Spring is on the way

The park is starting to sprout up with both new foliage and new birds for the season. Here are some of my favorite photos from my hike around the lake today.

I also photographed my first-of-season (or FOS) Common Grackle. Their arrival is each Spring is usually not far away from the Red-winged Blackbirds which is generally around mid-March sometime. Later, I saw this Great Blue Heron flying over the lake which is another good sign that Spring it just around the corner! Also seen today but not pictured; Northern Cardinal, Mallard, Red-winged Blackbird and two Bald Eagles from across the lake.

On the Wing

This Saturday evening I didn't make it to the park until after 5:30pm. I decided to hike out along Shingle Creek and sit in my favorite spot with a view downstream. The light was very nice when I arrived but it was already late in the day. Aside from a Mallard or two, all other birds were flying overhead, not stopping anywhere near me. The first thing I heard was a pair of Wood Ducks flying over. Then later an unmistakeable noise that kept growing closer, a pair of Sandhill Cranes! These were the first I've actually seen this year but I've been hearing them fly over periodically. Sometime later a Great Blue Heron also came flying over. By now the light was getting poor and I was getting dark, grainy photos. Such a quiet evening despite the nice weather today.

Great Blue Heron, Mink and the Grey Ghost

Our weather for the end of March has been unseasonably nice. I decided this afternoon to sit along the edge of Shingle Creek and hopefully see a Wood Duck or Northern Shoveler. Technically some of the migrating ducks have returned, but it's still probably a bit early for them to be congregating on the creek. Regardless, the weather was so nice that I decided to try anyway. On my hike from 73rd Avenue out to the bridge on the north side, I spied my first Great Blue Heron for the park this year! Myself and some others had seen our first one of the year just yesterday at the Coon Rapids Dam. This one today at Palmer was standing in the drainage ditch on the north side that was re-dredged out a couple of years ago. It spooked and flew off shortly after taking this photo. Within minutes of finding a decent spot to plant myself along the creek, I noticed a mink hop up onto the creek bank opposite me. He hopped a little ways, paused and turned to look downstream. It was a perfect picture moment, and my camera failed to turn on! Once in a while I have problems with the contacts or something and I have to turn it off and on once or twice to get it to power up. The mink hopped further downstream and out of view as I swore at my camera. But sure enough a second mink came out of the grass and walked along the edge of the water. This time I was ready for him and was able to snag just one focused image. They are interesting and curious critters and always fun to watch. There were no waterfowl on the water yet, not even downstream and I was getting discouraged. I heard one or two Wood Ducks fly overhead but none stopped on the creek at all. After waiting for probably over an hour, I noticed something else flying very low over the cattails. A friend told me just yesterday that he'd seen FOUR Northern Harriers at the park on Friday in the rain. Indeed this is what I was seeing as Northern Harriers (also known as Marsh Hawks) hunt their prey by gliding very low to the ground, and or hovering in one place while they look downward. This hunting habit is probably the most reliable method of identifying a Harrier, however they also will show an obvious, white "rump patch" when they turn their backside toward you. Both of these signs were visible to me right away, but what I didn't realize at the time is that the male Northern Harrier is very grey in color compared to the female who is more brown in color. Because of this, the male is nicknamed "The Grey Ghost." He was a long ways away and my photos here are very cropped but there is still some detail. If you ever get the chance to see one close up, like at the Raptor Center of Minnesota, you'll see that Harriers have a roundish "face disc" sort of like Owls do. They are fascinating raptors and it has been some time since I've seen them at the park so I was quite happy to forgo any waterfowl for this sighting! Later I ended up hiking the rest of the way around the park and spotted; American Robin, Song Sparrow, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal and lots of Red-winged Blackbirds. Near sunset I ran into the same aforementioned friend and we hiked out into the field near 73rd Avenue. We didn't really see anything else but enjoyed a nice sunset.

