A Few Good Photo-ops

Though I heard and saw my first Red-winged Blackbirds of the year in early March, none of them have been approachable until today. I visited the park after work this Wednesday evening as there is still enough light now. I wasn't sure what to expect but as I rounded the corner from the east side into the southern end of the park I could hear Red-winged Blackbirds trilling loudly from the cattails not far off the trail. I made my way in closer, crunching on cattails and figured I would scare them away. But surprisingly this male stayed put and gave me my first good looks of the year! The light was fantastic to begin with, but as I approached closer I could see that my background was all brown cattails. I decided to kneel down and shoot upward just slightly as this angle would give me some nice blue sky behind the bird. I really love RWBB's despite how common they are. Nothing compares to hearing them in early spring and knowing that nicer, longer days are still ahead. I've not seen any females still, but it shouldn't be too long now. About 5 minutes after shooting these photos, the sun disappeared behind the clouds for the rest of the day. In fact it went from sunny and nice to almost dreary in a matter of minutes. As I hiked the wood chip trails on the southern end, I heard and saw a small number of flighty birds moving from a Dogwood shrub to the cattails and back. I first thought they were Juncos but they turned out to be American Tree Sparrows. I used to pass up on photos of this particular species because I saw them so frequently. But over the years I've come to realize they rarely give you good views and generally tend to perch in thick cover. I waited patiently for some time until one or two finally came out into the open. I didn't quite realize at the time but the colors of this bird really match it's environment here and it's no wonder they can blend in so well. I really wanted one to perch on the Red-Osier Dogwood you can see on the left side here but that never happened. As I started running out of daylight, I turned around at the duck pond and was headed back when I hear a distinct owl hoot. It sounded close but after scanning around I could not see anything. I tried following the sound and was either fooled about the direction, OR maybe I was hearing a second Owl, I'm not sure. Finally I honed in on one source long enough to make out a dark shape in a tree. I don't see Great Horned Owls often here on the south side so it was a nice surprise. As I approached many yards away, the Owl bumped from it's perch to a new one much further away. As I kept hiking it moved yet again, this time choosing to perch directly above the wood chip trail! Unfortunately it was very high up and the light had now turned ugly. I decided to take a guess at some different camera settings and I somehow managed to get something I could at least share here. It nearly looks like it's snowing out the sky is so white, but that's the camera compensating for the poor light. The Owl stayed perched here even as I walked directly underneath him and beyond. It was a memorable sighting for me.

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.

First of Year Wigeon!

It was a very nice day on Saturday to visit the park. There is still a bit of snow on the ground in the shade and it being very early March, I didn't expect to see much today. For whatever reason, I decided to hike upstream along Shingle Creek from the foot bridge on the north side. I had barely gone 50 feet when there right in front of me came swimming an American Wigeon! This is a unique and beautiful duck if you can get close to one. And that is usually the problem. They are typically seen far out in the water and can be quite skittish. But that certainly was NOT the case with this one! This little duck (about 3/4 the size of a Mallard), was not shy in the least and didn't really mind my presence at all. It was a rare photographic opportunity that I wasn't about to miss out on. I followed the Wigeon slowly along the creek, moving up and back where he finally decided to jump up on the grass bank and preen himself among the Mallards. As I watched him he was noticeably assertive, even aggressive and would nip at any Mallard that came too close to him! I bet I watched him and took photos for over an hour, even calling a friend who came and met me at the park. It still feels early to be seeing new waterfowl so this was quite a special find. For some of these photos I laid flat down on my stomach on the wet grass trying to get as low an angle as I could. I'm guessing the Wigeon was a male based on the fairly colorful plumage, especially the green eye stripe. But I'm also thinking he wasn't quite in full breeding plumage yet as the green would have probably been even more bright and obvious. After sharing my photos on the Minnesota Birding facebook page, someone referred to him as a "Baldpate" which is a nickname for the duck based on it's white colored forehead. After this find I was quite pleased and really didn't try very hard for other birds. After all it was still early and very few migrants have returned yet anyways. My friend Ron enjoyed seeing the Wigeon as well and afterwards we hiked a little bit on the north side to see the Great Horned Owl reported nesting in a big Cottonwood tree. This was pointed out to me by another nature enthusiast some weeks ago and I highly doubt I would have spotted this on my own. Typically, Great Horned Owls nest in abandoned Squirrel nests. But this one chose the crook of a large tree which I think had a little depression. I have never seen an Owl nest in such a way, and the tree was so far from the trail, that one would have a hard time even seeing the Owl. We saw no sign of the male at all, though there are a lot of other large trees in the area where he could be roosting. I will have to check back periodically on this nest to see if it is successful. If it is, it will be interesting to see how the chicks manage this small space together with mom. Later the same day I actually stopped back to watch the Wigeon some more. I found him further upstream on the bank again but the low light was terrible and I only managed a few more photos worth saving. Oh yeah, I have to add this. A pair of Mallards were mating just below the bridge. Quite a sight!

