Beyond the Book–Birding with the Legendary Bob Janssen

I have long known that Bob Janssen, author of Birds in Minnesota, was hard at work on another birding book with the tantalizing title Birds of Minnesota State Parks.  As a birder and a huge fan of our state park system, I was stoked about this book.  I first learned about it from Bob himself when I spoke with him on the phone one time in an attempt to help him finally get his Meeker County Snowy Owl.  Every birder has his own cross to bear.  Bob’s is a Meeker County Snowy Owl.  This one has eluded the godfather of 87-county-listing in Minnesota. I believe Bob made seven such attempts on my numerous reports in the last two years but still could not see SNOW in Meeker.

Not only did I know about Bob’s book, but I recently found out that Bob was doing a book talk at a handful of state parks with the first talk at our own Sibley State Park! As luck would have it, our schedule was clear on June 8th allowing Evan and me to go.  I hadn’t yet picked up a copy of Bob’s book, so I planned to do so at the park that evening before the talk.  Evan asked if he could have the book.  I told him I was buying it, so it would be mine.  He still seemed put-off, so Melissa consoled him by telling him the book would be his after I was dead.  Gee, thanks, Melissa.

Anyhow, after purchasing the book at the contact station, we made a quick check on the Mt. Tom road to see if the Cerulean Warbler had returned this year.  I didn’t hear anything, but to be fair, I was rushing since we were nearly late for the book talk at the Interpretive Center. We did arrive a minute late and quickly assumed seats in the back row and began listening to Bob’s talk.

Bob Janssen

Bob talked about how the State called him up in the 90s and asked him if he knew anybody that would be willing to do bird surveys in all of Minnesota’s state parks.  Bob immediately jumped at the opportunity by suggesting himself.  It is because of Bob and all his work that we have those awesome bird checklists for every state park.  One of Evan’s favorite things to do whenever we go to a state park is to collect that park’s checklist.

Minnesota State Parks Bird Checklists

Eventually the state wanted Bob to do a book from the result of all his work that would provide an overview of the birding at each state park.  Genius idea.

Bob Janssen books

Part of Bob’s presentation included a slideshow with pictures of various birds that are associated with various state parks around the state.  Bob put up the first picture of a bright yellow bird with a big black eye and slender black bill.  Then he asked the audience of about 30 people if anyone knew what the bird was.  Evan’s hand shot straight into the air immediately.  Bob called on Evan who correctly and enthusiastically responded, “Prothonotary Warbler!”

I don’t remember Bob’s exact words, but he was surprised and said something to the effect of “Very good young man! That’s impressive.” That set the pattern for the next several minutes–a bird picture would go up followed immediately by Evan’s hand.  Bob would again call on Evan who would again get the correct answer.  Two things were clear: the audience wasn’t made up of serious birders besides us, and Bob was getting a kick out of the young man who knew his birds.

"Blue Grosbeak!" -Evan

“Blue Grosbeak!” -Evan

One time after a correct response, Bob looked at me and asked, “How does he know all these?”  The dad in me was proud; the teacher in me cringed that my kid was showing off and loving it.  To be fair, Evan did miss a couple of IDs of birds that aren’t the easiest to ID.  I had to chuckle to myself when Evan guessed Caspian Tern incorrectly for a picture of a Forster’s Tern–this is funny because when we got our Caspian lifer a couple weeks ago, Evan turned down my offer for better looks at them. “What, are they those white things over there? Na, I’m good.”  If only you looked Evan, you’d have gotten another question right on Bob’s quiz!

Sensing that the rest of the audience may not have been as enthused as the three of us about Evan’s responses, I whispered to Evan that he should let other people answer. He complied even when a fastball came in right over the center of the plate–a picture of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak. With Evan silenced, the others were now emboldened and started throwing out answers. “Ruby-throated Grosbeak! Ruby-throated Grosbeak!”  Sorry, Evan, I should have let you continue to lead the pack.

Here are some fun things we learned from the talk:

1) The best state park for seeing the most birds is Frontenac State Park along the Mississippi River.

2) Bob has been in every city, town, and named place in Minnesota.

3) Crane Lake was the last town he visited to complete his checklist of towns.  Crane Lake is very close to where I grew up in Orr.

4) Bob has been in every township in Minnesota except one.

5) Bob’s favorite bird is the Turkey Vulture of all birds.  Shocker.  First runner-up is Spruce Grouse. Not a shocker.

6) Bob’s wife doesn’t go birding with him.

Once the talk was done, people made their way to Bob to visit and get their book signed.  After waiting for our turn, I re-introduced myself to Bob.  I have spoken with him on the phone a couple times and run into him twice in the field before, once at Le Sueur over a Rufous Hummingbird and once near Granite Falls when we were both looking for Blue Grosbeaks.  When I handed Bob the book we just purchased, he asked if he should make it out to Evan (apparently Evan really made an impression). That wasn’t the plan as I had told Evan earlier it was MY book, but I thought I’d look like a royal heel if I said to make it to me instead of my kid, so I faltered in my response, “Umm, uhh, yeah.”  I suppose it’s appropriate, since the kid will get MY book after my DEATH. Oh, well, at least I brought my copy of Birds in Minnesota which Bob signed to ME.

