Another Slow Day

This February has been some of the slowest birding I can remember. But I keep telling myself how normal that is for this time of year. Unless you get really lucky, one can only hope to see the "usual suspects" of Woodpeckers, Chickadees and Mallards. I guess the most interesting thing I saw today was a Muskrat who appeared for a bit in the creek on the south side of the park. I feel like I used to see Muskrat more often and now they have become scarce for some reason. When he went down under the water I saw his long, hairless tail slip beneath the surface. A visit to the duck pond turned up the usual Mallards only but they can be fun to watch non the less. I caught this one doing his morning yoga stretches. Later on the south side I spent a lot of time watching some Black-capped Chickadees. I had brought along a jar of peanut butter today and was leaving gobs of it on some nice red Dogwood shrubs in hopes of enticing them to pose nicely for me. But after many minutes of waiting around, they still hadn't found it and were more interested in whatever was on the ground below the shrubs. Eventually some did come up near eye level but when I left they still hadn't found the peanut butter. Other birds seen today included; Red-tailed Hawk and Northern Cardinal.

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.

A Cold Walk with Good Sights

The temperature today when I arrived at the park was 0º but at least there was no wind and the sun was shining. I hadn't walked real far and was on the south wood chip trails when a large raptor suddenly burst out above me. It was a Great Horned Owl and I was surprised to see one in this area of the park. I watched to see vaguely where it re-perched and went back the way I came in hopes of a photo. Eventually I did find it again but it was now facing away from me and much higher up. I wondered if a pair were scoping out nesting areas here but I found no evidence of that. Later when I was hiking near the duck pond I noticed quite a few Robins hanging out near the little patch of open water that rarely freezes –even in zero degree weather. As I was watching them I noticed one that looked the wrong color. Then it bobbed it's tail repeatedly, making me look closer. To my shock it was a Hermit Thrush! This is a bird I typically see in late Fall (November) or early Spring (April), but I've never seen one in January! I kept an eye on him but it was hard as he blended right into the patchy shoreline of brown leaves and spots of snow. Gradually he moved into a nice sunny spot and just stayed there while I took photos. When I got home I reported this bird over ebird.org and sure enough it was listed as "rare" for this time of year! Only my second real "rare bird" report since I started using ebird. I decided to back to the open water and get down nice and low for some closeup views of the Robins. I'm very glad I did as I walked away with a couple of photos I'm proud of –even if it is of a very common species. Actually I always like sharing photos of Robins in the winter, as many Minnesotan's tend to think of them returning in the Spring. What actually happens is that while the majority of Robins DO migrate south, a certain percentage will stay all winter in areas where they have access to food and water. This behavior is referred to as "overwintering" and a great deal of Robins happen to choose Palmer Lake Park as their place. I also think it's fun to try and catch them (or any bird for that matter) bending over to drink. Nearly all birds except for Doves and Pigeons have to lap up water and then tilt their head back in order to actually drink. I read once before that it has something to do with their nasal cavities and they don't have the ability to "suck up" the water. Interesting huh? I also spent some time watching the Mallards in the duck pond doing exactly the same thing. It's always nice to see their beautiful green heads shining in the sun on a cold winter day. One other bird I got close to today was this male Downy Woodpecker (as evident by the patch of red on the back of his head). He was so busy hammering away on this branch that he let me sneak up within mere feet and snap some photos. I also saw Hairy Woodpeckers, and a domestic cat roaming out in one of the fields.

Day 2

Well yesterday is going to be hard to beat and that's about all I can say about that. The sun was gleeming on the dried cattails stalks, making glowing hallows in their shape. I noticed a long abandoned Baltimore Oriole nest hanging from the tree tips. One bird that was soaking up the sun was this overwintering Robin. About the only other birds I saw included Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, and an American Tree Sparrow in some thick Buckthorn bramble. Red-twin Dogwood reflected deep red in the sun and the view downstream at Shingle Creek was beautiful.