No Lyin’ – Lyon County Has Unique Birds

The other night when my wife and I were on a date she took out her phone for a moment.  I figured it was as good a time as any to do likewise.  No, I wasn’t interested to see who texted me or check on sports scores.  Instead I wanted to check for any intel from the field, bird-wise that is.  Scanning the Minnesota Birding Facebook group posts, I saw one that got me fired up – 5 White-faced Ibises in Lyon County.  Lyon County is where I just was the day before when we got the Ross’s Goose.  I told Melissa that it looked like I’d be heading back to the southwest in the morning.  I put the birding aside and continued on with the date – until I got home.  Then I checked Birding Across America for any other info out of Lyon.  I saw that my Cottonwood reporter was at it again – one Cattle Egret and 36 Smith’s Longspurs at the Cottonwood sewage ponds that evening.  Yep, I was headin’ southwest in the morning.

I brought the kids along.  I knew Evan wouldn’t want to miss a potential 3-lifer day (one of which was an ibis!).  Plus we would be in the neighborhood of Lyon County’s Garvin Park – a campground with a playground so new and enormous that none can compare. With lunch, pillows, blankets, and movies, we were off on an adventure of undetermined length.

When we arrived at Sham Lake I looked for Cattle Egrets but came up empty.  Almost as soon as I pulled in, though, a car pulled up behind me.  I see a young man get out, binoculars in hand, and come up to my window.  Could it be this young fellow whose eBird reports I salivate over?  Sure enough, it was him.  We visited for quite awhile about the unique birds in the area, and he told me the first-hand account of seeing those 16 Cattle Egrets on his way to school a couple days prior.  By the looks of him I figured him to be a college student in his early twenties. As he talked about first waves of the warbler migration and nesting Western Kingbirds, I assumed he was in some sort of biology or naturalist program.  That is, until he told me he stopped by to do a bit of birding before going to prom that afternoon.  I didn’t even know what a warbler was until I was in my thirties. Sheesh.  We didn’t get any Cattle Egrets there, but I got something almost as good – the contact information of this local birding kingpin.  Those kingbirds shall be ours this summer.

After we parted company, the kids and I went to the poop ponds looking for the egret and longspurs.  We struck out.  Now we were 0 for 2 on the morning.  On the way out of town we stopped by both Cottonwood Lake and the slough south of town.  It was good to see that our Ross’s Goose was still hanging on.

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The kids were beyond anxious to get to Garvin Park.  But we had to look for our main target first – the White-faced Ibises.  Five of them had been reported at Black Rush WPA just east of Camden State Park on County Road 59.  We drove the road back and forth a half dozen times or more.  I was looking deep in the thick cattail marsh thinking that they were lurking somewhere out of easy viewing.  Nothing.  0/3 now.  It was time to go to the park – the big draw for the kids.  In their world, it must have felt like an eternity until we got there around 12:30.  Good thing we didn’t get there much sooner!

IMG_8153My goodness did those kids play hard and long in the chilly, windy weather.  I was content to let them do so.  Melissa was ill and bed-ridden all day back home, and I figured we’d have a better shot at those ibises on the return trip the closer it got to evening.

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Birding at Garvin was limited.  It was way too early for that Cerulean Warbler to be back, but it was nice to see and get some photos of a couple Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.

Yelloww-bellied Sapsuckeer

Yelloww-bellied Sapsuckeer

This bird will always be a notable one for me.  Two years ago when Evan and I knew nothing about birds – well, he knew a lot more than me – we went on a birding walk with a naturalist at Bearhead Lake State Park.  The first bird our guide pointed out to us was the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.  It was a rather odd-looking woodpecker with a funny name.  It sounds like an insult you’d hurl at somebody.

IMG_8143It was pretty neat to see him working so hard at his name-sake – sucking sap.

IMG_8152So, the blog post could very well have ended right here since we struck out on all three targets.  Thankfully, though, it doesn’t.

Just at the time we were getting ready to leave the park, I got an update that someone had seen the ibises just now!  We were 15 minutes out.  We hustled on over there and flushed the 5 White-faced Ibises as we drove County Road 59! A lifer and a very cool one at that.

White-faced Ibises

White-faced Ibises

They were actually smaller than I imagined.  These birds were very skittish and would land 50 yards up the road, bobbing and weaving in the cattails and marsh grasses as they went along foraging for food.

IMG_8160IMG_8165We spent a good deal of time driving up and creeping on these birds only to have them flush a short distance and always together as a group of five.

