a mission today to note and remember every bird species I saw and my total list ended up a bit longer than usual by at least 2 species anyway. One of these was a White-throated Sparrow that I spotted on the south side of the park. He (or she) was busy feeding on a dried plant along with a bunch of Junco's. I've not seen a White-throated in quite some and I typically don't see them at the park in the winter time at all. According to the range map in my "Birds of Minnesota" field guide by Stan Tekiela, it looks like the Twin Cities Metro area might be just on the very edge of their winter range. I wasn't able to get a decent photo but good enough to confirm the sighting anyway. This particular area was a great spot to watch birds all Summer and Fall. There were many different varieties of plants and even now the dried and withered vegetation continues to attract birds. It is testament to just how important it is to leave vegetation to nature's own course versus cutting it all down in the fall. I've only recently learned to do this in my own back yard –leaving dried seed pods as natural sources of food for wintering birds. The area provided me more than one good shot of a Junco today! I've come to really enjoy these hearty little winter birds and the variation of color in their plumage. This one in particular reminds me of fur on a dog. Another common but not-seen-lately bird for me today were Goldfinches. I could hear them plainly near the north end of the park, and after calling back to them with some pre-recorded calls, a group of 6 to 8 appeared in the trees above me. They never really came down to eye level but it was fun to see the hints of bright yellow around their face. I think this one is probably a female as there were slightly more yellow-colored birds off to the side. I've made up my own mnemonic to remember their call. They make one in particular that I imagine them to be saying "Look-at-Meee!" I'll try to remember now my entire bird list for today: White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, House Finch, White-breasted Nuthatch and Mourning Dove. I was surprised to not have seen any Robins. Near the end of my walk I ran into some good friends of mine and one reported to me that he'd seen both a Red-tailed Hawk as well as a Red-shouldered Hawk!

Cold, Windy and Short

After battling increasingly painful lower back pain for more than a year, I am fairly convinced that my long walks at PLP are detrimental to my condition. I was told only yesterday by my newest care provider to limit my walking to 30 minutes or less. So today I decided I would hike out only as far as the bridge from 73rd Ave. N. and maybe just sit for a while. In order to do so I had to dress extremely warm with the temps somewhere in the teens coupled with a nasty wind. Shingle Creek had only just barely frozen over as of yesterday –kind of a "flash freeze" due to the sudden drop in temperature on Saturday. It was as smooth as a skating rink but only maybe half an inch thick, trapping leaves and seeds in their place which reflected in the sun. I sat the base of a large Cottonwood tree on the sunny side which was also the windward side and watched out over the creek. I wondered if I might see a Mink, or even better the River Otter that had been reported by a friend of mine. After a long while of not seeing anything I decided to hike back along the creek bank. Almost as soon as I'd turned around I saw something brown and furry scurry across the ice quickly – a Mink! I waited for another long while and eventually it came back across to my side again. I was really far for a photo so I hiked up a bit further and waited again. Sure enough I saw him one more time but by the time I pulled my camera up I was sure I missed him. When I got home and looked closely I can just barely make out his rear end and tail poking out of the weeds, as indicated by the pink arrow. After giving it another long while and not seeing him again I decided to call it and hike back. I'd honestly not seen more than maybe 1 bird by this time and was thinking I wouldn't have any photos to post today. But on the very short hike back to my car I did end up seeing a few Robins, Chickadees and Juncos. One of the Juncos held very still for me long enough to get in close and I was pleasantly surprised with the photo I got. I was really happy to get such a nice shot of any bird today in the short distance I hiked. This one bird and photo meant the world to me today.

A Little Colder and Lot More Windy

The weather today was not much better than yesterday, but at least it wasn't raining anymore! I didn't head out for a walk until just after 2pm. Our temp was only a few degrees cooler but the wind has really picked up and could even be heard howling through the trees. I figured I wouldn't see much of anything today (at least for birds anyway) and that assumption was pretty accurate. It was one of those days where I knew I might have to veer off the main trail in order to find anything interesting. I did just that on the far north end where I discovered these bright orange fungi sprouting from a large dead tree without any bark left. Birds were scarce today and I even had a hard time hearing any due to the wind. Some that I saw were; Ring-billed Gull, Red-bellied Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, American Robin and Dark-eyed Junco. I had some success in attracting the Junco's in closer by playing a recording of their sounds. During the latter half of my walk, the sky had begun to break up and show patches of blue here and there. By the time I was at my vehicle the sun was beaming down through these breaks and the sky was changing constantly. I took a few photos but none of them did justice to how neat the sky really looked.

Good Sights & First Red-winged Blackbird!