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.

Return of the Red-wings and other FOY Birds!

Each year as I hike around Palmer Lake Park, I've come to learn there's nothing quite like the return of Red-winged Blackbirds to the park. Though they're not the first migrant bird to return, their presence and familiar sound are more of an "official kickoff" to Spring and quite an exciting thing to a bird watcher! This year my first sighting comes exactly one day after the first day of Spring. I always forget though that they're not as easy to photograph when they first return, as they have a habit of perching high in the treetops the first week or two and then seem to move down into the cattails as time passes. I caught this one relatively lower to the ground on the east side of the park near the little pond. After stopping at the Duck Pond and watching the Mallards for a bit, I found myself in the woods on the North side of the park watching a couple of Black-capped Chickadees flitting about. In watching and photographing birds over the years, I've learned that Chickadees are one of the toughest by far to photograph well. Like other small birds they are constantly moving but Chickadees present a unique challenge in that their dark eye is surrounded by the black feathers on their head. So even if I'm lucky enough to get a non-blurry shot, the eye(s) are usually barely visible. Thus I've put Chickadees on a list of birds that I often avoid wasting my time trying to photograph. But all that changed in just a minute or two today after not giving up on this little guy! I knew I had maybe one or two keepers in there but I was nicely surprised to see how well this one came out once I viewed the photos at home later. There was truly a LOT to see today at the park including Deer and even other FOY (First of Year) birds. One bird I had seen weeks earlier but missed photos of was a Pileated Woodpecker. Today I heard one drumming loudly on a dead tree and followed the sound to the bird. A handsome male stayed perched here in the same place for over 10 minutes while I tried to manage a photograph that didn't look like I took it from underneath. No such luck on that part but at least I did get a focused photo. There were plenty of Robins out today as well and though such a common bird, they can really show personality if you watch them long enough. This one stayed right above my head picking off Buckhtorn berries one after another. I snapped a few shots but didn't even realize I'd caught this moment until later when reviewing my photos. I really like the photo but wish it had been a bit more sunny at that moment. I was really taking my time walking around the park today and it kind of turned into an epic journey of many hours. I would end up spending a huge chunk of time on the east side near the pond that was attracting not only Red-winged Blackbirds but also Common Grackles! The Grackle is also in the Blackbird family and tend to arrive around the same time or earlier than the RWB's. This was also a first of year sighting for me and I was intent on capturing some good images of them because I really think they are a beautiful bird. This bird has some degree of iridescent plumage over most if not all of it's body, but it's head is the really special part, distinctly emblazoned with coloring that can look black, blue or purple depending on the light and angle. After sitting for some time I was able to spy a couple close to the ground perching above the open water of the pond. I'm really happy with how this one turned out and I think it really shows how uncommonly beautiful the Common Grackle really is!

More Daylight!

