Bigger Deer and Better Gadwall

Well I pretty much repeated my steps from yesterday by looking again for the Deer and Gadwall. In both cases I got lucky and got some better photos. First off I saw not one but two bucks together on the south side. This time they were a bit further down the trail, closer to the south parking lot. It's surprising how much green is in the background of this shot. The other buck, a smaller 4-pointer is just off screen as I zoomed in closely on the bigger one. I really didn't notice all the burs stuck to the top of his head when I took the photo! Well now I was certain I'd found the "big buck" that my friends had told me about yesterday. But I was wrong! Having walked a bit further down the trail myself I noticed some more movement in the cattails. There, stood an enormous deer with a huge set of antlers. It was hard to count them as they blended in well with the cattails but I finally did count 5 on each side. As I stood there watching and waiting for a less obstructed photo, another park goer came by on his bike and saw what I was looking at. He was a photographer too and got off his bike to pull his camera out of his backpack. We both watched the buck for a while but the whole time he never really came out of the cattails. I guess that's how he got so big in the first place, by being smart. I moved along, leaving the other photographer still waiting. I saw a few Goldfinches and Juncos along the way to the other side of the park. By the time I got to the little pond on the west side, the sun was getting very low and cast a golden glow on the water. There right in the middle of the pond was the Gadwall from yesterday! I quickly snapped photos as it swam slowly to and fro with a small group of Mallards. Though not all of my pics turned out as sharp as I'd hoped, the beautiful light almost made up for it. I was just thrilled to capture this duck in a golden November glow. Even the Mallards look gorgeous in that kind of light.

Lots to See this Saturday

When I arrived at the park this Saturday morning the first thing I saw was dried up Goldenrod plants. They reminded me that it was indeed much later in the season than it feels. Temps are still mild and there was plenty of sun today, making it feel more like early October versus mid November. Heading toward the duck pond I again ran into a couple of friends of mine who told me about a monstrous Buck they had just seen in the area. So after chatting for a few minutes I scouted around in search of some Deer. While heading along the wood chip trail north of the duck pond, a pretty Doe walked right out in front of me and just stood there. It made for a nice portrait with the big Cottonwood trees in the background. I was seeing a few birds here and there, including a few Cardinals and Woodpeckers. I paused for a bit to watch this Downy Woodpecker do his thing and he inched closer and closer to me until he was less than about 6 feet away. I still enjoy taking photos of common birds if they are close and/or doing something interesting. I love being able to see the feather detail in the photos later on as it's something you don't see for very long in the field. While standing there admiring the Downy, I noticed another Deer in the field of cattails just past the trail. It was a buck with a healthy, yet smaller rack of 4 tines on each side. This one was a bit more shy than the first and stayed mainly in the cattails, not giving me any good clear looks. After a while I turned my attention back to the trailside in search of birds but then yet another buck stepped out onto the trail in front of me! It's been some time since I've seen this much deer activity in the park and I was glad that not all of them had been taken by the archery hunt. This particular buck had what first looked to be just a single spike on each side, though be it very tall ones. After he too posed nicely for a few photos, he turned to the side, sniffing along the trail and I could see that each spike was paired with a second, much smaller spike pointing off to the back. I also noticed he looked kind of "beefy" around the head and neck which is probably a sign of their mating season or "rut." The next thing that caught my eye was a bright red male Cardinal who seemed to be playing hide and seek with me through the brush. I thought to myself "it's hard to hide when you're this bright!" I sure love seeing Cardinals but unless they're busy at a feeder, they can be tough to approach without bumping. You also need some pretty good light for photos as they're SO red that your camera often wont pick up the feather details. So I definitely have more less than favorable photos of Northern Cardinals. After having finally moved on from the duck pond, I came across one very interesting waterfowl species that pretty much made my day. A single Gadwall was swimming in the little pond on the east side of the park, just south of the parking lot. It was actually right up near the trail and I was too close when I spotted it, sending it heading away from me rather quickly. But at least it didn't fly off to the next pond and I was able to observe it for a while. Gadwalls will usually show a "black butt" when they're in mating plumage. This one had mostly black, but also some light feathers there too so it may have been a first-year bird, or maybe they just lose some of their color this time of year like other waterfowl. Either way I was thrilled to see a Gadwall at the park again!