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They were very loyal to the ditches along either side of the road.IMG_8191What a life bird this was.  A small colony of them nest in South Dakota, so we do get them as scarce visitors every spring in Minnesota.  I remember thinking last year what a strange bird this was and even more strange that it can be seen in our state.

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1 for 3.  Not bad considering this is the bird that pulled us southwest again just two days after our last trip.  We couldn’t go home and not check out the Cottonwood area again. Alas, there still was no Cattle Egret.  I wouldn’t classify it as a nemesis bird yet, but rather just a really annoying bird that was getting under my skin.

There were a few interesting shorebirds at the poop ponds, though.  I’m terrible at shorebird identification, but I knew they were peeps.  I was frustrated because my camera battery had just died, and I couldn’t take photos to ID later.  I did manage to have enough power to get just one image of this bird which we determined to be our Baird’s Sandpiper lifer.  I don’t get too excited about most shorebird lifers because there’s always an element of doubt as to what it is.  It’s not like a Blue-headed Vireo or Scarlet Tanager.  Those ones are easy to tell and worthy of a fist pump.

Baird's Sandpiper

Baird’s Sandpiper

Well, this guy’s pretty cool, I guess – worthy of a suppressed ‘yay’.

It was a good trip.  You can’t complain about a White-faced Ibis lifer coupled with a bonus shorebird lifer.  You can complain about a dead battery, though.  Lyon, we shall be back for more of your treasures with a fully charged camera next time.

From Europe with Love

Dear Evan and Marin,

Right now this blog is not a part of your world, but someday you may find yourself reading through these posts to relive, or in some cases, learn about the adventures and memories we have shared through birding.  That’s one of the reasons why I write the blog.  If you stumble across this letter, I want you to know it’s a story for you, a story about your dad.  More important than the story are the lessons I have learned from the story and want to pass on to you.

This story began on a Friday, a normal school day. Or so I thought.  I had no idea that this day would hold a big surprise.  Now, surprises aren’t always good.  In fact, I’ve had many days with sad and terrible surprises.  But this day would hold one of the good surprises, the really good kind – the kind that deserves to be told.

Let’s start the story with my shoes.  For some reason I put on tennis shoes as I got ready for work.  I never do that.  I always wear dress shoes. I’m not sure why I put on tennis shoes exactly.  Maybe it’s because it was a Friday toward the end of the school year and I was just feeling lazy.  But in hind sight, it turned out to be the right choice.

As I was at work that day, I stole away a moment (or a couple) to check my email for any bird reports. Spring migration is a crazy time of year when anything can happen as far as birds go. It is the season of good surprises.  One of my email checks was a jaw-dropper: EURASIAN WIGEON in WINSTED.  The Eurasian Wigeon is a rare duck that visits North America and a beautiful duck at that.  Twice in the previous week this species had shown up in two different locations in Minnesota. But the distance was always just a little too great for the present circumstances, and the duck never hung on for more than a day.  Winsted, on the other hand, was only a 45 minute drive from work. That’s nothing.

My mind swirled with this news, making it hard to give my full concentration to my work. Instead I was thinking of every way possible to get to Willmar to pick you both up and get back to Winsted.  It was not something I could do after school because of our evening plans.  As the clock ticked, it was becoming more and more clear to me that I just didn’t have the extra hour it would take to pick you up.  I wrestled with this for quite awhile as the pull to go see the duck was getting stronger and the time was getting shorter.

Finally I decided to go for it.  I decided you had a lot more years to see this duck than I did.  After all, Randy has never even seen one, and he has seen the likes of a Vermilion Flycatcher, a Ruff, and a male Harlequin Duck all in our county.  He’s pretty much seen it all.  Not only did I know you had more time, but I also knew there would be a good chance to see one someday in Phoenix.

Making the decision to go still wasn’t easy.  It would mean leaving work early to – see a bird.  It was irrational.  But I work with good people who know my passion for this hobby and who helped me make it happen on short notice. With my “t”s crossed and “i”s dotted, I made some hasty sub plans to take off the last two periods of the day.  It felt strange to be grabbing my coat and heading out the classroom door while kids were coming in and peppering me with questions about where I was going.  By now the kids know I’m crazy when it comes to birds, and it’s all quite normal.  Birding has been great for connecting with students – they always want to know where I go, what I saw, or share a bird sighting they had.  I think, in general, people are fascinated by the passions of others.  It’s engaging and contagious.

