First Visit in May

Since May is THE best month of the entire year for bird watching, I set a personal goal for myself to go out bird watching every day in May, all 31 days in a row. So far so good but this Sunday is actually my first visit to Palmer Lake Park for the month. The first half of my visit was by myself and I spent quite a good deal of time just meandering slowly around the east side of the park. Later I was joined by a good friend of mine for the remainder of the hike. But before that I'd already spotted a handful of good birds and I was seeing so many species that I tried to keep the list in my head. On one of the ponds on the east side I spotted both a male and female Wood Duck perched on a log. At least at Palmer Wood Ducks are easily spooked and of course the male jumped off the log the instant I pulled up my camera. But the female stayed put as I tried to get an angle through the cattails. The females can be equally as beautiful as the males in the right light and I was surprised just how much blue showed up on her feathers. Near the southeast side I was spotting good birds left and right, including a number of different Sparrows including White-throated, Swamp, Song and this White-crowned Sparrow! This is a bird I usually only see once or twice a year if that so I was thrilled to find one today. He wasn't quite cooperative for a photo and this is the best one I got after much chasing back and forth. In this same area I also found a more cooperative Brown Thrasher. I was closer at first but then it flew up a little higher and into even better light so I was really happy with how this photo turned out. They have such bright yellow eyes and if I'm able to capture just that I'm usually pretty happy. When I met up with my friend near the south parking lot, she noticed a small flock of a dozen or so shorebirds land out in the muddy waters of the lake. They were so small they were barely noticeable and we wouldn't have even known they were there had we not seen them fly in. I tried to get a picture but they were so small and blending in so well I still don't know what they were. For size comparison you can see the bottom of a can of pop off to the right. We had a good hike through the rest of the park and noticed lots of good plants too, such as newly emerging Jack-in-the-Pulpit, lots of Marsh Marigold and Blue Violets. All in all I counted a total of 33 species of birds. Some of the more notable ones were my First of Year Grey Catbird, FOY Baltimore Oriole and FOY Yellow Warbler! P.S. I believe a friend has helped me to positively ID the shorebirds at Pectoral Sandpipers. A brand new species for me at Palmer Lake Park!

A Memorable Walk and a NEW Species!

It's been just over a week now into my leave of absence from work for some minor back surgery. The doctors all suggested to walk as much as I felt I could so of course I've been spending some long days at the park. Today before my walk even began I met with a writer for the SunPost who wanted to interview me! This was because myself and the Friends of Palmer Lake Park were planning a "Spring Bird Hike" near the end of this month. To my surprise the writer asked if we could meet at the park so I said sure! We sat at the picnic tables underneath the shelter on the east side and he recorded some of our conversation. Afterward he wanted to walk a bit with me and see if he couldn't get any bird photos himself. We had barely started around the path when we spotted a Black-and-white Warbler so at least it DID appear to him that there were indeed some interesting birds to be seen here. The article was published later and you can read it here. After parting ways I quickly spotted more birds –as early May is likely THE best time of year anywhere in Minnesota to be out bird watching! A Chestnut-sided Warbler, Goldfinch, Brown Thrasher, Gray Catbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Wood Ducks, some type of Shorebird and an American Coot were all seen before I got to the wood chip trail just to the south! But upon setting out onto the wood chip trail, I met another birder –a young woman who instantly showed me a photo of a bird she'd taken just minutes earlier. It was of a Golden-winged Warbler, a bird I've NEVER seen before! She had managed a fantastic shot of the bird while it was close to the ground and I was shocked. Together we tried to relocate the bird and in not too much time we managed to do so. This time we found a couple of them atop some tall Aspen trees, picking at the freshly budding leaves. This bird was beautiful and I was ecstatic to be watching a brand new species for me at the park! I had a hard time catching the bird sitting still and also because of the height, I wasn't able to get many great photos. But here is my favorite shot, quite cropped but it shows the trademark black mask and throat as well as the bright yellow "cap." The only thing it doesn't show is the bright yellow "stripe" on the outer wing for which the bird is named. After spending a LOT of time here taking many many photos, I finally moved on to find a very curious young Buck who walked out on the trail very close to me. He was just getting "nubbins" and they must have been itchy because he was trying to bring his back leg all the way up to his head. He was followed shortly after by a Doe and they both passed into the woods. Scanning the trees and brush even more closely now, I spotted yet another Golden-winged Warbler more near eye level. But it was such seriously thick brush that I couldn't manage even one decent photo. But not too much further along, my probing eye caught another interesting species –a White-crowned Sparrow. This is a bird I just don't see a lot of in general, especially at PLP. But as I said, this being early May, you never know what you might find!

My Big Month - Day 12

Today was a beautiful day, a little warmer and a lot less windy than yesterday. After seeing so many beautiful Warblers yesterday I wasn't sure what to expect today. I thought just maybe I'd catch a glimpse of either the Chestnut or Magnolia Warblers again but I never saw either of them. It's possible that they've moved on already or maybe they've just taken to the trees instead of the ground to find food. I did end up seeing a good variety of birds though regardless of two less Warblers. In fact I spotted 2 other birds today that I rarely see at the park. The first was the pair of Sandhill Cranes who were walking out in a field on the northeast side. I caught a halfway decent photo of one that I'll put on my flickr page later. The other unusual bird I saw was (a pair again) of Turkey Vultures soaring overhead just a short time later. These birds are probably just as large or larger than Sandhill Cranes when they're flying so it was unique to see two of the largest birds I know of when I was out in search of the smaller Warblers. My choice of photo to post today is not a Warbler at all but a White-crowned Sparrow.