Bob Janssen bookAfter the signings, we had a nice little chat about Snowy Owls and Blue Grosbeaks.  There were others waiting to see Bob, though, so we moved on shortly.  When we were upstairs in the Interpretive Center and Evan was checking out all the exhibits, I got thinking that I really should go back downstairs and pick Bob’s brain about birding at Sibley State Park and Kandiyohi County in general.  Maybe he could reveal some secrets I didn’t know about.

Back downstairs, there was now only one other man talking with Bob.  I overheard them mentioning Wood Thrushes.  I had to butt in and ask if they’d seen one at the park because that would be a good find.  It turns out that Bob was explaining to the gentleman that the Wood Thrush is a bird he still does not have for Kandiyohi County.  Talk about serendipity because **news flash** I finally laid eyes on a Wood Thrush for the first time in my life just the day before thanks to a recent report by Andrew Nyhus.  I told Bob this and he excitedly started writing down directions.  Then I got thinking–it was only 7:00 with lots of daylight left, so I suggested to Bob that he could still get the Wood Thrush tonight on his way home to the Twin Cities. I told him I’d even lead him to the exact spot.  He seemed to like this suggestion as he started packing up his things a little quicker.

So that’s how we ended up birding with a Minnesota birding legend. Bob followed our car down to Lake Elizabeth.  Things started off a bit tense once we got on site, though.  The three of us were standing on the gravel road when all the sudden a man appeared from a trail in the woods holding a rifle at the ready! I naively thought he was hunting something, but then he nervously started laughing and telling us about how his camper in the woods had been robbed recently.  Through more nervous laughter he told us we obviously weren’t the thieves.  Well, thank God he realized that! Then as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared back into his lair in the woods.  It was bizarre, unsettling, and very memorable.

Back to birding, I wasn’t hearing the Wood Thrush.  I walked the road down a ways and then I finally detected the faint sound of the WOTH deep in the woods.  Bob then heard it too, and he finally got his Kandiyohi County Wood Thrush, county bird #21,071!

Bob Janssen at the site of his latest county bird, a Kandiyohi County Wood Thrush

Bob Janssen at the site of his latest county bird, a Kandiyohi County Wood Thrush

Bob leads the state in most county tics. Bob’s numerous misses on Meeker Snowies has weighed heavily on me, so this felt like redemption to help him get a new county bird.  We tried for the longest time to get good visuals on the bird.  My life look the day before was nothing more than a bird flying over the road.  This outing would prove no different.  At least Evan did get a brief life look at the Wood Thrush now too.  As we walked and talked, Bob told us that his favorite bird song was that of the Wood Thrush.

Evan birding with Minnesota birding legend, Bob Janssen

Evan birding with Minnesota birding legend, Bob Janssen.  Also, this is the infamous path from which the “hunter” appeared.

Bob also detected a Scarlet Tanager singing, but we couldn’t get visuals on it.  However, I was able to get incredible looks at another Scarlet Tanager on the other end of this road just the day before.  Both of these Scarlet Tanagers are different than the one I blogged about previously.  That’s three SCTA in a week’s time!

Scarlet TanagerIt was an even bigger thrill than my Wood Thrush lifer.

Scarlet TanagerThis is ten minutes from home. Ten minutes!

Scarlet Tanager

Listening to Bob talk about his book was a special opportunity, but going birding with Bob and helping him achieve a long-time personal birding goal was a huge thrill.  I never saw that one coming.  It was pretty amazing to hear Bob say that the Wood Thrush made his day. I’m sure that Evan will remember this night much better than he remembers his Terns.  A huge thanks goes out to Andrew Nyhus for 1) pointing us to our Wood Thrush lifer on the home turf and 2) providing the info that made this memorable, spontaneous outing possible.

The Real Fun Starts After Dark

This past spring I got a taste of nighttime birding in Arizona and was eager to go after some of our nocturnal birds back home, namely Owls and Eastern Whip-poor-wills.  Steve Gardner and I made a couple failed attempts at owling, and then the talk of nighttime birding died down.  That is, until Joel Schmidt brought it to the forefront again, telling us all that he’s always wanted to check out a road near Granite Falls for Eastern Whip-poor-wills.  His desire was amplified when there was a report this spring from this road of several Whips. Unable to go because I was on the Colorado trip, Steve and Joel went after the Whips and were wildly successful, tallying six of them!

A call was put in to Randy Frederickson to see if he wanted join Evan and me for a nighttime birding foray.  He was in.  So late in the evening on Friday, June 5th, Evan and I finished up our week of vacation Bible school and met up with Randy.  Nearly an hour later, we got down to Co. Rd. 40 just east of Granite Falls as darkness was setting in.  This beautiful road follows the Minnesota River Valley with the river down to our right and the heavily wooded ridge of the valley to our left.  With no traffic, we had the blacktop to ourselves and cruised along slowly with the windows down enjoying the cool air and the sound of birds everywhere. Even in the twilight the birds were still calling voraciously. Great Crested Flycatchers, Indigo Buntings, Northern Cardinals, a Lark Sparrow(!), and a doggone Wood Thrush could all be heard.  I’ve never seen WOTH.  I’ve heard them, and since this bird is local and can be found annually, I have abstained from counting it until I actually see it.  This would be yet another heard-only WOTH.  Another sound we heard were the buzzes of FOY Common Nighthawks overhead which is a fond sound from my childhood days in southern Minnesota.  Looking up we could see them flying overhead with their distinctive white wing bars. Despite this cacophony all around us, we weren’t hearing the Whips.

