We woke up this morning to find that each of our schools were closed for the day because of this strange massive April blizzard.  It was a western Minnesota white-out.  Even though we could hardly see our bird feeders because of the falling snow and the snow-plastered to the windows, Evan and I had our noses pressed to the glass trying to sort through all the birds that came for a handout.  At just six feet, we were working with silhouettes and behavior only.  But we know our usual suspects and a couple did not match…

We did recognize this visitor from yesterday.  No, that’s not all snow on his head.

We had a good idea of what our two mystery birds were.  Thankfully the snow stopped and we got a good look.  Mystery Bird #1 was a lifer and a new bird for the yard list – the Brown-headed Cowbird!

This is not a good photo, but it shows off the contrasting brown head a little better.  He wasn’t around very much, so I did not get many opportunities to photograph it.

Mystery Bird #2 was also a lifer and a new bird for the yard list – the handsome Song Sparrow.  I think I actually saw this bird yesterday on my way home from work, but I wasn’t sure.  It was nice to make a definite ID today and claim it for the life list with Evan.

As I got into birding less than a year ago, I wrote off sparrows.  There were too many. They all looked alike.  LBBs (little brown birds).  Now I find them intriguing.  There really are some cool looking sparrows, like this Song Sparrow and the Fox Sparrow.  After watching the yard birds, it is almost a game or a challenge to find one that is different.  It’s like trying to find Waldo.  Below is the Song Sparrow with the female House Sparrow.

With the snow stopping for quite awhile, we got the driveway cleared out with some help.

We did some inside work too, but eventually cabin-fever got to us, so it was time to go out birding.  Who knows what feathered treasures awaited us.  After all, migration is underway, and this was one heck of a storm.  Plus, dark-bodied birds would be easy to spot today.  Evan and I headed out to our usual patch to check on the waterfowl and see if there was anything interesting on the way.  We ran into many American Tree Sparrows, but they are so shy that we couldn’t get a nice photo.  These birds should be on their way north by now.  While driving it was fun to see this belly shot of the Western Meadowlark.  I think we even heard part of its song today.

On our way home we checked out a huge flock of small darkish birds on a county road.  We were pleased to see they were Lapland Longspurs.  It was fun to find another flock of these just a couple weeks from our first sighting.  Again, these birds should be winging their way north.  It was cool to see nearly 200 of them and get a chance to photograph a nice male.  These birds are always on the go.

When we pulled off the road to observe/photograph these birds, we were shocked to see a pair of Northern Shovelers scuttle out of the way of our vehicle.  We were nowhere near any water.  These spoonbills are handsome ducks up close.

It was time to head home.  As we pulled into our neighborhood we got a photo-op in a neighbor’s yard of the Northern Flicker (Yellow-Shafted).

This little outing didn’t produce any new lifers.  But, with the two yard lifers and seeing lots of other cool birds, we couldn’t complain.  I think we would have been pretty depressed with this weather if we weren’t birders.  Who am I kidding, it’s still depressing weather but the birds and good family time took the edge off.

As I’m writing this I am actually wondering if school will be in session tomorrow.  This winter continues to hang on.  Before today the only remaining snow was in ditches and snow banks.  It was very slowly turning back into spring.  Then came this most recent winter storm turning the landscape white again.

The truth is I’m kind of excited for the potential backyard birding that a big storm during migration could bring.  We bought more food yesterday and stocked the feeders – there are still over a hundred Common Redpolls sticking around.  They should be home in Canada by now.  But this time of year there could be a lot of interesting things happening in the yard on any given day, especially as migration gets underway.

Today I was watching the backyard and got to see this and point it out to the family:

It was a leucistic (loo-sis-tic) Common Grackle!  As I’ve delved into birding I’ve heard of leucistic specimens of different species but have never seen one.  Leucism is condition caused by a recessive gene that results in cells lacking the ability to make all types of skin pigment.  This can affect the entire surface or just show up as irregular patches of white.  It is not the same as albinism which is just a reduction in the skin pigment, melanin.  Okay, science lesson over.  I hope I didn’t mess it up too bad.  Regardless, this was a pretty cool bird we got to see today.  Here is what a Common Grackle “should” look like.

