Purple Finch – female

As you read this, we are currently on the road – again.  This time, though, we are headed to the great state of Colorado.  Our route will take us through Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota.  Birding is not the focus of this vacation as we are going to visit relatives and show the kids the likes of Mt. Rushmore and the Rocky Mountains. But one does not step foot in new biomes without pulling out something special birdwise. You can bet we’ll have a few souvenir sightings to show you and tell you about. Our life lists will surely expand.  Speaking of life lists, I’ve been hard at work renovating our life list pages on this website.  I finally got around to adding the Arizona birds, and I’ve added dozens of new photos – replacing old ones or adding them where they didn’t exist.  It’s a constant work in progress that I’ve been quietly tinkering with the past few weeks.  My taste for which single photo to display for each species has become more refined (picky).  Not even Mrs. Purple Finch here made the cut.  So come back to the blog to see what we dug up in Colorado and check out the lists as they will surely expand and change.

I am fortunate to teach at a school with a four-day school week, which means that I have several Mondays off.  These days are often a chance for me to catch up on some projects and just hang out with Marin.  Today was no different as Marin and I got not one, but two oil changes done, and we shopped for the groceries too.  Marin was an absolute trooper always keeping herself entertained wherever we went.  At the car dealership she and I played with toy cars in the their playroom, and at the store she “helped” me shop.

I also like Mondays because I’m able to drive Evan to and from school.  It’s nice for him to be able to sleep in a little longer on these days.  After Marin and I picked up Evan from school, we went to Evan’s piano lesson.  Again Marin was a trooper as she was dragged along to something else. This time she played her Kindle and danced to the live band that was playing at the coffee shop where we waited.

After piano I decided to take advantage of the increasing amount of daylight to go look for our resident Snowy Owl with the kids.  I’ve made several checks on this owl in the last month to keep tabs on it, and I have seen it and reported it a number of times.  Most of the time, though, I’m by myself or with other birders so I don’t write about it on this blog.  It has been fun to have a Snowy Owl so close to home – just 12 miles away.  Every time I go out looking for it, it’s like a big game of “Where’s Waldo?” since it’s never in the same place and it blends in with the white landscape.  Sometimes I find it perched on the ground in fields, sitting on irrigators, or perched up nicely on a powerline pole.  Today was a pole day as we found it right away in beautiful light with clear blue skies, no less. Unfortunately, it flushed from the pole as soon as I pulled safely onto the shoulder, and it landed on a nearby Morton building.  My photos were taken from nearly 75 yards, but I managed to get some fun ones without disturbing the owl.  While these owls frequently perch on buildings and houses, this was the first time I’d witnessed it.

Our Resident Snowy Owl

This owl has been significant for many birders. A couple of my friends finally saw their Kandiyohi County Snowy Owl with this one.  In fact, Joel had been waiting for over a decade to see one in our county. For many others, this was simply a Snowy Owl life bird.  And other, hard-core birders known as county listers – those who keep a list of birds for each of Minnesota’s 87 counties – have made the trip to see this owl because Kandiyohi has been a tough county in which to tally a Snowy. This owl has been very photogenic and has stuck around for well over a month now.  It definitely spices up the mundane winter birding around here.

A wide-angle shot for my mom…and Morton Buildings

I don’t know how long we will get to enjoy the company of this magnificent owl.  This has been an historic year for Snowy Owls across the country as they have invaded the northern states in droves.  Who knows when we will ever see another winter like this one.  Therefore I’m going to soak up the experience of our resident Snowy by visiting it often and doing my part as a citizen scientist to document its continued presence on eBird.org.  As fun as it’s been for the kids to see these owls (numerous times), I don’t think they fully appreciate or understand the significance of this phenomenon.  Maybe someday they can look back at these posts and see just how cool of a time this was.

First my Dad found out about the duck on his email.  We found the duck on the Mississippi River in Sartell, MN.  And it was PRETTY cold!!

Dam across the Mississippi River in Sartell, Minnesota

There were other ducks there too…Common Goldeneyes about 30 and Mallards about 95.

Common Goldeneye Drakes

It was our second try to find this duck.  There were 2 other people with me – dad and Marin. And I got to skip school!  And I got to spend over an hour in the car.

Evan and Marin looking to find the Long-tailed Duck among the Common Goldeneyes

And it was hard to see because it goes under the water all the time!

The Long-tailed Duck was difficult to spot!

The Long-tailed Duck is formerly known as the Oldsquaw

This Long-tailed Duck was first discovered by Herb Dingmann on January 29th.  Herb showed up to point the duck out to us or we never would have found it!

Then we watched the movie Nut Job in a theater.

Evan the Blogger

Editor’s Note: Evan wrote this post himself. The title, word choices, punctuation, and points of emphasis are his. My involvement was helping him do a pre-writing activity to brainstorm the facts. I also wrote the captions for the pictures.

December was a record month for us for seeing owls. By the time we had come home from our trip Up North, we had seen 6 Great Gray Owls, 3 Northern Hawk Owls, and 4 Snowy Owls.  But the fun didn’t stop there.  Well, I should say that for my family it did.  I was still thrilled with reports of local Snowy Owls and went on to check them out.  The appeal had worn off for my family. My coworker, Bonnie, in Grove City texted me on New Year’s Eve that the owl she had seen around her place was now on a pole on her road.  Not only did she get her lifer Snowy, but it was a yard bird for her as well! Birders could only dream of claiming such a bird on their yard lists.