Getting frustrated with not hearing our target bird, I called Steve to get more info. I think I got a few words out before an Eastern Whip-poor-will was loudly calling out my window! And then the fun began.  We got out of the car and tried to get a visual of this bird.  I had bought a high-powered flashlight for just such a birding occasion. Randy played the tape, and sure enough, the Whip came in.  I was able to track him in the air the whole time with the beam of my light.  It was so cool to finally see this nightjar for the first time and see how similar it looked to the Common Nighthawk. A flight view was the extent of the visual experience since it landed out of sight.  This scene would play over a couple times–great flashlight beam visuals in the air, no visuals of a perched bird.  I needed a perched bird for a photo.  When I realized in Arizona that photographing birds in the dark is possible and a lot of fun, I was dying to do so again with these birds.  Try as I might, we just couldn’t make it happen.  And it wasn’t for lack of Whips.  As we walked along the road we heard Whip after Whip after Whip.  It was insane and one of the coolest birding moments I’ve experienced.  We estimated at least five in this one short stretch of road.  Even veteran birder Randy was amazed at the population density we were witnessing; he had only seen a couple before in his life.

So much for a peaceful night.  All we heard were the Whips calling their name over and over: whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-hip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-hip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will-whip-poor-will.

Now I’m no Randy Travis fan, but you gotta give props to a man who can love someone longer than the song of a Whip-poor-will.

Since there were nearly a half dozen Whips in close proximity to each other, it was hard to even pick out a single one to track down.  Eventually we got in the car and drove on, hoping to find a more cooperative Whip that we could see perched. Right near the Yellow Medicine/Renville County line, we heard a solitary Whip.  It was close to the road, but I couldn’t pick it out with my flashlight.  Randy played the tape. Almost instantly it came in and I had the beam on it.  It hovered for a second seemingly wanting to come in the vehicle where Randy was, and then…it flew away far from the road.  Doggone it.  There would be no Whip pictures tonight to show you all. I’m starting to feel Laurence Butler’s pain with photographing those equally annoying nightjars in the southwest, those Common Poorwills.

So, sorry for a photo-less post, but regardless the live experience in-person was tremendous fun. Perhaps an overnight camping trip to Upper Sioux Agency State Park is in order.  We shall take another crack at the Whip.  And hopefully, we’ll whip it good.

The County’s Tern for a Lifer

As I’ve mentioned in the previous post or two, it has not been my intention to push hard with the birding after the big trip West.  I’ve been meaning to slow down to be able to take care of responsibilities and enjoy other aspects of life.  Case in point was two weekends ago when Melissa and I decided to take the kids fishing.  I even left my camera at home so I wouldn’t be distracted with the birds.  Maybe, though, this was actually a selfish move because not having my camera pretty much guaranteed something would go down.  And that something wasn’t the bobber.  Fishing was lousy.  I could have just as well been birding or fishing–I had left my own pole at home thinking I’d be swamped with baiting three hooks, taking fish off three lines, etc (Grow up and help me out, Evan!!).

After trying Elkhorn Lake, we ventured up to the outflow at the northeast corner of Green Lake where people were fishing from shore.  While we were once again waiting for bobbers to go down, I had noticed some large, white birds flying in the distance.  Those are odd-looking Gulls, I thought.  They seemed really big, but their heads and bills were too small to be Pelicans. Hmmph, no long-range optics. Oh well.

Later on we were driving by the area where these “Gulls” had been, and I noticed some larger white birds resting in the backwaters off the Green Lake outflow.  Now I didn’t have my camera with the zoom capabilities, but I did have a pair of binoculars in the car–I always have pairs of them floating around both vehicles. I pulled the car over and took a look. I had to chuckle when I realized I was seeing a life bird when I never even intended to go birding.  Life birds are hard to come by these days in the state, let alone the county.  Getting a new one at home is a now a very rare treat.  Moreover, the bird I was looking at was one I’ve been waiting to see for quite some time.  It is one that is so exotic in name and looks that I was amazed when I first learned it could be seen in Minnesota–the Caspian Tern.  There were four of these large beauties (bigger than Mallards).  And I didn’t have my camera…

I asked Evan if he wanted to look through the binoculars to get a better look at the Caspians to which he responded, “What, are they those white things over there?  No, I’m good.”  Evan has always been fine with just a check mark for his life list.  Not me.  After I brought the family home, I made the 20 min. trip back so I could document this lifer.

Caspian Terns

The Caspian Terns are so cool that when they’re in town, everyone has to get their photo taken with them.

Caspian Terns American White Pelican

Even the COLO is not too coolo to become a bit of a xenophile around these visiting birds, posing for pictures with them and checking out the competition for best-looking water bird.

Caspian Tern

Keep on swimming, Chuck. You’re just a ‘common’, domestically-named bird; I, on the other hand, am exquisite.

Caspian Tern Common Loon

Wait, did you see it? I know my birder friends saw it.  I didn’t see it until I looked at my pictures.  Just to the right of the Caspian Tern’s head there is a second Common Loon sitting on a nest in the reeds!  How cool is that?! The northern half of Kandiyohi County is right at the southern edge of where our beloved state bird nests.  This was a sweet find on top of an already sweet find.

Caspian Tern

Shifting angles a bit shows just how easily that Common Loon’s nest can hide.