Being a teacher I calmly walked down the hallways.  Once I hit that outer door, though, I sprinted for the car. The shoe decision had paid off. My already elevated heart-rate was now a full-on throbbing in my chest from the excitement and exercise.  It felt crazy. It felt exhilarating.  It felt like I was fully-alive.  As I drove I started to think about you guys.  I thought about how I hope you can find something that gives you this same feeling.  Whether that’s a job, a hobby, or people, I want you to feel excited for life and live it to its fullest.  It is way too short to not experience the thrill of living and doing what you love to do.  Find your passion and pursue it.

There really isn’t much to the rest of the story.  I made it to the site of the duck a little quicker than is legal and found other birders there already – other people living their passion on a moment’s notice, people who celebrate and cheer each other on over a common interest.IMG_7943

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My heart did sink a bit when I was told an eagle flew over, flushing the ducks just minutes before I got there.  But with persistence, I refound the Eurasian Wigeon for the group and got to see it for the first time.  Evan, I know you were sad when you heard I saw this duck without you, but you didn’t miss much.  It was way out there.

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Eurasian Wigeon

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Cousins from different continents – Eurasian Wigeon and American Wigeon

I’m hoping that when you read this you will have both seen this beautiful duck for yourselves and at a much closer view.  I can’t wait for the day I get to properly photograph this amazing bird.

My story and lessons don’t just end with the wigeon.  This particular weekend will long stand out in my mind as one of the best, if not the best birding weekend I’ve ever had. (Remember that on Sunday of this same weekend Evan and I saw the Garganey in Wisconsin).  The very next morning (Saturday) I got up early before you were both awake to do some birding at the Atwater sewage ponds.  I can’t say I was looking for anything in particular, but I’ve had such success in finding good birds lately that I am addicted to the search.  It turns out that this particular morning would provide me with yet another incredible find – the Lesser Black-backed Gull, another bird that hails from Europe.

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L-R: Two Ring-billed Gulls, two Bonaparte’s Gulls, and the Lesser Black-backed Gull

Not only was this a rare visitor, but none of the birding greats had ever found it in Kandiyohi County before – it was a first record!  Not even Randy, who sits on top with 290 species, or Ron who has been birding for over 50 years and has 285 county species has seen it here.  I am the only one. Sadly, this bird did not stick around for these guys to add to their lists.   So, here’s my lesson in this second story: there is room in this big world for you to leave your mark, to make a difference, or make a contribution.  You matter, and you can do great things despite what’s been done before or what others say.   I figured the birding records were all wrapped up by the big boys, yet I managed to make a small contribution to the history of birding in our area.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

The final thing I want to leave you with is that all the excitement I had in these stories and all the fun I have birding pales in comparison to the joy and satisfaction I get from being your dad.  Having you guys has helped me realize a little more what it means to live life to the fullest.  And you are my greatest contributions to this world.  I love you, kids.

Dad

Chasing the ABA Code-4 Garganey at Crex Meadows Wildlife Area

Any birder reading this probably has shivers running down his or her spine right now just seeing the title of this post.  For non-birders, this post title can simply be translated as “This is a really, really, really, really big deal!”

What’s a Garganey?  What’s ABA Code-4 Mean?  How the heck do you pronounce “Crex” and where is it?  First off, a Garganey is a Eurasian duck that means it normally resides in Europe and Asia.  Yes, Europe and Asia.  It’s true; I looked it up in Evan’s field guide to birds of Europe.  Every now and again, one finds it’s way into North America.  Kaufmann’s Field Guide to Birds of North America calls it a “very rare” visitor.

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But it does visit occasionally and sporadically.  Do you see that line in Kaufmann’s entry that it “might show up on any marshy pond, especially in spring”?  That is the best line in any bird book – ever.  That gives anyone living near a marsh or pond the eternal hope that one day, one just might just stumble across this rare, exquisite duck.  That’s good news for us birders on the prairies of Minnesota.  It’s a fact we tuck into the back, deep recesses of our minds as we go out and scan waterfowl every spring.  In fact, this thought came to mind just last week as Steve was headed out birding one evening, and I couldn’t join him. Being always hopeful and having found my own rarities recently, I told him to go find us a Garganey.  He dismissed my green-horned wishful thinking with a bit of sarcasm – all part of good birding fun.

But back to that second question, ABA stands for American Birding Association, and they have a numerical system to indicate just how rare a bird is.  The highest rating given to the most rare birds is ABA – Code 5.  So a Code 4 is a big, big deal.  It’s a drop-everything and go deal. It’s a Wisconsin state record sort of deal.