Well I suppose this makes sense but I always seem to see more wildlife when I'm walking alone versus with friends like yesterday. Kind of a bummer since I really wanted them to get some good photos but of course we were probably talking too much. It was slightly warmer out today at 28 degrees but the warm sun we had yesterday was masked by clouds, making it feel yet again like January or February instead of late March. The first thing I spotted today on the west side was a Northern Shrike looking out over the middle of the park. I decided to hike in closer for a better photo and luckily the snow was just soft enough to stay somewhat quiet. I found myself almost underneath him and snapped as many pics as I could before bumping him. He stayed put for quite a while and this is my favorite one, though not quite a typical view. Since I was already now on the edge of the field I decided to continue along a Deer path through some interesting groves of scrubby trees. Ahead of me I saw one single black bird in a clump of very thick Buckthorn Trees. I wondered if... and then sure enough it stretched out it's wing and showed me a dull colored Orangy-yellow patch. I thought maybe I saw one yesterday but now for sure I've seen my first Red-winged Blackbird of the season! Hardly a decent photo here but I wanted to document it for my own purposes. All along my hike today I was spotting Northern Cardinals everywhere. I must have seen 20 of them in the first 30 minutes I was out. This female was being pursued relentlessly by a bright red male and I watched the pair of them for some time before the female came out right in front of me and I couldn't help but take a few photos. Every time I watch Cardinals I'm always amazed at how big and thick their beaks are. It it almost equal in size to the rest of their head. On the north side I was cruising along but scanning the trees as I always do. Quite high up but in plain view was a Great Horned Owl looking straight out over the trail. I was pleasantly surprised to spot him so easily as they can be somewhat tough to locate without the help of a lot of squawking Crows. Though I was tempted to get in closer, I stayed on the trail since it's highly possible they could be nesting in the area and I didn't want to disturb them. Besides I had a fairly unobstructed view right from the trail. It is always neat to see Owls at the park and with Spring just around the corner they will be getting harder and harder to see very quickly. Towards the end of my walk I spotted a Hawk flying overhead and he darted outside the park behind an area of homes. There is a short connecting path here out to the neighborhood and I followed it just in case I could catch a glimpse of where the Hawk landed. Instead I ended up watching a group of Dark-eyed Juncos foraging on the edge of the woods. As they hopped around, I noticed one Junco that stood out very distinctively. It had rusty orange sides and at first I thought I was seeing a Towhee! But the size was not right at all. It was clearly the size and shape of the other Juncos and was definitely mixing in with the others. I only saw it for a few seconds and got three shots of it. I hung out for a while longer hoping to see it again but I never did. At the time I honestly did NOT know what I'd seen. So when I got home I immediately looked up Junco's in my new Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. To my surprise there was a perfect matching photo right there listed under Dark-eyed Juncos called an "Oregon Junco." This is apparently a subspecies of a Dark-eyed Junco and technically it is known as the "Oregon Group." I had know idea of such a bird before this so I was pleasantly surprised to realize I'd spotted something brand new at the park!

The Constantly Changing Evironment of a Public Park

Well the behavior of people still amazes me as much as nature does. It almost never fails; every year I seem to find fallen leaves packed into plastic bags dumped in the park! I just cannot get over the irony of this. Whomever did this put something completely organic and compostable (in a very short time mind you) into plastic bags which will take many many years to decompose! I suppose you could say that they were "assuming" somebody would pick it up for them, but geez, what if they don't? They are quite literally making a conscious decision to pollute the park in my humble opinion!!! I just don't quite understand the thought process here. Well there was hardly anything else of interest to see today and for such a nice day it was eerily quiet. Our "seasonal" migratory birds definitely seem to be gone now, leaving the park to the Woodpeckers for a while. The only bird I did manage to get a shot of was this Dark-eyed Junco on the north side. For me they are another one of those birds that I never tire of as I cannot seem to get that perfect shot that I'm looking for. They are somewhat dull in color from the front but I've learned that they can be quite colorful from the back, showing some interesting blueish and purpleish color mixed in with the slate gray coloring. Somewhere in the last few days, the city (of Brooklyn Park?) decided to dredge out the drainage ditch that runs northeast to southwest and connects with Shingle Creek. The mud and muck that was dug out to make the ditch deeper was piled in gigantic mounds on the inside edge of the ditch, making an awfully ugly sight. Everybody that I know from the park has been looking at this and wondering exactly why it was done. I don't have a definitive answer but I did hear some stories that this is done in response to home owners living around the park who have concerns about water in their basements. I'm not sure if that's completely accurate or not. I think about just how far away the nearest residential home is to this area and it's quite a ways.