Caspian Tern

I also got to watch the Caspians take flight.  It was a good learning experience to see what they looked like in the air and hear their guttural calls.

Caspian Tern

Can you see why I thought they were Gulls from a distance?

Caspian Tern

Every birder knows the law of lifers–once you finally get it, you never have trouble seeing it again.  Terns out that I’d be putting this study of Caspians in flight to use several days later on the next adventure when I spied two flying over while I was filling up the car at a gas station.

Caspian Tern

This was a most satisfying lifer.  It was a much-wanted bird on our soil…er, water.  Believe it or not, but there’s been a lot more lifering since the Caspian Tern, even another one here at home. With some hot night-birding, a giant shorebird grab, a Colorado trip, AND Scarlet Tanagers TEN minutes from home, the stories are stacking up and quickly becoming more prolific than Stephen King novels. Much, much, much more reading ahead–so much for a quiet period in my birding and blogging.  Oh well, I’ll try to make the most of it.

Red and Black on Gray

Some days, like today, are gray and rainy.  Some birds radiate their brilliance regardless. In my seemingly never-ending quest for a Wood Thrush lifer, currently a heard-only bird, I came across a couple of dapper and melodic fellows this morning that can brighten any day.  First up is the Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Rose-breasted GrosbeakNext is the ever-lovely Scarlet Tanager.  It’s hard for me to comprehend that I’ve seen both Western Tanager (more on that later) and now a Scarlet Tanager in the same week.  Both are incredibly beautiful birds.  Though the Scarlet Tanager is locally uncommon and the Western Tanager is rare state-wide, I’ve actually seen more Western Tanagers in my life.  Today’s sighting on Timber Lake Road north of Sibley State Park was only the third time I’ve seen a Scarlet Tanager, and I got my best ever looks.  It is such a hard bird to find.  Even if it is present, it favors the canopy and is not always conspicuous.  With Scarlet Tanager sightings you can have two but never all three of the following: a motionless bird, a conspicuous bird, good light.  With a bird as good-looking as SCTA, the first two are often good enough.

Scarlet Tanager

I’ve learned the Scarlet’s song which helped me track this one down this morning.  Identifying a tree-top loving bird by just its audio is a must this time of year with the trees fully leafed out.

Scarlet Tanager

Seeing and photographing a Scarlet Tanager was a major summer birding goal of mine.  I just got done with school on Friday.  Not a bad start.

Scarlet Tanager

More time shall be spent this summer in the deciduous woods in the northern parts of Kandiyohi County.  The quest shall continue for finally seeing a Wood Thrush and getting the trifecta of perfect SCTA viewing conditions!

Mascot Showdown

Once again that final school bell has rung, sending students and teachers alike running for the exits, high-fiving and back-slapping along the way. It is that time of year when gorgeous weather and open schedules create a perfect storm for doing….anything, really.  For this bird-blogger/professional summer-vactioner, it means finally catching up and posting some bird stories after a frenzied end of the school year capped with an unplanned, lightning-fast trip to Colorado and back.  The truth is that I was really looking forward to easing up on the birding and blogging after the big Sage-Grouse adventure in Montana, but the birds and life have had other plans.  Birds and life always have other plans.  Yet again there is now a queue of stories waiting to be told.  So let’s get started with one of those fun, unplanned, and in this case, highly local adventures.

Home-cooking, home-field advantage, home-sweet-home, home-away-from-home–there is a universal fondness for all things ‘home’, exceptions, of course, being homework and possibly the adjective ‘homemade’.  Birds at home definitely fall under the former, favorable category.  A couple weeks ago, we had good bird show up in the home county–a very good bird, and a county first for me.  I’ve only seen this bird once before, and I had to travel all the way to the High Bridge in St. Paul to see it.  This bird is none other than the beloved Peregrine Falcon.

Just over two weeks ago now, Joel Schmidt spotted a Peregrine Falcon on top of the Willmar water tower in the center of town.  Apparently, Peregrines have historically stopped over at this vantage point during spring migration.  It provides quite the overlook for the flat, surrounding countryside below.  Two years ago I declined the opportunity to see one on the Willmar water tower since I had already gotten my lifer in St. Paul and did not care about keeping a county list at the time.  As time has gone on, however, my birds at home have become more meaningful–I wasn’t going to let a second chance at a county Peregrine Falcon slip through my fingers.

Peregrine FalconThis is such a cool bird any way you slice it, but seeing it at home made it an even bigger thrill.  This bird is so awesome that Evan had to get himself a better look with my camera and practiced his photography.

Evan

His photography needs a little more practice at those long-distance shots, but hey, he got  most of a focused bird and debuted his first photo on the blog.

Evan picture

Evan is a fan of the Peregrine and is much more knowledgeable about them than I am, teaching me (correctly) that Peregrine Falcons can reach speeds of 200 mph! Marin picked up on the apparent enthusiasm that Evan and I were showing; she had to get a look for herself.  It was pretty fun to watch both kids dig this bird.

Marin

After this initial viewing we went back an hour later after dinner because another birder could not find it after I posted the sighting on Facebook. As we drove up to the water tower, Evan spotted the Falcon flying over Hodapp Field and back up to its water tower perch…with its own dinner.

Peregrine FalconEven though we didn’t see the Peregrine nab this bird mid-flight, it was still pretty sweet to watch it devour its kill.  Perhaps the other birder had missed seeing the Falcon because it was out hunting at the time.