And pronouncing “Crex”? Well, let’s back up and talk about Friday night first.  Late Friday, a vigilant birder who resides in the Los Angeles area and has birding ties to Minnesota and Wisconsin and monitors both states’ listservs and Facebook groups, made a shocking post on MOU-net – a male Garganey had been found just a few miles across the Minnesota border in Wisconsin at the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area!  Moreover, this was only 2 hours and 45 minutes away.  2 hours and 45 minutes!  I can’t even get to the Sax-Zim Bog that fast.  My mind was spinning and my guts were churning.  Never mind that I was coming down from an adrenaline rush of another successful rarity chase earlier that day that caused me to get a sub and dash out of school early. (That’s a story for another post).  Well, I’ve already done a lot of birding and a lot of irrational birding lately, so I was really wrestling with the thought of dragging the family to Wisconsin to see a once in lifetime bird…a once in a lifetime bird.

I shook it off and instead went birding early Saturday morning at the Atwater sewage ponds before the family was awake.  I wasn’t going to let birding take over my day.  I had to contain the beast. But then I had another incredible discovery that morning of solitude birding that brought the birding adrenaline back with a vengeance (Yet another story to come later).

As I was mopping up the reporting and documentation of my find, the birding landscape was exploding around me bringing in incredible reports.  Not only were people still seeing the Garganey, but now a Cinnamon Teal shows up 45 minutes away, a mile or so from my Uncle Larry’s house!  This was a chase that was the most logical to discard. We had seen a beautiful Cinnamon Teal drake up close in Arizona a month ago.  But, still, the proximity and the combination of being at my Aunt and Uncle’s house was gnawing at me. And it was a Cinnamon Teal.

Now I was fighting the adrenaline of two major life birds in the last two days and the bombardment of continued reports on the Cinnamon Teal and Garganey.  Then my phone rang.  It was Ron Erpelding, one of the state’s premiere birders who just happens to live in our county.  Ron told me that he had asked Joel and Randy if they were interested in going for the Garganey.  Both declined but told him that I had some interest.  Ron asked me if I wanted to go.  One of the state’s top birders asked me to go along to see – the Garganey.  I’ve never been along with Ron before. This had to be the pinnacle moment of my birding hobby.  The planets were aligned for the most incredible adventure I couldn’t have even imagined.

I think Melissa understood that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and gave her blessing for me and Evan join Ron.  And Evan wanted to go.  He was quite upset over the bird I saw without him on Friday.  The decision was made. We would leave Willmar at 6:00 AM on Sunday morning.  The calm sets in once the decision is made.  I was at peace as I got Evan to bed early and started prepping for the next day.  But the peace disappeared when I needed it most – bedtime.  I don’t think I slept more than a fitful hour or so.  The birding events of the past couple days and the possibility of what the next day held were wrecking havoc on my mind and robbing my body of rest.

I think I finally gave up on sleep and got out of bed by 4 AM to get the coffee going, take care of dogs, double-check gear, and go over maps and reports of other good birds at Crex Meadows.  Crex is pronounced like the cereal Chex, by the way.  Even though it’s in a state that has many French roots, it’s not pronounced “Cray.”  We know because we later asked at the visitor center.  Anyhow, I got Evan up by 5:30.  It’s never hard to wake him to go on these epic adventures.  Waking him on school days is another story.

By 6:00 AM we were loaded in Ron’s car and headed to the Badger State.  I think the birding talk started at 6:01 and didn’t really stop until we got home some 12 hours later. Ron has pretty much seen it all and is a treasure-trove of intel and stories.  Even the guy’s car is birdy – about an hour into our trip he turned on the radio for the first time and some program he regularly listens to on WCCO radio was giving bird feeder advice and highlighting recent migrant arrivals around different parts of the state.  Are you kidding me?

The only other sounds besides our bird talk was the incessant, pounding rain the entire trip.  It was an all-day rain.  It was not ideal, but when going after a Garganey, you can’t be too picky.  One thing that began to worry us as we drove was the noticeable lack of ducks anywhere.  Had the ducks moved out with the front?  It wasn’t a good sign, but as Ron said, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” True enough.