Cold Saturday and First Shrike

Today was my first visit to the park recently where the water was actually iced over -not totally frozen but just a thin layer. It was only 30º this morning and we had our very first snow flurries in the air just this last Thursday, October 25th so it seems that winter is just around the corner. Maybe I'll actually get to use my snowshoes this year! I first noticed Dark-eyed Juncos have come back to our area nearly a month ago, but this morning they made up about every other bird I spotted. I'm always trying for a better photo of one because they tend to flit about quickly and don't let you get very close. This one landed near me for just a split second before moving again. Another bird I don't have many photos of is an American Tree Sparrow. I saw quite a few of them today as their rusty colored cap was very noticeable in the bright sun. If you are able to see them closely enough you'll notice that their upper bill is dark while their lower bill is yellow. People also go by the dark "spot" visible on the breast but I think sometimes this can be kind of tough to see as it's not always that dark or defined. Before I was even half way around the park I ran into a friend (and quite talented birder) who told me that he'd seen a Northern Shrike today -and even as early as 2 weeks ago. I had just been thinking to myself that with as cold as it's been, and how often I'd seen Shrikes last year that they should be coming back any time now. Well as luck would have it, I too spotted one a bit later on the north end of the park. It was perched in the tall dead tree right alongside the straight part of the paved path and I would have missed it had I not been watching more Juncos again. It almost seemed like it was watching the smaller birds below it and I was wondering if I might be lucky enough to see it go after one of them but no luck there. I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot more of the Shrikes this winter season but I was fairly surprised to know they are back so early. Among lots of other more common birds I spotted today, I also caught a few good glimpses of Yellow-rumped Warblers who are still apparently passing through on migration. All of the Yellow-rumps I've seen this fall have been this brown color with dull yellow shoulders -not the darker blue that you'll see in the springtime. I'd assumed they were all females but I'm wondering now if maybe some are males. Someone recently described the plumage to me as "transitional" so I'm wondering if some could be immature males. Either way, it was neat to realize that I spotted a Warbler and a Shrike on the same date.

A Little Snow and Some Fantastic Birding!

Yes, the Palmer Lake Park Nature Blog is still alive -despite having not posted anything in over a month! Believe me, my desktop is cluttered with great photos from late summer and fall but I've just not had enough time to post them. Being out in nature, shooting photos and learning more birds continues to be the thing I enjoy most, but lately I've been focused more on improving -or "coping" maybe is the right word, with some other parts of my life that I certainly don't enjoy nearly as much. I've not been getting to the park quite as regularly as I'd like, but again, I do intend to go back and post a lot of stuff I've seen over the past month. So if you are a geek about birds in our area, you may want to look back every so often. When I got to the park today I could hear White-throated Sparrows singing all over. These are honestly one of the easiest to remember of all bird songs, once you've heard it once or twice. It's also one of the few that I can imitate to any resemblance of the real thing and I soon found them responding to me and coming in closer. They were everywhere today and not a bird I see all that often at the park. I was really not prepared for how cold it was today. We've undergone a HUGE shift in weather recently. Roughly 3-4 days ago, we'd hit 80º and then today it was nearly like winter and only in the upper 30's! I'd not even brought gloves today and just figured I'd "tough-it-out." Boy was I toughing it out alright. After stopping to talk to a fellow birder friend for a while, I could no longer even feel my hands. But things picked up as I walked along with my hands in my pockets and started seeing one great bird after another. Coming around the corner I spotted a large group of sparrows feeding on the ground up ahead but before proceeding I decided to spot them quick with my binoculars first. There was one bird in the group that clearly did not belong with the others and at first I thought it was a young Robin. Then it as it moved around and kept sticking it's tail high up in the air I realized it was a Towhee! This is only the 2nd Towhee I've ever seen, and the first I've ever seen at Palmer Lake Park! I was too far away for a photo, especially as it was digging in the tall grass up ahead but I approached as closely as I could before it scared up and into a neighboring tree. I tried desperately for a pic as it bounced around quickly and unfortunately this is the best I got. I can see why they're easy to mix up with Robins as the orange color is a perfect match, only there's a very definite line where the orange sides meet the white breast. Next I saw 2 little birds that also didn't seem all that familiar to me as they hopped along the edge of the paved trail ahead of me. They would pick at the edge of the grass, periodically wander off into the grass, and then back onto the trail. I wondered if maybe they were Common Yellowthroats but they seemed a little too large. They were definitely too big for Ruby-crowned Kinglets. I got as close as I could without scaring them off and snapped this photo of the one. I'm not an expert by any means on Warblers, but I'm thinking they were possibly Palm Warblers! Per my field guide it looks a lot like a "Western Palm" in fall plumage. Shortly later I spotted a Brown Creeper. This is only the 2nd Brown Creeper I've seen as well -and the first one was also in the park. He was making his way up a tree and I hurriedly snapped photo after photo before he got up too high. They are the "chubbiest" looking birds, resembling a ball more than the typical shape of a bird. I got to see him actually turn his head and poke his bill into the bark of the tree which made him look slightly more like a regular bird -almost like a nuthatch or woodpecker. Then after this I spotted a first for me anywhere -and quite an exciting species I thought! There was a little bird hopping through all the fallen leaves on the northeast side of the park -more where some of the bigger and older trees are, like the large cottonwoods. When I first spotted the bird I noticed how distinctively "olive green" it was and thought -ooh, this is interesting. I tried my best to follow it as it hopped along through the underbrush and when it would come into view I could also see a distinct white eye-ring as well as a very well defined white white breast with dark spotting or striping. For some reason I knew right off the bat what this bird was -as I must have paged past it numerous times in my field guide to Warblers by Stokes. Indeed it was an Ovenbird! I even saw hints of the yellowish-orange crown on it's head whenever it decided to head directly away from me. This was by far my favorite sighting of the day -even though earlier I'd actually caught a glimpse of a supposed Sora in the area that others had been reporting. I only saw the Sora for a split second though and I got to watch the Ovenbird for quite some time. Still later on the east side as I was coming out of the woods, a group of 6 to 8 Dark-eyed Junco's were ahead on the paved trail. I've seen Juncos already this year about a week ago at a cemetery near my workplace that I've also started birding in. I was shocked to see them last week as it feels so early for Juncos. I think of them as a mid-winter bird that I see in January or February. But I guess with the season changing so quickly they are probably on time. After all, there was actually little snowflakes -or snow pellets- in the air today! OK, I know this is a long post but I saw one more bird of interest today that I was thrilled to see. As I was coming back to my vehicle on the east side of the park, there right in front of me were 2 Bluebirds perched on one of the recently planted pine trees. One was actually right on the very top of the tree and I thought this would make a fantastic photo. As I approached slowly, he took off but landed right back where he was in just a few seconds. I kept getting closer as I took my shots and then even a House Finch came in an landed right below the Bluebird. I got a photo of this too but am posting this one after which I'd gotten a lot closer. I've not seen a Bluebird at Palmer Lake Park for quite some time now, -maybe months. I'm thinking that possibly this bird and many of the birds I saw today were making their way south. In learning so many birds over the past year or so, I've really begun to appreciate both Spring and Fall for the migration periods and the interesting birds you might not see any other time of the year here in Minnesota.