Peregrine FalconIf only, if only that dinner had been a Northern Cardinal…

water tower

The Peregrine Falcon ended up hanging out at this water tower for a few days before going who knows where.  Falcon checks became a part of the daily errands, providing many photo ops.  Too bad I couldn’t make out any information off the leg bands, though.

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

Peregrine Falcon

While a joke may exist somewhere in this next pic, it is ripe with local significance since an area school is the home of the Falcons.  To those who know us personally and know about our lives this past year, this photo is also quite symbolic. Clearly one of these birds is bigger.  Clearly one of them dominates. Clearly one school chose the better bird for its mascot.

Falcon CardinalClearly that bird is not red.  I do enjoy Cardinals at home quite a bit, but watch out for those visiting Falcons–they’ll eat you alive.

Migration Photo Dump

Given that the recent material on this blog has covered events from over a month ago, you may begin to think that the birding has stopped.  Any birder will tell you the birding never stops.  Since returning from Montana, there has been a lot of local action as I’ve tried to keep up with migration while blogging, holding down a job, being a dad/husband, etc. Anyhow, here is post that will largely be pictorial with some commentary as needed.  The birds pictured will follow the taxonomic order of how birds are listed with ornithologists unions, eBird, etc.  This is not an exhaustive run-down of all the birds I’ve seen this spring, but rather just the more photogenic ones. Some are migrants; some are residents who have returned for the breeding season.

Waterfowl

Trumpeter Swan

Trumpeter Swan

Wood Duck

Wood Duck

Mallards

Mallards

Blue-winged Teal and Wood Duck

Blue-winged Teal and Wood Duck

Greater Scaup

Greater Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup

Lesser Scaup and Greater Scaup

Lesser Scaup and Greater Scaup

Herons, Ibis, and Allies

About a month ago, I traveled to Miller-Richter WMA in Yellow Medicine County to join forces with my birding friend, Garrett Wee, to look for my lifer Willet and Short-billed Dowitcher.  Willets had been popping up left and right, but somehow I was always in the middle.  This day with Garrett would prove to be the same.  As we studied the shorebirds on Miller Lake, Garrett and I got talking about White-faced Ibises.  He was telling me how it was probably his favorite bird.  He’s seen them in southern states but never here in Minnesota.  White-faced Ibis is a rare-regular bird for MN.  He missed the group of five last year in his home county at Black Rush Lake because he was at prom.  Fair enough I suppose.

Our next stop after Miller-Richter was Spellman and Miedd Lakes.  Right away at Miedd, Garrett spotted some birds faraway on the opposite shore that looked different.  I zoomed my camera to the max and snapped a crummy photo so Garrett and I could see what they were.  Even though it was super blurry, we could tell by the coloration and sheen on the wings that they were Ibises! We immediately hoofed it nearly 3/4 of a mile around the shoreline to get a closer view.  And there were eight birds in all! It was awesome that Garrett got his Minnesota White-faced Ibises on the very day we talked about it.  As a bonus, no one has ever submitted an official MOU record of White-faced Ibises for Yellow Medicine County.

White-faced Ibises

White-faced Ibises

White-faced Ibises

Shorebirds

Spotted Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Long-billed Dowitcher

Long-billed Dowitcher

Wilson's Phalarope

Wilson’s Phalarope

Owls

Great Horned Owl

Great Horned Owl

Kingfishers

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Vireos

Yellow-throated Vireo

Yellow-throated Vireo

Gnatcatchers

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Catbirds, Mockingbirds, and Thrashers

I’ve been on very good terms with Brown Thrashers this spring.  It’s a balm of sorts for the Sage Thrasher burn.

Brown Thrasher

Brown Thrasher

Wood-Warblers

Don’t let the lack of photos fool you; I’ve seen a great variety of Warblers this spring.  They just haven’t been very photogenic.  Best non-pictured species included Golden-winged, Canada, Magnolia, and Northern Parula.  American Redstarts are resident this far south in the summer, and they have been especially ubiquitous during migration.

American Redstart

American Redstart

This next photo is included only because it is a photographic first and only the third time I have seen a Bay-breasted Warbler.  Thanks for the call, Steve.

Bay-breasted Warbler

Bay-breasted Warbler

Sparrows and other Emberizids

Field Sparrow

Field Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Harris's Sparrow

Harris’s Sparrow

Blackbirds

Baltimore Oriole

Baltimore Oriole

Other Cool Stuff

Snapping Turtle

Snapping Turtle

There are two special birds I have left out of this post.  Both are big birds and both are BIG birds.  One was just a county bird; the other was a county/life bird.  These birds will either be combined in the next post or each have their own post. Stay tuned!

Yard Bird #74 – Far, Far From a Cardinal in the Snow

The birds are conspiring against me.  After the trip Up North, I was all set to be a responsible, non-birding adult who takes care of all those non-birding chores, duties, etc, and who generally uses his time wisely before jet-setting for Arizona in a couple weeks for…more bird gluttony.  The birds have had other plans–they’ve been in my face.

For starters, FOYs are increasing exponentially.  My year list doubled in the last couple weeks.

Some we are catching on arrival.

Cackling Goose

Cackling Goose is a solid FOY, not to be taken-for-granted.

Some we are catching on departure.

Lapland Longspur

2015 was dangerously close to being Lapland Longspurless. Tragedy averted.