By 9:00 AM we made it to Crex Meadows.  It didn’t take long to find the correct spot – a marshy pool at the intersection of two roads.  It didn’t take a map to find it.  We could see the numerous hazard flashers of cars parked in a row on the side of the road as best they could with no shoulder.  That was a good sign.  We pulled in line and didn’t cut to the front.  The pool was still a couple hundred yards away, but we were parallel with a 10 foot wide ditch with about 5 feet of prairie grass separating the road from the water.  Seeing nothing, we wondered what was happening.  Finally we pulled alongside one of the cars and asked if they’d seen it.  The gentleman replied that the Garganey was here and that it was in the ditch right next to the cars!  We couldn’t see it because it was tucked up against the grass on the road side of the ditch.  Boy, were we giddy now.  It would just be a matter of time.  We got back in the line of cars and waited.  The rain was pelting the passenger side window like you wouldn’t believe.  We’d see a duck emerge, roll down the window to check, and roll it back up quickly after seeing a mere Blue-winged Teal or Northern Shoveler.  I bet I repeated this process 20 times.  My legs were drenched.  Ron could at least look out the windshield but at a bad angle through windshield wipers.  Evan was standing and on full-alert in the back.

All of the sudden Ron hollered, “I see it!” with all the excitement of a kid seeing Mickey Mouse at Disney World.  Ron caught a flash of the diagnositc head as it swam along the near side of the channel.  One down and two to go.  Now Evan and I were really straining to see it.  As our hearts thumped a little faster now, Ron was meticulously recording all the details of his 678th life bird with the same care and precision as doctors and nurses recording the details of a baby’s birth. 68 years old and lifer #678.  And this novice birder and his 7 year-old kid were on the verge of seeing it at any moment. Wow.

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As Ron wrote, we were watching and watching.  Then it happened!  The duck swam into the channel giving us remarkable views even if it was raining cats and dogs.  It turned out our car was in prime position.  We had the best seats in the house as the bird was 20 feet out my window. Windows down, legs soaked, camera splattered – I didn’t care. I was snapping like crazy hoping for something, anything that would be decent.  But really, we saw the bird and that was incredible in itself.  Pictures were secondary.

Garganey at Crex Meadows!

Garganey at Crex Meadows!

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The excitement of everybody was palpable – and insane.

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After getting my record shots, I waited for an opportune time to sneak outside with my umbrella where I could somehow do my best with the worst photography conditions possible.  In that time, though, the bird went out of view.  And in a matter of minutes all traces of ducks and birders disappeared.  It happened so fast.  I guess we all got our great looks at the bird and moved on.

We continued to explore Crex Meadows for a bit to hopefully turn up a reported Chestnut-collared Longspur and a Mountain Bluebird. No luck on them, so it was time to head back.  But, Ron is a county lister which means he tries to see as many bird species as possible in all 87 Minnesota counties.  Ron has averaged over 200 birds for each and every one of those counties, tallying a massive 17,000+ county birds.  His Toyota has 216,000 miles and his last car haad 238,000 miles.  Even so, the guy’s got holes to fill.  We spent some time searching for Greater Scaup and Canvasbacks in Chisago County.  I was the navigator and told to get us by some water.  0427141304

We missed on the Scaup and Canvasbacks, but we were delighted to find a concentration of 66 of our state bird, the Common Loon.

Common Loon

Common Loon

It was also good to be able to get out every now and then to stretch and look at birds.

IMG_7997After several more stops, a lot of bird talk, and some very hazardous driving in the Cities in the downpour, we eventually made it home.  I could only be so lucky to see the Garganey again.  It was a bird and a trip of a lifetime. What a pleasure it was to get to know Ron a little better and go on a thrilling Garganey chase.

The American Avocet – Not a Poop Bird

With spring migration well underway and many things happening all at once, I really quite often don’t know where or how to bird.  Not to mention that I have a family, job, etc. Do I go on another driving quest to find a Short-eared Owl or do I keep checking for those elusive American Black Ducks? Do I take the Christmas lights off the house or do I finally rake last fall’s leaves out of the yard? Decisions. Yet, for some reason, I had American Avocets on the brain.  Maybe this is because a couple of them had been reported out by the South Dakota border or maybe it’s because I remembered that a few had started to sprinkle our state by this time last year.  Whatever the reason, I was feeling avocety today.