Today is the first day of Daylight Savings Time which is something I often forget about over the long dreary winter. This day used to not mean much to me other than trying to remember to readjust every clock in the house. But now the first thing that comes to mind regarding DST is that very soon I will be able to sneak in a hike around the park after work! Though yesterday was the first day in a long time above freezing, much of the duck pond on the southwest corner of the park is still frozen over. It was fully sunny today with barely a cloud in the sky and so having a look at the Mallards is always fun. There were slightly more of them today in the water and on top of the ice but there was one drake that really stood out. No matter which direction he was facing, his head looked blue instead of the normal green! I thought for sure it had to be the angle but as I watched him, he really looked different from the others. Had there not been others around it might not have been so obvious but when he was side by side with the other drakes it was pretty apparent. I've never seen such a pretty Mallard before. And the hens seemed to know it too. I like that this photo kind of implies that he was being favored over the other "green heads" in the background. I'll have to keep an eye out for this guy in the future and see if he sticks around. I took quite a few photos later on but it wasn't until I was until the northwest side that I saw something of real interest. I heard a fairly loud chattering above me in the trees and when I looked up, a little face was peering out of a hole in the tree. It was a Flying Squirrel! I've only seen these at night before up in northern Minnesota, and never before in Palmer Lake Park! Right in front of me in broad daylight, the little Flying Squirrel came out of the hole and was immediately followed by a second one!I could hardly believe it. The first one proceeded to launch himself to the next tree over, about 6 or 7 feet away. I was surprised that he barely seemed to lose any altitude and almost appeared to be on a string. Their gliding abilities are truly amazing. He continued to leap from tree to tree, followed by the other one behind him. I hadn't really anticipated that behavior and I wasn't that fast on the draw with my camera. I did get a couple of bad photos of one crawling up one of the other trees but by now they were further away. I kind of chuckled to myself that maybe Daylight Savings Time had confused the Flying Squirrels as to what time it was seeing as how they're mostly nocturnal mammals. I'm assuming they're both living in the hole in the tree and it might be neat to see them nest here and have babies in the future. Not long after this I had two Red-tailed Hawks come soaring over the fields near 73rd Avenue. I positioned myself as steady as I could and snapped a bunch of shots because I have such a hard time getting birds in flight. Luckily they weren't moving all that fast but rather just kind of hovering and at least one photo turned out. It's rare when I can get a good look at Red-tailed Hawks so I was quite happy with this shot. Other birds spotted today included; Dark-eyed Junco, Great Horned Owl, Red-bellied Woopecker, Downy Woodpecker and House Finch.

Finally Above Freezing!

I heard on the news yesterday that March 6th, was our first day above freezing in 25 days! This winter has run it's course for most by now and I like many people, have rampant Spring Fever. It was already 31 or 32º by early morning but I decided to wait for things to warm up even more before going to the park. A friend of mine wanted to come walking with me today so we met around 10:30am. I knew we would probably spend more time talking and less time bird watching but I brought my camera just in case. You could hardly pay me not to take it along with me to an area where I might see birds. It was sunny with blue skies, but the strong wind actually made it feel much cooler. We did see a number of birds on our hike around the park and the ones seen most often were Black-capped Chickadees. This one posed ever so briefly for a photo against the clear blue sky. We also noticed a good amount of Northern Cardinals, an occasional Dark-eyed Junco and lots of Mallards flying overhead. The duck pond was virtually empty when we got there, making me think they all took off for the river instead. Near the bridge over Shingle Creek on the north side, a White-breasted Nuthatch paused for quite a while on the side of a large tree. I watched him look upward and blink a few times but other than that he appeared glued to the tree. This was one of about 5 WBNH's we saw today. Later we paused briefly to gaze at a nesting Great Horned Owl who was swaying back and forth in the strong wind. I took a few quick photos and when I got home to process them, I noticed something else in the nest with her. A second set of ears were there, only these were not Owl ears. It was in fact a rabbit that the male had likely brought in as a meal. There was no sign yet of any Owlets but it can be hard to tell sometimes until they are larger and crowding the nest. I hope it's not so breezy tomorrow.