The Birds of October

It was an absolutely gorgeous day this Saturday to be hiking around the park. Despite our days starting off quite cold in the morning, the temperature today made it up into the 50's. I saw a good amount of interesting birds today and some that didn't make this post were: Northern Cardinal, Dark-eyed Junco, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow and Fox Sparrow. The first bird of interest I was able to capture however was a Gadwall swimming among the other Mallards in the "Duck Pond" on the southwest corner. I believe this is the first and only time I've seen one here in the fall versus the spring. And furthermore, something makes me think that this might actually be the very same duck I saw earlier this spring. Again it was just one male Gadwall with the Mallards and in the exact same place as in March of this year. As I hiked up the wood chip trail on the west side I spotted a Downy Woodpecker busily carving out a hole in a dead limb right at eye-level. I normally wont go out of my way to photograph Downy's or Hairy's but I'll never pass on any bird that is so close. But even at this distance it can be hard to catch a Woodpecker without their head in motion. This was a female Downy as indicated by a lack of red feathers at the top, back of the head. I tried to only snap pictures during the brief moments she paused her steady pounding into the tree. Later on the north end of the park I ran into two other bird-watching friends of mine and I ended up heading back the way I came in order to walk with them. They told me that they'd spotted the Northern Shrike returned to the park just some days earlier –which would be approximately within the same week that I'd first spotted one last year, October 27th 2012! I thought that was pretty neat. Unfortunately I didn't see a Shrike this day but we did spot a Hermit Thrush within photographic range. I see Hermit Thrushes quite often in the spring, about the time when there are only small patches of snow left on the ground. I'm still trying to learn the difference between a Hermit Thrush and Swainson's Thrush which look very similar. I believe one indication is that a Hermit might bob it's tail while the Swainson's does not. I'm not 100% on that though. Three more fairly similar looking birds, the Wood Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush and Veery, can also be found in our area but I'm afraid I'm not quite experienced enough yet to quickly tell them apart in the field. An interesting fact; all Bluebirds and your common everyday American Robin are both part of the "Thrush" family!

My Calendar Says Spring Darnit!

This morning I met some new friends of mine at the park for a 3 mile hike full of birding and photo talk. It was a bright sunny day at least but I still can't get over how cold it has remained this late into March. The temperature when I woke this morning was only 16 degrees and I'm still dressing in all my normal winter clothes including a layer of thermal underwear head to toe. The first "official day" of Spring came 3 days ago and it was the coldest first-day on record since 1965! Most anywhere off the trail you can still step in places with snow well above your shoe line. It's still just a bit early I guess for returning birds though and it was relatively quiet still at the park. We did get to see a Northern Shrike for a bit but I wasn't able to get a great photo. There were LOTS of Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Nuthatches and Cardinals. Many of the Cardinals were singing loudly adding to the "feel" of Spring. We caught this one plucking a Buckthhorn Berry on the North end of the park. Over on the duck pond we looked for Waldo the Wood Duck but he was not there today. But still with the other Mallards was the one lone Gadwall that I first spotted last weekend. Again I almost didn't notice him among the similarly colored female Mallards. At one point he came right up to us on the edge of the pond and took a ton of photos of him. Something I noticed this time that I hadn't last time was that he had kind of a soft white patch on the front of his breast. I don't know if this was part of his plumage or maybe it was just missing in this part. I was looking later at some photos of a female Gadwall and wondering if next time I go back I should be looking harder. They would appear extremely similar to a female Mallard but with more of a "square" shaped head. One of the last notable sights of the day was a large group of European Starlings that came in to land in a single tall tree. I've been thinking lately that I hadn't seen them in huge numbers -easily in the hundreds- yet like I did last year. Well today there was probably around 40 to 50 of them that came in and started making their noisy high pitched shrill. I don't think these guys ever completely leave for the winter as I've seen a handful here and there this season. But now it is obvious more and more are making their way back northwards.