I had never seen an American Avocet before, and it’s a bird Evan and I have talked about and wanted to see.  It is an absolutely stunning shorebird.  It is also a scarce bird for our state as we are just east of its normal range. This evening I had a chance to do some birding and quite possibly look for one of these guys on a hunch.  Melissa was taking Marin to dance class, so I dragged Evan in the car with me to go check out the sewage ponds at Atwater.  I told him that he could play his iPad in the car, but he had to come with as I couldn’t leave him home alone.  I debated heading up to Paynesville to check out their sewage ponds, a location that briefly had a couple avocets last year.  But I decided against it and opted for the poop ponds closer to home.  I had actually stopped by them earlier in the evening on my way home from work just to scout it out.  I was astonished to find 10 Bonaparte’s Gulls, a bird that we just saw for the first time last weekend.  No, I didn’t find an avocet, but I decided to return later anyway to investigate some shore birds I didn’t have time to identify. Who knows, there might have been a new one, so I had to come back to check.

Bonaparte's Gull

Bonaparte’s Gull

When Evan and I got there we saw the Bonaparte’s Gulls and a bunch of waterfowl – all things I saw earlier in the afternoon.  I also found the shorebirds I had seen.  Turns out they were just some Pectoral Sandpipers and a Lesser Yellowlegs. Bummer.

Lesser Yellowlegs and Least Sandpipers

Lesser Yellowlegs and Pectoral Sandpipers

These shorebirds flushed away from me and went to the west shore of the rectangular pond.  They were actually in a place where I could sneak up over a dike and see them pretty close to get some better photos.  As I walked up the dike and looked over the fence, the birds flushed.  But so did another gangly shorebird much further down that had a long bill and legs dragging out behind it as it flew. I couldn’t pull up my camera fast enough to see what it was.  I knew it was one of two birds – the Black-necked Stilt or American Avocet.  Either would have been an incredible find.  To my joy, it was our American Avocet life bird – the very bird I had been thinking about today!  I snapped this horrible shot in the wind and rain and then ran down the dike to tell Evan who was waiting in the car playing his iPad.

Amercan Avocet Lifer!

Amercan Avocet Lifer!

I wish I had a picture of that kid’s face when I told him I just found an American Avocet. His eyes were as big as saucers and he was racing to unbuckle and scramble out of the car.  I was able to show it to him with the camera, but I knew we could do better.  We went back down to the center dike which would put us much closer to the bird.  We then spent the next hour sneaking up on this bird from behind this other dike to get good looks at the bird.

IMG_7841IMG_7839I had texted Steve and got him on the road right away.  I knew that he’d probably want this one for his county list.  While we waited for Steve, Evan and I kept trying to get good looks and photographs of this bird.  I knew Evan was digging this new bird since he was with me the whole time in the chilly 42 degree weather of wind and spitting rain. A couple times we went back to the vehicle to warm up.  When my fingers would thaw, I’d head back out again to try for better photos.  I figured Evan had his fun and would just stay in the car, but when I was out doing my sneaking, I’d look back and see that he had left the comfort of the car for just one more look.

IMG_7852Who could blame him with a bird like this?

IMG_7843IMG_7860Several times I would sneak over the dike to try to get good photos.  The bird would spot me, vocalize an alarm, and then fly out and land in the water about 20 feet from shore. It would then feed and work its way back to the shore.

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It was quite a thrill to tally this one on our life lists.  And it was fun to watch Evan’s genuine excitement over seeing this beauty.  It’s hard to believe we found our fourth life bird in just three weeks, three of which have been scarce and even rare.  I’m hopeful and excited about what else migration has in store for us this spring.  It has already exceeded any wishes or expectations.

Good Birding Can’t Be Muted

It just seems that the good birding won’t stop.  While the Arizona birding was a grand adventure and the Spotted Towhee was a mountain-top experience (far from literally, of course), I have continued to experience some great moments in birding.  Sticking to the integrity of this blog that documents shared family experiences, I often do not write about those times.  Today, however, the family was along and got to experience some unplanned, unforgettable birding.

This afternoon we went down to Stewart to visit my Aunt and Uncle.  My Uncle Larry is our CPA and had just finished our tax returns, so we were going to head down that way to visit for a bit, go through the returns, and find out the good or bad news.  Not only was it fun to visit with Larry and Les as always, but we got to check out the resident and migrating birds that were actively moving around on their acreage.  At one point several of us were watching a group of 8 Northern Flickers (I’ve been seeing them in large groups lately).  Then Larry asked what kind of larger bird was sitting in the middle of the yard.  Wait, what? I had seen what he was looking at earlier but dismissed it as a fallen branch.  Here it was a motionless Cooper’s Hawk that had a Northern Flicker pinned to the ground the whole time we were watching the Northern Flickers bopping all over the yard!

