As I drove to and from work today, I saw a sure sign that spring is indeed coming – flock after flock of geese were flying in their V formations heading north!  Migration is an exciting time for birders.  We are checking out the hole on Foot Lake nearly every day for anything new.  Today after we did a family shopping trip for groceries, we stopped by our patch. There were lots of Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks tonight.  We also saw Mallards, Canada Geese, Gadwalls, Ruddy Ducks, Common Mergansers, an American Coot, Ring-necked Ducks, and Canvasbacks (top left of first picture).

The Wood Duck is my favorite duck of all time.  It was quite a treat to see several drakes together.

Here’s a shot of our lifer for today – the Canvasback.  They are the three white birds with dark reddish heads in the background.

As we were birding, Randy happened to drive up to glass the waters.  It was at least his second time today watching this spot – that’s how fast things can change this time of year. He pointed out a couple different species that we’d overlooked.  He told me that in all the years he’s watched Foot Lake in the spring, he has only seen the Greater White-Fronted Geese one other time.  He said we were pretty luck to see them yesterday. Huh, who knew?  I have no doubt we’ll be at the patch tomorrow.  You never know who will show up for birds…or birders.

This week I’ve been going through my normal work routine while Melissa and the kids are home on spring break.  It’s never easy to work while they’re at home, and this lingering weather only aggravates that fact.  Today, however, I got a nice pick-me-up when I checked my email.  At 11:00 Randy sent me a one-line email that said he had a Barred Owl 15 feet from his window and that he had just fed it a mouse.  The Barred Owl is a very cool bird that we just added to our life list a couple weeks ago.  I replied thanking him for letting me know, but I still had to put in 5 hours of work plus a commute home.  There was no way the bird would be around.  Well, Randy sent me another email at 4:00 saying the owl was still there.  I didn’t see it until 4:30 and hadn’t left work yet.  Was I too late?

On the drive I called Randy who said the bird was still there and that we were welcome to come watch it.  We were a half-hour out.  I contacted Melissa to tell her I would be in and out of the driveway to grab Evan.  Even though we’ve both seen this species, a twinge of nerves and excitement ran through my belly – would it be gone?  Would we be lucky to get two sightings in as many weeks?

When we got to Randy’s house, he calmly greeted us outside and asked Evan if he wanted to see the owl.  Evan excitedly nodded in his shy-way when he’s around new people.  Randy led us into the living room of his house which overlooks a mature woods and numerous bird feeders.  He stood in front of his patio door and did not point anywhere or look outside in any direction.  Instead, being the teacher he is, he faced us and said, “Let’s see how good you are.  If you stand right in this spot, you will have a clear view.”  Easy.  I stood and looked.  And looked.  Nothing.  “He’s about 20 yards away.” Still nothing.  Randy could tell we were looking high, and he said, “Look lower.”  Now I was getting frustrated with myself.  How could I not see an 18 in. bird in a tree?  After a couple of minutes of this, he finally pointed it out to us.  And here is the very cool Barred Owl that we saw.

You can see how the Barred Owl’s coloration blends into this backdrop of branches and snow.  No wonder it didn’t jump out at us.  Evan had the hardest time seeing it.  Both Randy and I lifted him up trying to point it out.  After several attempts like this he finally saw it.

After watching this cool bird along with all the other avian activity in Randy’s yard (We picked up a life bird – the Brown Creeper), it was time to go.  Foot Lake was on the way home, so we went to check out this new birding patch of ours.

There were hundreds of geese today.  As I glassed through all the Canadas from right to left, I saw a different species of goose – the Greater White-Fronted Goose – another lifer!  I had just learned about these geese a week ago when early migration reports were coming out of southern Minnesota.  These geese only pass through our state and don’t stay long.  What a pleasure it was to see them!  As I’ve said before, birding is a timely hobby.  What’s here today won’t necessarily be here tomorrow.

Can you pick them out below?  Hint: Look for the orange feet then look up.

I continued to glass all the geese, and I found another species of geese that was on my radar – the Cackling Goose – another lifer!  The Cackling Goose looks like the Canada, but is smaller, has a shorter neck, and has a stubby bill.  It was only recognized as a separate species in 2004. Can you find it in the picture below?

Here is a three goose picture that I got.  Do you see all three species?

We saw some species of ducks among all the geese: Mallards, Common Mergansers, Hooded Mergansers, Common Goldeneye, and Wood Ducks! Yes!

We also got to see a new life bird – the Ring-necked Duck!  Its name is a misnomer.  It actually doesn’t have a ring on its neck, but it does have one on its bill.

After showing Evan all the birds through the LCD, we headed to the neighboring Willmar Lake where there is also some open water.  More geese, but it was nice to run into this flock of Northern Shovelers!

Despite the wealth of life birds for us today and the owl sighting, Evan was eager to get home.  Melissa had planned to dye Easter eggs with the kids tonight, and Evan didn’t want to miss it.  A birding guide in northeastern Minnesota once described birding as one big Easter egg hunt.  I can’t think of a better way to put it.  There’s always something to look for in any location during any season.  Sometimes the eggs are easy to find, like an American Robin in your yard, and sometimes you need a more experienced person to point the egg out to you, like Randy showing us the Barred Owl.  We had a thrilling hunt today and got to put some really cool eggs in our basket.

Something’s gotta give.  This winter is clinging on with an iron grip.  Maybe it’s good, though, so I can get my taxes done without the distraction of warm weather and new birds coming through.  This morning I did just that and was in need of a break by afternoon.  It was time to go out and look for a bird or two.  Evan wanted to look for the American Kestrel I’ve been seeing a couple times on my commute to work.  But as I worked on my taxes, Steve texted me saying he went birding at Foot Lake in Willmar this morning and picked up a Wood Duck.  Now a Wood Duck is nothing new for us, but it is always a thrill to see, and it is definitely a sign of spring!  So we decided to check out the gymnasium-sized patch of open water on Foot Lake today.

Our vantage point was far away from the water, so I was using the camera as my binoculars to see what was out there.  We could see lots of Canada Geese with the naked eye, but some smaller birds – ducks – showed up in my view.  I snapped some pictures just for identification purposes.  It was tough to see the LCD outside, but once I got in the van I noticed we had some Common Mergansers mixed in with the Mallards and Canada Geese.

We went back out to look at them again, and this time we found the Hooded Merganser.  That was fun to see.  They are not all that common.  My camera was zoomed to the max, but you can see him at the edge of the water.

I’ve gotten smarter about how I use the camera I have – not for taking pictures, but for showing the kids the birds that are far away.  My camera has a flip-open LCD and a viewfinder.  I use the viewfinder for taking long shots, but I’ve started flipping open that 2.5″ LCD and showing the kids the birds and ducks up close.  Both Marin and Evan got some good looks today.

No Wood Ducks for us today, and we didn’t find the Kestrel afterwards.  We and the waterfowl are anxious for more open water.  Until then, we’ll keep checking this little patch for new migrants.  Hopefully we see fewer ice fishermen next time…