Meteorological First Day of Spring

For the purposes of this blog, I had decided –out of instinct– to make generalized cut-off points at the beginning or end of various months to indicate the four seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Little did I know at the time but this is a real method of demarcating the seasons and is called "meteorological reckoning." In this scenario today March 1st would be the 1st day of Spring. I chose this method because I thought it seemed to fit much better with the arrival, departure and general behavior of the birds in our region. For example the Hermit Thrush typically arrives back in Minnesota while there is still snow on the ground. But I wouldn't call a Hermit Thrush a "winter bird." Even hearty Warblers like the Yellow-rumped Warbler can begin arriving earlier than the official first day of Spring. My two favorite sayings and generalization about birds are; a) Birds don't read field guides, and b) Birds don't read calendars! I've come to find both of these very true. So there's my explanation for that. Now on to my hike around the park today! The first thing I stopped to take a photo of was a male Great Horned Owl that was perched surprisingly close to the trail. He was obviously tending to his nesting mate and is the same one I've been seeing frequently. It was nice to see him in such good light for a change. As I walked I noticed that many of the dried up Oak leaves still clinging to their trees from last season are now starting to drop. One more sure sign of the changing season. Later I made a brief trek into the woods and scared up a flock of a dozen or so Mourning Doves. You'll know Mourning Doves immediately because their wings make an unmistakeable noise when they first burst into flight. I stepped further quietly hoping to find one still perched and noticed this one between a small gap in the thick branches. I know for certain that Mourning Doves stay the entire winter in the Palmer Lake Park area. If you would draw a horizontal line across the bottom 1/3 of the state, this is roughly their year-round territory. Shortly after I could hear a Northern Cardinal singing loudly and continuously. Indeed I have heard Cardinals "call" and maybe even "sing" for brief periods this winter, but this was noticeably different in that it was continuous and cheerful. It seemed so out of place that it made me stop to think when the last time I'd witnessed a Cardinal doing so. Likely not since springtime. How could one not feel joy at such a sight? Other birds spotted today included; Dark-eyed Junco, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker and lots of Black-capped Chickadees.

Good Sightings with a Good Friend!

Today I hiked around the park with a friend of mine. Pretty sure this was the first time in a long while that I've visited the park both Saturday and Sunday. The temperature was slightly warmer than yesterday and in the mid-twenties. We started from the northeast side of the park near 73rd Ave. N. and made our way around the entire park. Along Shingle Creek on the north side we spotted a group of 6 to 7 deer in the back of the townhomes there. The snow has been melting ever-so-slowly this spring due to the colder than usual temps but in places where the grass was exposed we noticed "Snow-mold" coating the ground. I'm not really sure what this stuff is but it looks almost like fine spider webs. Later we ran into someone who said they just saw an Owl fly overhead. So we took one of the woodchip trails looking for it but never did spot it. Instead though we spotted a Northern Shrike! This is a bird I've not seen since early February making it a fun sighting. It flew in and perched high above and was kind of in the sun and I had to try a bunch of different angles to get a photo. On the south side of the park my friend shouted to look up and there soaring not too far away was a very large Raptor. We both thought it was a juvenile Bald Eagle and I steadied my camera on it as it came soaring past us one more time. I guess I don't have a very good eye for Hawks because after I got home and looked more closely it was clearly a Hawk. But what kind? It was clearly not a Red-tailed as evident by the prominent dark patches referred to as "wrist patches" near the outer wings. Because of the rich, rusty red coloring I was guessing a Red-shouldered Hawk. My friend suggested a Rough-legged Hawk and upon looking through my new Stokes field guide, I found a photo that looked almost identical! I fell in love with this field guide upon first seeing it in stores but it is quickly proving itself to be the most useful guide I've owned so far. Not only does it have unbelievably detailed photos but there are anywhere from 4 to 8 photos showing juvenile and adult of both male and female! The field guide even helped me ID this bird as a female "light morph." One clue that I will try to remember now is that the Rough-legged has just one dark band across it's tail –different from both a Red-shouldered as well as other similar looking Hawks. This is only my second ever sighting of one. Near the end of our walk we spotted this White-breasted Nuthatch on a large cottonwood tree just inside the paved trail. In my opinion any bird that holds still and give me a good opportunity is worth a photograph. I find it very helpful to study the photo afterward and I often pick up on small details that you will rarely notice in the field. I think this is one of the better Nuthatch photos I've gotten!