Cooper's Hawk on top of  a Northern Flicker

Cooper’s Hawk on top of a Northern Flicker

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We all watched in awe (or horror depending on the person) as this flicker fought for his life and flapped like crazy.  The whole time the hawk just stayed on its head/neck.  Eventually, after several minutes, the flicker gave up the ghost and the hawk proceeded to rip him to shreds.  Evan was beyond excited and wanted to go flush the hawk so he could see the dead bird.  We told him he couldn’t disturb the hawk’s dinner.  But when we left a short time later, he ran over to that spot anyway.  The hawk and the flicker were both gone.  It was a cool display of nature.

Speaking of cool raptors killing and eating stuff, here is a shot from the previous night when I went out with Steve for some serious birding around Kandiyohi County.  We had many highlights, but this one took the cake – a Merlin eating a Dark-eyed Junco.  The junco was enough of a distraction to the Merlin that I was able to get close (and use Steve’s sunroof on his new car) to get some good photos of this uncommon bird.

Merlin eating a Dark-eyed Junco

Merlin eating a Dark-eyed Junco

IMG_7541On the way home from Uncle Larry’s we were driving along when I spotted a suspicious-looking white egret all hunched up in our 35-degree weather.  I had to turn around to see if it was a Snowy Egret or a Cattle Egret, both of which are rare but regular birds to our area.  Nope, it was just the common Great Egret.

Great Egret

Great Egret

I had seen a large, white bird on the same pond while driving by at 60 MPH but just dismissed it as an American White Pelican, Trumpeter Swan, or Tundra Swan.  In any case, it would have been boring and not worth a second glance.  However, after we stopped and looked at the egret, Melissa asked me what the big, white bird was.  So I put up my binoculars and couldn’t believe my eyes! It was a lifer AND a rare bird – the Mute Swan!  I really need to bring Melissa with me more often.  She finds all the good stuff!

Mute Swan!

Mute Swan!

IMG_7572Wow, what a find! This species was introduced to the United States and is actually an invasive species in certain areas that threatens the comeback of the Trumpeter Swan. Nevertheless, not a lot of them show up in Minnesota.  In fact, the one we found this evening is a Renville County first record!  It was truly an exciting find and one that made me fumble with my phone trying to put out a lightning-fast post on the listserv so other interested birders could see it too.

Oh, and by the way, we got a nice refund.  🙂

A Moment of Glory – the Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Disclaimer: The Arizona series has been interrupted by a birding event so big that it might just cause the author to burst if he could not spew his memories and thoughts now. There is nothing Arizona-esque about this post. No cactus. No sand and rocks. Certainly no sunshine.

Birdwatching may seem like a peaceful, passive activity.  I can tell you that it is most definitely not that way for this birder.  The migrating birds appear deceptively serene as they glide through the air and stop by the feeders.  But they are on a tight schedule.  If they were people, you’d catch them watching the clock constantly, waiting for that moment they had to leave for their next stop on their way to wherever they’re final destination is for the spring.  The birders are watching their clocks and calendars too.  We have about a three-week window to find three species of migrating owls – Northern Saw-whet, Long-eared, and Short-eared – and that window just opened.

Yesterday after supper I decided to go to a Wildlife Management Area just a couple miles from the house.  There was a plantation of pines on the slough-dotted prairie – the perfect roosting spot for an owl layover.  I told Melissa I was only going to take a 15 minute walk around this stand of pines, a time-limit she should, and does, know is not realistic.  I asked Evan if he wanted to take a short hike with me before bed.  He declined.  Apparently the iPad had a greater pull this evening.

The Good

I got to the WMA in short order and began my walk toward the pines.  Canada Geese were standing on the ice of a slough, staking their claim for a nesting spot for when or if the ice melts. I saw a few Red-winged Blackbirds and listened to a Great Horned Owl hooting from the nearby farm place.  I was making careful observations of all my sightings because I’ve been doing more and more reports on eBird, a worldwide sightings database that isn’t widely used by Minnesota birders.  I knew no eBirder had ever walked this WMA, so I wanted to begin to tell its story for future birders and scientists.

As I walked a path between a shrubby area on my left and the pines on my right, I saw a chunky bird in the brush in the low light of dusk.  Pulling up the binoculars, I saw it was a migrating Fox Sparrow, an excellent find that already made it a good walk.  These guys are some of the coolest, toughest sparrows I know.  With their grumpy face and two-footed kicking action in the dirt, they are all-in, can-do sparrows with an attitude.  There is nothing half-hearted about them.  Not even a half foot of fresh snow on the ground is keeping them from kicking their way down to the grass for some food.  If Teddy Roosevelt were a bird, he’d be a Fox Sparrow – that’s how robust they are.  But maybe I’m just partial to TR since we share an affinity for Chestnut-sided Warblers.