A Sign of Things to Come

It's been a long while since my last post even though I've continued to visit the park frequently in February and March. I've just over-extended myself far too much lately and have been so busy I cannot find time to blog anymore. I have a backlog of posts so large it's becoming scary to look at my computer's desktop, but I still intend to add them at some point. Two days ago we had freezing rain and then last night we had about an inch and a half on top of that. I remember last year at this time we hadn't had snow on the ground for nearly a month and temps were in 60's! Today when I woke up it was only 15º with roads that were like a skating rink. What a huge difference from last year -but that's Minnesota for you. With this wintery weather refusing to give up, I wasn't expecting to see a lot today but fortunately I was wrong.Apparently the resident Northern Shrikes are still enjoying our weather quite a bit. I spotted this on the east side perched atop the tall trees directly across from the baseball diamonds. I waited for some clouds to pass and the bright blue sky to give me a better backdrop. I don't know if it's the time of year or maybe just the way he was perched but his breast feathers were all puffy and blowing in the breeze -giving him that "Fat Robin" kind of look. It remained completely quiet the whole time before moving along to another perch. Since it was so nice and sunny out today I decided I would walk past the duck pond on the southwest corner and try to get a nice photo of "Waldo" the Wood Duck. I located him quickly among the other Mallards and then decided to sit right down in the snow and wait for them to get comfortable with me and hopefully swim closer. As I snapped photos and watched him weave between the other Mallards, I almost didn't notice but there was another Duck that didn't look quite like the others. The difference from the other female Mallards was so slight and I might not have even realized if I had not been zoomed in on them so closely. My mind raced back to last year and recalled a Duck that took me a long time to identify when I first spotted one. Indeed this was a Gadwall! I couldn't believe it. The group I'd seen last year was so far away and my photos turned out terribly but here was one right in front of me. Once I realized this I forgot all about Waldo and focused on this second Duck that wasn't like the others. In fact I don't know how I didn't notice earlier that it's bill was completely dark instead of bright orange like the other Mallards. A few times though Waldo and the Gadwall would swim right up to one another and I realized that this might not be something I ever see again. Generally I would say that Gadwalls arrive back to our area waaaay before Wood Ducks would return. I wonder if the Gadwall thought he was running late when he ran into Waldo! As I continued to watch, periodically all three species would come together and this is probably the best shot I got of all three. Quite a neat trio I thought. I realized too that this Gadwall was the first "returning" species I've spotted at the park this year! So though it still very much feels like winter, the birds know that spring is just around the corner. Some other birds I spotted today were a Red-tailed Hawk, Pheasant (only heard), Hairy Woodpeckers, Chickadees, Crows, Robins, and a few Cardinals. This male Cardinal actually let me get close enough for a decent photo though I wish he had been fully in the sun and facing me. I've just not captured my "ideal" Cardinal photo yet but I came close today.

Last Day of March and One New Waterfowl!

It was slightly cooler out this morning -probably more normal for this time of year compared to warm days we've been having lately. I parked on the south side today and headed round the park on the paved path instead of the wood chip trail. The woods is just thin enough yet to see through to the "duck pond" on the southwest corner. From here I could see there was something different in the water -something with bright white coloring. I tried quietly to sneak through the woods but by the time I made it up to the water's edge I'd scared off 2 of the ducks which I then recognized as Northern Shovelers. I've been itching to see these again this year so I parked myself on a log and waited for a while. Eventually a third one that was further out to my left came swimming into view. The first time I saw a Shoveler, it's head looked blue but this one looked green. I guess it all depends on the angle as their head is iridescent. I was also seeing a lot of Red-bellied Woodpeckers today which was a little odd only because I tend to see more of them in winter time. I think I saw 3 or 4 all within a short time frame. The next bird I spotted I was definitely not expecting to see today. On the north side I walked back into the woods a bit just to see what I might find and there near the ground was an Eastern Phoebe! This really surprised me as I don't typically see much of these until late spring or even summer. They eat only insects and true to form it was flying out short distances to pick them out of the air and then return to the same spot over and over again. I was able to get closer and see glimpses of it's olive-green colored belly. This might have been the closest I've gotten to one so far but it kept landing in a little bush that was blocking it's face. Upon returning to the south side I could see quite a few ducks out near where the creek empties into the lake. There were Mallards, Wood Ducks, Shovelers and even Coots. But there was something else I could not recognize. They were smaller, about 3/4 the size of a Mallard and mostly greyish brown and smooth looking. There was also a female following behind that looked mottled and similar to a female Mallard. At first I thought they were Teals but there were no obvious facial markings. The male seemed to have a thin white band around it's neck and when he was swimming away from me he seemed to have a rusty colored patch on his back. Something I noticed only later from my photos is that the male seemed to have a dark bill while the female had more of a yellow bill. After going through my field guides I was still having a hard time positively identifying them. After consulting other birders and looking at other photos online, I'm almost positive that they are Gadwall. This is definitely something I've never seen before!