Then out the front yard, Evan told me that the Fox Sparrow showed up.  We just saw it for the first time in our yard yesterday, and it was a life bird on Sunday.  It’s nice to have a new bird to watch, and it was fun to add a new bird to our Yard List.  You might have the Fox Sparrow too, but be on the lookout – they are just migrating through to Canada.

So, Storm, if you’re going to happen, at least drop off a few more cool birds.

It was a fluke.  All four of us were completely ready for church nearly an hour before church started.  I still have no idea how that happened as we usually walk through the church doors in the middle of the first song. Evan, being the opportunist, asked if we could go check out the patch.  Why not?  It’s only a couple miles out of the way.  After all, we are still in the hunt for the Ross’s Goose or the fluke American Black Duck.  Worst case scenario would be seeing some swans and other cool ducks.

As we traveled down the gravel road to the flooded field, Melissa noticed a different looking bird flying in a small patch of young trees and shrubs.  We tracked it down, and it turned out to be the Northern Flicker.  This was a life-bird for Evan.  I’ve seen several up north.  I didn’t get much of a picture, but it was enough for identification.

Common Grackles were flitting all over this little patch of woods and shrubs, but there was one black bird that did not match.  I knew it was something different.  It was right by the road, so I was able to get a couple of decent shots.  I didn’t know what the bird was, so identification would have to wait until after church.  We were super excited to find out it was the Rusty Blackbird – a species that is uncommon and in decline.  Not only that, but they only pass through our area during migration.  For being just a black bird, it was pretty cool.  Needless to say, this was another life bird.

We continued our drive.  I was hoping to run into all the Eastern Bluebirds we saw the day before so I could get some pictures, but they weren’t to be found.  These next birds were found by Melissa.  Even though they were in plain sight, I almost missed them!  In two weeks I’ll be hunting for a big tom.  The more I go birding, however, I just don’t know if hunting will be as exciting as looking for birds.  But it’s a bucket-list item.

After church we decided to fight back against this slow-moving spring by going out for another nature walk.  This time we went to Sibley State Park.  The weather was cool, but it felt good to walk and just be outside.  Evan had fun riding his bike through puddles and snow-covered paths.  We picked up our first Eastern Phoebe for the year and saw a lot of the common winter birds.  At the interpretive center, though, I looked at some birds high in a tree.  I snapped some pictures but couldn’t see the LCD well in the sunlight.  Getting into the car, I was able to see that we got the Fox Sparrow!  This was a definite life bird and one I had been anticipating because I’ve been monitoring the migration reports on MOU-NET.  It was really unusual for this trio of sparrows to be high in a tree.  They are usually found on the ground.

While we were packing up the car to go home, we heard a crazy bird noise behind the interpretive center.  “What is that?” I asked.  Without missing a beat, Evan said very authoritatively, “It’s the Sandhill Crane!”  With all his studying of his bird books and bird apps, I did not doubt him for a second.  I had no idea what a Sandhill sounded like, but we raced to the other side of the building to get a look. We’ve both seen Sandhills before; I just wanted to confirm his knowledge because it continues to impress me.  We didn’t find them; they were either on the other side of a hill or just flying through.  Later on I did listen to the sound of a Sandhill Crane on our bird app, and Evan was absolutely right.

Speaking of his studying and knowledge, we checked out a Wildlife Management Area on the way home.  We saw a meadowlark flying, and Evan asked if it was the Eastern or Western.  I told him I didn’t know and that he’d have to learn the songs of each as that is the best way to distinguish the two species.  He replied, “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to study….I suppose I’ll have to stay up until 9.”

After we got home I touched base with Steve, and we decided to chase Randy’s sighting of the American Black Duck from the previous day out near Pennock.  It was a rainy evening with not a lot happening in the bird arena.  We did get another life bird, though.  This time it was a shore bird – the Lesser Yellowlegs.  As I was searching for it so I could take a picture, I got distracted by this drake Blue-Winged Teal and never did get the picture.  I’ve always liked this duck, so I had to take the shot.

Steve did manage to get the Northern Pintail for his Big Year.  It had eluded him at the flooded cornfield on two attempts even though they’ve been regulars for most of our visits. All in all it was a good birding day.  It was nice to add some lifers and to spend time in the outdoors with family and friends.