Day 3 of Spring and Back to the Cold

The official first day of Spring was this past Thursday. And since my last post on the blog here we have had some very nice days with temps in the upper 40's. But last night another cold front moved in and temperatures were in the single digits when I woke up this morning! By the time I arrived at PLP it had warmed up to somewhere around 12 to 15 degrees. And with a very strong wind, I had to wear all my warmest clothes –some of which I have put away and had to take back out multiple times already. In fact the duck pond was even frozen over today! It seems that all the Mallards that usually hang out here must have moved on to other open water. Here there were two Canada Geese walking on top of the ice and the ice was so thin that you could hear it squeezing and cracking under their weight. For my visit to the park today I was joined by 2 friends of mine who are very experienced birders. Despite the frigid temps we enjoyed spotting various sights at the park. One sight I really wanted to see today was a second Great Horned Owl nest that yet another birder had recently shared with me. When we found it I was overjoyed to learn that this was the very same nest I had played a part in restoring! You can read the full story here but in July of 2012 a Cooper's Hawk was using the same portion of this tree to nest in. I was walking underneath it that July and spotted two Hawk chicks whom had fallen out of the nest. On a friends suggestion we reached out the Raptor Center at the University of MN and a experienced tree climber came out and rebuilt the nest. He essentially cleared away what was left of the tattered nest and installed a wire mesh which he fashioned into a bowl shape before adding twigs and grasses back. Now nearly 2 years later the work that was done that day is helping provide a completely different species of bird with a suitable place to nest and rear young! How cool is that? I made me think about how our interactions with nature –be it positive or negative– can have effects that last for many years later. Not too much later, Ron from our group thought he saw a Great Blue Heron up ahead behind some thick bushes. I honestly didn't believe him and thought it was another Goose. But as we got closer, we all saw that indeed there were a pair of Great Blue Herons! Apparently it is common for them to arrive back in March but until now I can't say that I've spotted them this early in the year. I usually use Red-winged Blackbirds as my "natural calendar" for the start of Spring but a GBH is even better! Here and there I was also noticing Pussy Willow catkins poking out which is also another good sign of Spring. Later in our walk we stopped to check out the other Great Horned Owl nest –the one I had found on my own on the first day of this March. The mother was quite obvious in the nest this time and just below and to the right, we thought we could see a little white fluff that could be an Owlet. This particular nest has us a little worried because there are no good branches jutting out horizontally from the nest. If the Owlets survive to leave the nest it could a bit perilous for them to not have any branches available to perch on and learn to use their wings. I'm hoping for the best but time will tell.

Nicer Day of the Weekend

When I started out for my walk this Sunday morning it wasn't really all that nice out. But after yesterday's wind, rain and temps in the lower 40's, it was quite nice. I spotted a wide variety of birds and waterfowl but the first thing I caught a photo of was this Great Blue Heron fishing along the shoreline where the creek flows back out of the lake. I noticed him just in time before walking right out into the open and scaring him off. You can also see here that the edges of the water are greening up while further in is still dead and dry. By the time I was on the east side I'd seen a lot of other birds but wasn't able to catch any good photos. There is a little tiny ditch here that usually has standing water in it and this hen Mallard came walking up out of it. She was so close I couldn't resist a photo. I was hoping she might have some ducklings with her as I've seen quite a few already but she did not. Shortly after I stopped to watch some Tree Swallows for a while, zooming out from a nest box, then coming back repeatedly. I think they were still building a nest inside. I've also been seeing a lot of Brown-headed Cowbirds recently -usually groups of 10 or more. Mostly I've noticed them on the ground out in the baseball fields on the east side. Each time I see them I can usually also hear their very high pitched squeaky call. After turning my attention of the quick moving Tree Swallows I noticed this female Cowbird sitting by herself across the trail in the willows. They're not a particularly pretty bird and I realize they are generally despised by birders for their behavior but you'd never guess it from this picture. I always think the female seems to have spots running down the side of her breast but I think it's just how the feathers lay. By the time I arrived at the bridge over the creek on the north side, the sun had popped out and it really turned a corner. I met up with a friend from the park and we watched the Barn Swallows, Mallards and Wood Ducks while we talked. A little bird came bouncing up the creek bank and came up almost right underneath my feet. I thought at first that it was a Chipping Sparrow or American Tree Sparrow -both of which I don't have photos of. But later I think it was just another Song Sparrow. Regardless he was within that range that I can never pass up so I took a few shots. Usually when I see them they are all puffed up and don't look like the slender bird this one does.

One Last Northern Shrike!