Then there is the time-consuming documentation of good birds, FOY or otherwise, that comes along with responsible birding.

Northern Shrike

March 16th! The time is approaching when a MN Shrike cannot be safely identified by the calendar alone. Despite his proclivities for our recent warmer temps, this guy’s barred breast gave him away as a Northern.

Of course, when an MOU-official county first-record shows up in the home county, you simply must go after it.

Mute Swan

The race to see a rare bird is all the more urgent when an invasive, destructive species like the Mute Swan will be shot on sight by the DNR or USFWS.

Even if it chooses an uninspiring place to land.

Big Kandiyohi Lake

Big Kandiyohi Lake from County Park #2

Even if it is an unambitious slug that hangs out ALL day in one spot and might be a sick bird.

Mute Swan

An escapee? Doubtful-no leg bands seen when standing or clipped wings seen when flapping.

Then there are birds you simply have to take time to look at, unless of course, no one read you E.B. White’s classic, The Trumpet of the Swan, when you were a kid.

Trumpeter Swan

This Trumpeter Swan descendant of Louis is purported to play the trumpet line in the opening credits of Homeland.

Finally, there are birds that you cannot ignore even if you never venture out–yard birds.  Last week I stayed home one day to take care of a sick Evan. Upon pulling in the driveway after going out to pick up soda crackers, 7-Up, and so on, Evan told me he thought he saw a Bald Eagle overhead.  Not a rare sighting at our house, as it happens 2-3 times annually, but it was definitely a noteworthy sighting that caused me to get out of the car and look up. It was no hum-drum Eagle.  I nearly felt the breath knocked out of me when I saw it cruise directly over the house under 100 feet up–a new yard bird and rare one at that, a dark morph Rough-legged Hawk! Normally I always have the camera with me in the vehicle.  Instead, I raced into the house and got back in time for one shot to document this color-morph of an uncommon bird that is exciting anywhere, but all the more exciting because it graced our yard with its shadow.

Rough-legged Hawk

This was only my fourth county RLHA and my second-ever dark morph.

Evan and I chased after this bird for better photos, but it just kept slipping away as it glided on the wind.  I kept raving about what a cool find it was for our yard to which Evan replied, “You’re welcome, Dad.”

Winterfowling – A Black and White Affair; No Kids Please

Things have been pretty bleak on the prairie lately as far as birds go (or as far as anything goes, actually).  The Snowy Owls packed their bags and left long ago.  Birds of the field have been in short supply or absent altogether.  Adding insult to this injury is that it has been extremely cold these past few weeks as temps have been well below zero.  Hoth is looking like a pretty good vacation destination these days both for its scenery and temps.

So what’s a birder to do?  Look at waterfowl, of course!  Wait, what? Isn’t it a frozen wasteland here? Birders know a lot of crazy, cool stuff about local, natural phenomena that the vast majority of area residents know nothing about.  One such phenomenon is knowing where open water exists in the county during the winter months.  When I got into birding a couple years ago, I was blown away to find out that several species of waterfowl have been recorded on past Willmar Christmas Bird Counts.  Heck, I was blown away to find out we had open water. I mean, every bit of water is seemingly, or should be, in a solid state, right?

Green Lake

“Let’s drive our truck on the lake by the open water,” they said. “It’ll be fun,” they said.

The further I went down this rabbit hole of birding, the more secrets I’ve learned.  One of those secrets is that small numbers of Trumpeter Swans overwinter in the Spicer/New London area.  I was reminded of this when local birder, Coralie Jacobson, posted on Facebook that she saw a bunch of swans on the outflow of Green Lake at the northeast corner.

Green Lake

I’ve seen plenty of Trumpeters in the county, but seeing them in February is something I had never done and needed to document for eBird.  It was certainly the cure for the winter birding blues.  A couple weeks ago I drove up to Green Lake and was not disappointed. In all, I counted 19 Trumpeter Swans.  These DINCs (Double-Income No Cygnets) were enjoying quite the love fest, being all exclusive from the other swans.

Trumpeter SwansWhen not necking and acting like that adorable couple that makes people cringe, they were striking contortionist poses and looking awfully dapper in their crisp black and whites.

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Meanwhile at the other end of the Trumpeter relationship spectrum and at the other end of the outflow, this harried set of parents was leading the distracted life of a zone defense against three rambunctious teen-age cygnets.  A date night might be in order.

Trumpeter Swansssss

It turns out that the outflow of Green Lake is not the only open water around these parts in the winter.  The Crow River right in downtown New London also stays open just beneath the dam at the Mill Pond and along Central Avenue.  In late November 2014, Coralie Jacobson found herself an incredible lifer on this little stretch of river in town–an American Black Duck associating with about two dozen Mallards.  This species has been something of a nemesis bird for me, and it’s a remarkable bird for our area.  Occasionally one or two will be seen by somebody during spring migration or in the late fall if there is open water around.  I have frozen my fingers and face scanning through thousands of Canada Geese and Mallards on Foot Lake trying to pick one out that Steve had found in late 2013. Another time I was minutes late for getting to a location of a sighting.  And this particular duck that Coralie found? I think I made a half dozen trips to New London looking for this bird, hoping to finally add it to my county list and record a new Kandiyohi species for eBird. Joel found it no problem.  Counters for the CBC found it no problem.  I had lots of problems finding it.  I had so many failed attempts and it was getting deeper and deeper into winter that I had completely given up on it, settling for licking my Black Duck wound along with the still open, festering wound of missing a county Long-tailed Duck by an hour last fall.