Fox Sparrow (Archive photo taken during one of last year's April blizzards)

Fox Sparrow (Archive photo taken during one of the two April blizzards last year)

Not long after the Fox Sparrow, I see another chunky-type bird in the brush.  Another Fox Sparrow? No, no, a hundred times no. The binoculars revealed something far, far greater.  Rufous sides, black head and beak, white belly, white spots on the black wings and back.  I could not believe it.  I was staring at a Spotted Towhee, an obvious life bird for me but more importantly, a very rare bird for Minnesota. I had never even seen the locally uncommon Eastern Towhee, let alone the Spotted Towhee from the western United States! My mind was swirling, but I knew I had to get pictures or this green-horned birder would not be believed by anyone.  I fumbled for my camera and fired off a couple quick, horrible shots.  I knew my images proved the identity, so my thinking was thrown into an avalanche of thoughts about what to do next. Do I post it to the listserv from my phone right now? Do I keep chasing this bird to get that killer photo? Do I call my local birding buddies first? Do I run home to get Evan even though he is probably getting ready for bed and race back here to hopefully find it?  What do I do?

The bird was helping me make my decision.  It was in an isolated bush on the prairie and then moved to an isolated Cottonwood tree down by the large slough. Okay, I’ve got it pinned.  Photos can wait until after I get people mobilized. I knew I had to stay with the bird and couldn’t go home.  Certainly this bird was either a life bird, state bird, or county bird for my friends.  I decided to call Steve first.

The Bad

As I was on the phone with Steve, I lost track of the towhee in the lone tree on the prairie.  Argh. I obviously can’t multi-task.  Despite the darkness that was closing in with the setting sun, Steve said he’d come out my way to help me search.  It would be a lifer for him, #300, in fact.

Steve got out there, and we walked around all the brushy places and the wet places in the vicinity of the sighting.  Nothing. No luck.  To add to the dejection, Steve hadn’t worn any rubber boots and ended up getting wet feet in the slough. I felt bad that Steve didn’t see the bird. I felt bad for Steve’s feet. I felt bad that Evan didn’t come out. I felt bad that I didn’t get the photo I wanted.

The Ugly

Here are the shots I got.  No, they won’t win any blue ribbons at the county fair, but they are still cool souvenirs of the best bird I have discovered on my own.

Spotted Towhee

Spotted Towhee

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Epilogue

It has always been a goal of mine to find a really good bird on my own and be able to share it with others.  I’ve reported a lot of Snowy Owls to the birding community, but all of them have been reports handed to me by my non-birding friends and coworkers.  I’ve seen a lot of rare birds because of the skill and generosity of other birders.  I’ve always been sort of a birding mooch, not ever much of a contributor. This was my own, bonafide discovery of a rare bird that others would indeed enjoy.  It was only the second time a Spotted Towhee has been reported in Kandiyohi County, and only a handful have ever been reported in Minnesota on eBird.  Despite that others didn’t see it and that I didn’t get superb photos, I was still very excited.

Last night as I was going to bed processing the ups and downs of the sighting, it occured to me that I saw some cribbing near the sight of the towhee that contained corn silage.  Juncos and sparrows were feeding on the kernels all over the ground.  It was a feeding station that the DNR had put out for the wildlife. Then it hit me that the Spotted Towhee, a bird known to frequent feeders when it does visit Minnesota, might be using this as its primary food source.  Maybe it was some freak sighting of a migrant bird. Or maybe it had been there for awhile and will continue to be there.  I went to bed encouraged – for Steve, for Evan, for myself. I would be back the next day after school to check it out.

So that’s what I did, even though a roaring blizzard had just started.  Joel beat me there by ten minutes.  I was puzzled when I pulled into the parking lot and saw him in his car. He got out and said he’d already seen it!  This was a state bird for Joel.  I immediately got ahold of Steve who then bailed out of work to meet us.  While we waited for Steve, Joel and I did not refind it.

Steve got out there shortly, wih rubber boots this time. In fact, he brought them to work just hoping I’d call.  Steve and I explored for upwards of an hour before we finally found it again!  We had great looks at it out in the open in the very bush I first found it in, but the deluge of snowflakes and distance from the bird kept me from getting nice photos.  So for now, I can live with these.  I will certainly be back out there to get that perfect shot and to help Evan get this phenomenal lifer.

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