This Wednesday after work it was warm and sunny and I was itching to go back to my "natural blind" to try for some more Bluebird photos. So I parked on the west side for a change and hiked directly to the area on the west end of the park where I'd been the seeing Bluebirds so often this year. This in itself is interesting to note; last year I'd seen a few here and there in early spring but then they got pretty scarce afterward. This year I've spotted them numerous times -darn near every visit since the beginning of April. If I had to guess, I'd say that I've spotted them close to 30 times or more this season -and not always in the same area of the park. I didn't have to wait in my blind for very long before a female showed up at the top of the same dead tree that they favor. The male showed up shortly afterward and perched in the same tree making for a neat shot. While I was taking photos I could hear another Bluebird that seemed to be much closer and when I strained my head straight up there was a third one only a few feet over my head! I tried to get my camera into this odd position but I wasn't quick enough. Afterwards I kept heading north though I really didn't intend to walk all the way around the park tonight. Instead I decided to really "off-road it" and followed a well used Deer trail out into the open areas along the banks of Shingle Creek. Right as I was coming up to the last stand of trees before it really opens up, I spotted a very light colored, almost white bird and thought "what the heck is that?" I didn't even have to use my binoculars as I realized from how it was perched that it was a Northern Shrike! I could hardly believe it! It had been at least a month since the last time I'd seen this "winter bird" and I'd assumed they were long gone by now. I just went back now to double check my last posting and my last sighting of a Shrike was on March 4th. This was quite a find, especially having just watched Bluebirds only 30 minutes ago. In fact, as I was trying to get closer to the Shrike, I spotted another Bluebird. In the tree to my right was a Bluebird and in the tree to the left was a Shrike! The only thing better would have been to see them in the same tree. Eventually I got close enough to scare off the Shrike and I double checked my camera right then and there to make sure I'd gotten a useable photo, since it was so out-of-season. I continued to wander around a bit further out along the creek and spotted some more Tree Swallows as well as a few Great Blue Herons. It was really getting dark now as this Great Blue Heron came in to roost in a short tree on the other side of the creek. He might have been coming in to stay the night.

Cold and Wiiinnnnnndddddy

This Saturday I actually had to break out my winter hat again. Not only was the temp around just 35 or 36º but it was extremely windy. I don't know what it was gusting to, but at times it was hard to walk against. The lake itself even had whitecaps on the water! Despite the crummy weather I was able to see quite a bit and took exactly 70 photos. On the far north end by the drainage ditch I came across what started as a small group of 2-3 Deer. As I snapped pictures, more and more appeared and after a while the group grew to 8 or 9. They were moderately close when I first saw them but many of them actually moved closer to me. A few were brave enough to venture within about 10 feet of me! At this distance I had no problem seeing the two small bumps on his head. This is probably the earliest I've been able to confirm seeing a young Buck. It seemed like after a while the group got used to me but then all of a sudden all of their heads perked up. I looked behind me to see a biker coming down the trail so I moved on. On the east side I spotted a Great Blue Heron in one body of water, and the first Great Egret of the season in another. I did get shots of both but the Heron made for a slightly better pic. Right after I took this shot, he flew over and kicked the Egret out of his spot. Shortly afterward I noticed a bunch of little birds on the ground and on the chain link fence surrounding the baseball fields. What caught my attention was small, bright yellow patches on their wings and head. The rest of them was slightly blue-ish. This was definitely not a bird I've seen before so I tried for a long time for a good picture. Unfortunately all 30 or 40 stayed out in the grass and would move away as a group when I got too close. I confirmed later from my field guide that they are Yellow-rumped Warblers!

Spring on steroids

Spring-like weather seems to have taken forever to arrive this year, but today it felt like we skipped spring altogether and went right into summer! The temp was unusually high at 73º and on top of that it was extremely humid -quite strange for early April! It made for a great visit though as I spent nearly 2 hours making my way around and taking just under 100 photos. I had a hard time choosing what to post because I saw so much. First were a pair of Tree Swallows that were zooming around one of the wooden bird houses on the north side. It's an exciting sign of more colorful birds starting to come back to the park. Just a short time later I was stunned to see a 3 foot Garter Snake on the path. It seemed a bit early to see a snake but I was just now checking my older posts and saw that my first snake sighting last year was Sunday, April 11th -so exactly one year ago to the day. What are the odds of that? Surprisingly, snakes weren't the only reptile out today. I later saw a few painted turtles sunning themselves in the small body of water by the east side baseball fields. I shot a couple pics but as I walked further I ran into 2 more just sitting on the ground right off the trail. This side of the park was quite flooded by snow melt and there's still water everywhere hence the turtles. I've seen Great Blue Herons flying overhead since late March but I've not seen many stop in the park until recently. I swear they are 10 times more skittish than any Deer in the park so I often have to stalk them for a while to get a decent photo. They are an interesting bird as they can look quite different in every photo. I had an easier time locating this one against the backdrop of cattails by looking for his reflection in the water so I decided to include that in my photo. As I was making my way back to the parking lot I could see Bald Eagle seemingly sitting right on top of the water. As I got closer I could see that he was perched on a small portion of a branch barely jutting above the surface. It was funny because Canada Geese would swim right by him and he would tip his head as if he thought they were strange looking birds or something. He put his wings up once to balance himself as he turned to face the other way but I missed that picture moment.