-5 degrees Towards Normal

This winter has got to be the strangest I've experienced in my 30-some years of living in Minnesota. While January temperatures even in the 20s are generally considered mild by most Minnesotans, a good deal of this month has been in the 30s and sometimes in the 40s! Today however was much more in line with a typical January day at -5 degrees --and even that's not bad to be honest. The low temps must have been a bit of a shock to wildlife as well as there was just nothing moving around today. I saw only a few birds overall and the only one I managed to get a photo of was this Junco. Later as I came around the pond on the southwest side where the Ducks usually hang out, the open water was steaming up and creating a haze. The water was clearly warmer than the air temperature and the freezing moisture was coating the banks of the pond in a coat of icy frosting.

Best Shrike Sighting To Date

Only about a year ago, I considered my first Northern Shrike sighting a major achievement in my new found hobby of "birding." Those first few sightings, in dim snowy conditions and from long distances now pale in comparison to my experiences with Shrikes as of late. For a January day it was unbelievably warm and sunny today at 36 degrees. It was so nice that I just stood for a while in my favorite place in the park, where Shingle Creek flows back out of Palmer Lake. It was here that I noticed the Northern Shrike again in the same place -the same tree to be exact- where I'd seen him on the day after Christmas. With the creek separating us, he had no cause for alarm and just sat there for a long time singing out some beautiful songs more reminiscent of a Warbler. After a long while he changed perches a few times and then finally flew out into the cattails. True to form, he seemed to select only the tallest available cattail to perch upon and I was able to keep sight of him in this new and unfamiliar territory. He then disappeared down into the cattails but surprisingly came right back up to perch on another tall cattail stem. This was repeated a few times and I was hoping to see him come up with something in his beak but neither he or I were so lucky. The warm temps and sunny skies always seem to bring out the birds and later I spotted a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos. This was on the north end where a few houses meet the boundries of the park. There are a bunch of thick shrubs and trees here that the Juncos seem to like. But more often than not I tend to see Juncos on the ground. They are apparently looking for seeds of common weed plants. Today I also spotted Cardinals, Chickadees, Starlings and Hairy Woodpeckers. I watched a Cardinal, then a Chickadee bathe themselves in the exact same part of Shingle Creek, one right after the other.