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.

Beautiful Day in March

This Sunday was just an absolutely gorgeous day to be outside. The high temperature for the day reached 43 degrees and it was sunny with no wind! I decided to meet a friend for a walk around the park and we lazily took our time going around. We saw a few birds including Cardinals, Juncos and Cedar Waxwings but I didn't get many photos. About the only thing I really stopped to take a photo of was this young Deer. There were a few of them again just north of the footbridge over Shingle Creek on the north side of the park. For whatever reason this seems to be the hot-spot where White-tailed Deer congregate every early Spring. After our walk my friend and I sat and gabbed in the parking lot until the sun went down. It was just such a nice day!

March 1st, -2 Degrees, -20 Degree Wind Chill!

Well here we are, the first day of March and this relentlessly cold winter just wont let up. Our weather is pretty much the main topic of all the news that I hear or read lately. Yesterday I heard that our temps are a good 30 degrees below average for this time of year. Meaning that we'd typically be hovering around the freezing mark of 32 degrees, yet we are still dealing with temperatures near 0 or lower! Predictions for our next chance at even 30º are another 5 days away. As I hiked around the park today the temp was -2º below zero and a moderate wind made it feel like -20º below zero! But to my surprise I ended up seeing a fair amount of good wildlife today. In fact I'd say it was one of the best visits I've had in months. One of the first birds I spotted was this male Northern Cardinal. He was perched in a Buckthorn tree not too far off the trail. Cardinals are kind of easily spook-able in my experience –unless they're busy eating something. But this one let me walk right up to him. I wondered if maybe he just didn't want to exert the energy to fly away due to the cold temperature. One thing I noticed today was that a few Cardinals were singing loudly. And the song was so distinctly out of place on a day like today. I realized it was something I'm more used to hearing in the springtime which made me think that even the birds are longing for a warm up! Not long after, I had a good shot at this Hairy Woodpecker also not far off the paved trail. I also spotted a Downy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadees and a small group of Cedar Waxwings today. The Waxwing were eating from a clump of snow that was clinging to the branches. This is a common behavior for them which I've witness multiple times before. Later on when I came to the foot bridge over Shingle Creek I noticed some movement upstream. There was a group of four Deer walking straight down the creek towards me. I got excited at the good photo opportunity but as they came closer the lead Deer sensed my presence though I was holding perfectly still. Eventually the group turned back around and climbed up the creek bank. I sat on a park bench and watched for a while. More Deer joined them from across the field near the town homes. Then even more. Another hiker coming down the trail along the creek must have scared the entire group and they all high tailed it back across the creek. There were 10 in that group, followed shortly by another 4. Add that to one I spotted earlier makes 15 Deer I spotted today! I think that is more than I've seen in the past 4 months combined. As I was heading back to my vehicle, I heard a deep "whoo whoo" coming from behind me. It sounded not too far away and I decided to follow it as best I could. It continued just long enough for me to get into the general area and then it stopped. With my binoculars I scanned the trees looking at any kind of dark clump. In only the second clump I looked at, I noticed a pair of dark, pointy vertical shapes. The view was difficult and blocked by a lot of branches but I knew right away that it was Great Horned Owl on her nest! This is only the second time I've ever seen one in a nest and again I'm shocked by how small and crude of a nest they use. The reason is that Great Horned Owl's don't build their own nest. Instead they re-use one –typically built by Squirrels! As in my last encounter, the mother was right up next to the tree trunk with her tail poking over the side. I stayed a fair distance away as to not disturb her too much and risk endangering the productivity of the nest.

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!