Miserably Hot

Man, today is the hottest and most humid day I've experienced in years. Maybe I'm getting older and less tolerant but WOW, it is seriously uncomfortable outside! Late last night it had rained 2/10 of an inch and the humidity is so extreme you'd think it was still raining. Temps were reaching the high-eighties hours earlier than yesterday as I arrived at the park today. As if sweat stinging my eyes, and fogging up glasses were not annoying enough, my camera's batteries kept dying on me too. Somehow I managed three blog-worthy photos though. The first is a new species of bird I've not seen before at Palmer Lake, a Belted Kingfisher. The park sure seems like a great fit for them with all the water, but seriously this is the first one I've seen there. No idea if male or female as it was way too far away. Just seconds later I noticed a pair of Great Blue Herons in a small tree by the water's edge. This was was squawking at the other one. On the east side I walked right past a rust colored patch in the woods before turning around for a second look. Only a few feet of the path were both fawns laying down in the shade trying to stay cool. I looked for the mother but never saw her. I got just this one pic before my camera died again.

Cool Saturday

Set out kinda later today and surprised that the temp was only in mid-sixties still. Didn't see a single deer today but there were plenty of other interesting things. Upon crossing the north bridge over Shingle Creek I noticed a Great Blue Heron and I stopped to watch him fish for a few minutes. I managed to catch a closeup right as he lunged his head into the water for a fish. Later, near the ball fields on the east side I noticed this Tiger Swallowtail butterfly feasting on tall thistle plant flowers. I will have to try again sometime for a better photo of one as they don't sit still for too long.
After crossing the bridge on the south side I noticed a rather large group of Egrets on the far end of the swamp. I counted about 14 I think. They were squawking loudly and must have been fighting over food or something.

Doe with Fawns

Saw something today I've never seen before! About mid-way up the wood chip trail on the south west side I paused to look around and noticed 2 small rust colored animals standing in the creek. At first I thought they were foxes or something 'cause they were so small. Then I realized they were tiny tiny fawns. They must have been born sometime this week cause wow, were they small! They had both spotted me first and by the time I went for my camera they were already heading for cover. All I managed to catch was the back end of one as he entered the cattails. Seconds later, mom came round the corner and pushed them further into the woods. I tried to follow them for a bit hoping they might pop out on the trail for a better photo. No such luck as they eventually got spooked. As they bounced through the thick woods I counted one, two and three fawns behind her. Not much of interest then until coming back to the south side where there were a couple Egrets and a Great Blue Heron fishing for lunch.

Rabbits galore

Gotta begin this post by noting the caterpillar from previous post is a "Mourning Cloak caterpillar." Walked and jogged tonight. 85 degrees and humid. Almost ran right into this first deer while jogging for a bit. Was only about 8 feet away before I noticed it standing in the low ditch next to the trail. I stopped, then backed up slowly before attempting to take any photos. The next thing I saw is something I've been hoping to get a photo of forever but have only seen twice. There it was, a deer wading right in the creek, eating from along the bank. I watched for quite a while before it finally hopped up onto the high bank. After crossing the creek again on the south side I spotted a Heron and snapped a quick pic before he got spooked and flew off. Around the whole park I was spotting rabbits left and right. On the very last wood chip trail I saw a little bunny munching on grass. I decided to take a few pics so I stood very still. He must have thought I was a tree 'cause he walked right up underneath me. It was funny as I didn't realize how little he was while I was looking through the camera lens. Total deer spotted: 4. Rabbits: 7.