Last week after I dropped Evan off at school on Monday, I went for a drive-about in the northern part of the county-a land I haven’t explored much.  The Black Duck was far from my mind since it was last seen two months ago. This solo venture was birding desperation, plain and simple.  I didn’t even know what I was really after.  A 2015 county Northern Shrike? Pileated Woodpecker year bird maybe? Perhaps a Snowy Owl even though I’ve used up all my SNOW luck for a decade? It felt hopeless and was even less interesting than it sounded. I decided to turn it into an eBird expedition, making notes of birds numbers/species/locations.  It was something to do, something productive anyhow.

My travels brought me by New London, so I thought I’d swing by the Crow River on Central Avenue to see if there were any Mallards to document.  I noticed that there were about 30 Mallards or so.  Interesting.  The ducks were located at a bend in the river that was not easily seen from the dam or from Central Avenue.  After some maneuvering I finally got into a position with the morning sun at my back where I could see the ducks. The conclusion of my quick scan was Mallards-every one of them, but truthfully I wasn’t even thinking that the Black Duck was a remote possibility.  It had to be gone.

American Black Duck

Anyhow, I decided I would glass the Mallards and try my best to get a careful count of males/females for eBird since it was a manageable number.  Most ducks were facing upstream with their heads constantly under water foraging for food. It’s kind of hard to count ducks that look like rocks.

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As I moved my binoculars from one bird to the next, one duck lifted its submerged head.  I saw a black cap and an olive green bill, and I literally laughed out loud.  There it was. Finally.  Had I not eBirded, I may have been long gone not knowing the Black Duck was right under my nose.  It felt SOOO good to finally see this bird here at home.  It was an A+ bird for a dull winter day–even better than if I’d found a Snowy Owl.  The icing on the cake was finding an overwintering Belted Kingfisher, an eBird rarity that I was unfortunately not able to photograph.

American Black Duck

In my early birding days I had anxieties about differentiating an American Black Duck from hen Mallards.  How silly.

American Black Duck and Mallards

Ever wonder why they call it a Black Duck?

American Black Duck

Wintefowling is tremendous fun but is not for the faint of heart, those with poor circulation or the beardless.  That said, it seems that winter’s last hurrah is waning and that warm temps are on the way.  Pretty soon there’ll be open water aplenty and waterfowl galore.  The truth is I’m going to miss these quiet winter waterfowling days when the few, the proud ducks are concentrated in tight spots.  Only the cool ones come in the winter.

Sunday Brunch – Sparrow Quiche and Owl Leftovers

Sometimes when the social life gets a bit dull and we find ourselves stuck in the rut of being hunkered down like hermits, the best remedy for breaking up the funk is to have someone over for dinner-someone who’ll liven things up a bit.  Or in our case, since we remain stubbornly grounded in our ruts, it took someone inviting himself over for dinner. Except we didn’t have to cook.  Getting home from church today, Evan took one look out the window and asked, “What’s that?!”

Sharp-shinned Hawk

The better question to ask was, “What bird was that Sharp-shinned Hawk eating?”  Being a typical 7-year-old, Evan wanted to chase away the hawk so he could investigate the remains.  Shoot, I wanted to see too, but I told him to wait and at least let the hawk finish its meal.    So after a short time, the Sharpie flew away and Evan and I raced out there.  Nothing but feathers.  Not a carcass, not a wing, nothing.  Thankfully there were no red feathers.  I assume the feathers were those of a House Sparrow, which if true, this hawk is welcome to drop in unannounced for dinner anytime.

Beyond the exciting ordeal in the yard, birding has been pretty dead.  Steve and I went out for a bit today on another hopeless hunt for wintering Long-eared and Northern Saw-whet Owls.  I guess a FOY Northern Shrike (for me, not Steve) was some sort of consolation prize.

IMG_1984
We’re putting in our time, we keep telling ourselves.  But even as we do so, the peripheral birding is abysmal if not non-existent.  There is a shortage on birds of the barren field variety this winter – Horned Larks, Lapland Longspurs, and Snow Buntings are largely MIA.  Their presence at least adds a little life to the countryside. We did run into a couple small flocks of the Larks today, and we did turn up a solitary SNBU for Steve’s FOY. Still it wasn’t much, and it is otherwise a dead zone everywhere.

Even this winter’s saving grace, the influx of several accommodating, local Snowy Owls, seems to be officially over, for now anyway.  It has been over a week now since I have seen a Snowy.   At least Wilma was kind enough to make a final showing on one of our sunny days.

Willmar Snowy Owl

Oddly, though, I have been finding record numbers (for me anyway) of Great Horned Owls as I go to and fro.  So far in 2015 I have found three in the county and four in all.  Maybe some day I’ll see one close and in good light.

Great Horned OwlSo as the sun sets on each winter day with minimal birding activity, thoughts drift more and more to spring migration and planned spring trips to Arizona and Montana, when the bird life will be overwhelming in new and old birds alike.

Great Horned Owl

In the meantime, though, hopefully we’ll have more drop-in dinner company.  Sparrow anyone?