I've seen only a handful of them at the park before and until today have never had such a good opportunity to photograph one. I'd thought I'd caught a glimpse of it's distinct black and white striped crown poking around in a pile of dead branches and so I patiently waited for it to come out and pose for me. I just read in my Birds of Minnesota Field Guide from Stan Tekiela that this particular Sparrow does NOT nest anywhere in Minnesota and is only a migratory visitor.

Total species seen today: White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Song Sparrow, House Sparrow, Baltimore Oriole, Mourning Dove, Black-and-White Warbler, Palm Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Ovenbird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Tree Swallow, Chimney Swift, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Wild Turkey, Sandhill Crane, Turkey Vulture, Osprey, Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Mallard, Gadwall, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Canada Goose, American Robin, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Black-capped Chickadee, Hermit Thrush, Eastern Phoebe, Least Flycatcher and American Goldfinch.

Conditions: 55 degrees, mostly sunny and a slight breeze.

Best Day of Birding Ever - so far!

Today was an unbelievable day for birding at Palmer Lake Park! I have 5 photos to post today -which is a lot- and 3 of those 5 are completely new species that I've never photographed before! And in addition to what I'm posting, I spotted so many more that I just want to name them all here just for record keeping purposes: Tree Swallow, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Gray Catbird, Black and White Warbler, Baltimore Oriole, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Blue Jay, American Redstart, White-crowned Sparrow, American Crow, Brown-headed Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, American Robin, Great Blue Heron, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Cardinal, Mallard, Wood Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Yellow Warbler, American Goldfinch, Common Yellowthroat, Barn Swallow, Green Heron, Downy Woodpecker, AND two or three unidentified birds to boot! I also distinctly heard White-throated Sparrows, Pheasants and possibly spotted a Brown Thrasher later. It was a landmark date that I should really put on my calendar for next year. The first bird of interest I posting here is a Black and White Warbler, something I'm familiar with from my field guides but can't honestly say I've seen before -much less photographed. I can see why it's so easy to overlook this member of the Warbler family as their streaked color and small size can look like nothing much from a distance. I believe this one is a male because of the extra black coloring around the eye, not to mention that he was singing to beat-the-band. My next photo is of a bird I've spotted only once or twice before -but always in the same spot of the park. I've seen -and heard- these Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers before but have never been able to catch a shot until today. Despite all that I saw today this was my favorite sighting by far. They are fantastically colored Woodpeckers with a beautiful pattern that connects a yellow streak on their shoulder to the white stripe under their eye. They also make an incredible noise that I think is strangely similar to a Ring-billed Gull. Later I spotted a small, rather bland looking bird perched in some shrubs along the inside of the trail. I noticed it had a rather distinct looking striping along it's head so I paid attention and followed it until it hopped right out onto the paved trail. I think I identified it right away as a White-crowned Sparrow though again I can't say I've ever seen, much less photographed one. For a brand-new bird (to me) I was happy that it stayed fairly close and just sort of followed along ahead of me on the edge of the paved trail. It eventually went into the grass, pulling at some Dandelion flowers when I started getting the best shots. I got an even closer shot than this but unfortunately it didn't show the "white crown" for which it is named. As I entered the thick areas on the southeast side, the woods were just bursting with the sound of birds. Right away I spotted a Yellow Warbler and I was really excited to see my first one this year! In fact they were all over the place, singing loudly and I tried to remember and repeat their sound out loud by whistling. As I repeated the phrase and tone that I thought I'd heard, I looked up only to see a totally different bird making that same noise. This time it was an American Redstart -also a member of the Warbler family and quite difficult in my opinion to get photos of. It was a bit on the dark side today with the light and now that I was under the canopy of the trees it was not helping either. Regardless, I was able to see one and photograph it, which is no small accomplishment in my book! As I continued I realized that the Redstarts and Yellow Warblers were both in the same area and it was fairly difficult to tell them apart merely from their songs. I used my Birds of Minnesota Audio CD -played on my iphone- to try and help but the noises of the actual birds in the area made it difficult to decipher between the two. Quite a few Yellow Warblers would periodically fly out from under the tree canopy to land in another spot and this was the best way spot them and get my camera on them. These Yellow Warblers are beautiful birds when you get to see them and their singing is just as beautiful. They're not quite the same yellow color as a Goldfinch and I would describe them as a deeper, richer and more orangy-yellow, with no black patches like the Goldfinch. The only other coloring they have is some rusty-orange streaking on their breast. Later I spotted yet another small bird with some striking yellow coloring -a Common Yellowthroat that I wasn't able to get great photos of. I expect to see many more of them this summer but it was a perfect end to my walk today -and added a 4th Warbler sighting in just one day!