A Day for the History Books*

I know, I know…you’re wondering when this guy is going to quit with the doggone Snowy Owl posts.  Folks, I’m just out reporting what’s happening on the prairie, and just when I think the climax of the story has been reached, it keeps escalating.  Boston may be getting dumped with snow, but Kandiyohi County is getting buried in SNOW. No fluff owl postings on this site – just hard-hitting updates on the story that’s unfolding daily.  So let’s get right to it.

Monday

After Evan’s piano lesson, Melissa and the kids went out to eat.  I split from them as I was scheduled to work at my buddy Steve’s Knowledge Bowl meet. #neverfullyretired  I had about a half hour to kill, so I went owling.  Right away I found a Snowy, and it looked darkish in the diminishing light.  I didn’t stop, though, didn’t even slow down.  I would come back.  I first had to do my route to see just how many Snowies I could dig up.  I did find Wilbur which now gave me my fourth double-Snowy sighting of the month. #wilburisthebestlookingsnowyowlever

Snowy Owl Willmar

He was waaay up high on one of those metal high-line poles, so he was not bothered by me parking beneath him.  I didn’t have much time left and I wanted to get back to that first Snowy, so I left Wilbur after just a minute or two.

I turned a corner and took one look back and was blown away by Wilbur’s backdrop.

sunset Snowy Owl

Now call it karma, call it luck, call it probability for the number of times I go Snowy Owling, but something remarkable happened.  Last weekend I was bothered by a visiting photographer walking right up to Wilbur, and here while I was enjoying the sunset and Wilbur from a distance, he dropped off his power pole perch and glided…..to a lamp post right next to my car! Wilbur was 25 feet out my window! #crushyouverymuchwilbur

Wilbur Snowy Owl

Wilbur Snowy Owl

As awesome as this was, the clock was ticking as I had a responsibility to be somewhere and another owl yet to photograph.  My initial suspicion was right – it was a dark one, a young female bird and a completely new Snowy Owl for the county!

Willmar Snowy Owl

I was so pumped and so rushed that I couldn’t even get clear picture of her when she gave me “the look.” She shall be called Wilma.

Snowy Owl Willmar

Willma was now the third Snowy I have personally found.  At least.  I may have been counting different Snowies as the same continuing bird. Regardless, it might be time to buy a SNOWblower.  As cool as it was to find Willma, I had decided I was done reporting Snowies for the county (on the listserv and FB anyway).  No worries, she’ll still be eBirded, but my checklists will be hidden until after this season of owls passes.  I still want future Kandiyohi birders to be able to know about this awesome chapter in our history, and I want to help flesh out the national story of Snowy Owls this winter.

What a night! What a season!

Tuesday

Took a call at work from fellow birder/teacher Brad that a custodian had told him about a Snowy that had touched down in Meeker County near Cosmos that very morning.  I knew two hard-core county listers who have made a combined 8 unsuccessful trips to Meeker just for Snowy Owls.  They want one BAD. One of the men was renowned birder and field-guide author Bob Janssen.  Instead of posting, I called them up directly.  One of the men was able to come out to search.  Unfortunately after several hours of looking, it was another trip for the loss column.

I tried hard to find a Meeker Snowy on my way home from work.  I tried real hard.

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I saw no Kandiyohi Snowies during my daily owl prowl.

Wednesday- A Glorious Day

I have been telling the guys I bird with in Kandiyohi County that we need to be checking daily for new Snowies because in looking back at pictures, we may, in fact, be dealing with several owls that we are calling the same owl.  My advice was to not quit looking once one Snowy was found.  Tonight as I started my owl prowl, I was delighted to see Willma again!   She hung on for a couple days and wasn’t just passing through one night. How cool is that?

Wilma Snowy Owl

Wilma Snowy Owl

She’s a sweet gal, but I had to keep my own advice and get moving to look for more.  It was a misty, overcast night – the owls would be perched up if they were around. A few minutes later I had another one!

William Snowy Owl

The more I looked at this bird the more excited I got. The GISS and markings were wrong for Wilbur and the location was far from his hunting grounds.  This wasn’t Wilbur, and Wilbur is the most reliable Snowy I’ve found.  Instantly I recalled a hallowed tale of the great Gandalf Kandiyohi Birder, Randy Frederickson, who one day, long, long ago saw three Snowy Owls in one day in Kandiyohi County.  My heart was thumping – I had a chance to tie Randy!  I raced to Wilbur’s turf, still scanning for other owls along the way.

I got to his haunts and couldn’t find him.  What the heck? We have zero snow right now, which is super weird, and I can’t find the whitest Snowy Owl on the planet.  Maybe I was wrong, maybe that last owl was Wilbur.  I gave up and was about to get on with my responsibilities.  As I looked left before making my turn, though, there he was!  I did it! Three Snowy Owls in one day in the county!!! #hattricksandturkeysarethetriosoflessersports

Wilbur Snowy Owl

Wilbur Snowy Owl

And all of them were right here at home. By the way, the  Snowy #2 in this post shall be called William.

Willmar Snowy Owl sign

I wanted to keep up the search for #4, but I had responsibilities which needed my attention, namely picking up Evan from school.  I was able to show him two of these birds on the way home. He’s Snowy-owled out, but the look on his face was shear awe and amusement when he saw Wilbur perched at eye-level in the photo above.

I ended my night by calling Randy.  Randy was genuinely excited about the news.  I think we are all in shock and awe over what is happening this year.

#lastyearsirruptionaintgotnothinonthisone

* #tiesarehistorytoo