I went to go check it out.  My family wasn’t interested.  It’s hard for me to resist a Snowy Owl that is only 15 minutes away, though.  Plus I wanted to get a picture for Bonnie and for eBird.  Apparently this particular Snowy flushes at approaching cars, and the mailman had scared it off just minutes before I got there. I was undeterred and scanned the nearby fields and poles carefully.  My search paid off. Do you see the suspicisous white lump in the field below that caused me to grab my binoculars?

Can you find Bonnie’s Snowy Owl in this field near Grove City, Minnesota?

They blend in so incredibly well.  I’m sure I’ve driven by several already this winter and not known it. It was quite a thrill to “discover” this one nearly a quarter mile from the road on the ground.  Here is a closer view.

I waited for a long time, and eventually it flew back to its perch on the road.

Bonnie’s Snowy on the perch where she could watch it from the comfort of her warm house.

I crept the car closer for a better photo which I have vowed to stop doing because this bird flew off. I tried to get some flight images of this fast moving, powerful raptor, but it was too much of a challenge. I enjoy the backdrop of this image, so I included it in the post.

Can you find Bonnie’s Snowy Owl?

I tried to keep tabs on this bird for awhile, but I think my presence aggravated it enough to disappear from sight.  So, it was time to go home.  Besides, I had already missed enough of the New Year’s Eve fun that Melissa had planned for the kids.  I was worried that I had ruined the opportunity for some other coworkers that Bonnie had called out to come see her owl.  However, I was relieved to find out a couple days later that this bird was seen by them later that day.

I went back to work on January 2nd.  It was immediately clear to me that I should have checked my work email more often over the break.  I came back to find nearly half a dozen emails from coworkers who had seen Snowy Owls in the Litchfield/Grove City area! Wow!  The owl prowl continued! Much of the information was now a few days old which is a long time in the birding world.  However, a brand new report came in Thursday night. This one was from Kodi, our elementary principal.  She emailed me cell-phone pictures of a Snowy Owl she had seen on her way home from work that evening!  This was fresh information, so I planned to get out there at daybreak to see if I could find it. Because sunrise is so late, I literally had two minutes to search before I had to be at work.  I checked all the pole tops and didn’t have any luck.  I drove by there after work as well but struck out again.

Kodi’s Snowy Owl was significant because it was sighted in Kandiyohi County, which has been left out of the Snowy Owl fun all winter.  A couple of my friends have been waiting to add this bird to their Kandiyohi County list for quite some time.  One, in fact, has been waiting over a decade.  Kodi’s bird actually was the second Snowy Owl seen in our county that day as Randy found the first one – a bird that I was literally one mile away from the other day.  So the Kandiyohi birders were excited to go find one of these two owls.

It wasn’t until two days later that Joel rediscovered Kodi’s owl and finally got his Kandiyohi Snowy after more than ten years.  I got the call in the grocery store in Willmar when I was with the whole family.  They gracefully obliged me to go search for this owl, even with a car full of groceries, even driving on icy roads.  Steve and I arrived out there about the same time.  We drove and drove the roads and scanned the fields.  We could not locate it.  From reports we heard, the owl must have been there the whole time because it was seen just before and just after our search.  Frustrating.

I had to try again in the morning.  Though it was brutally cold and all the area churches were closed for cold and treacherous roads, I was out there.  I was about the only person dumb enough to be out and about.  But my search paid off as I located the owl on top of an irrigator over a quarter mile from the nearest road.

Kodi’s Snowy Owl near Atwater, Minnesota

This is the best photo I could muster from a quarter mile away.

At least a half dozen birders besides myself got to see this owl. I am thankful for all the reports I’ve gotten from coworkers regarding Snowy Owls.  They have put Meeker and Kandiyohi Counties on the map in the birding world.  Without them these two counties would be very quiet during this Snowy Owl invasion that is playing out across the country.  Now the Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City area is one of the “hotbeds” of activity, sending all kinds of birders to our backroads to prowl for owls.  I personally have seen 4 of my 6 Snowy Owls, including my lifer, because the people I work with have let me know about their sightings. The best part, though, is watching their enthusiasm as they see one of these magnificent visitors for the first time.

When there are all kinds of family members to visit Up North, it is very difficult to get away to do any serious birding. This is a tough truth to accept when there are so many incredible finds in the northwoods. One way to get in some good birding and visiting is to watch the feeder action at those relatives’ houses. One thing that was interesting this year was the concentration of American Goldfinches wherever we went. There was one bird that was considerably larger than the finches and required a bit of study. It turned out to be an immature White-crowned Sparrow. It doesn’t look like much, so big deal, right? Well, it is a big deal because these birds have migrated through Minnesota long ago. They aren’t suppposed to be in Minnesota right now, let alone the very northern part of it. It was a good find and one that I reported to eBird.org.

An Out-of-Season, Immature White-crowned Sparrow

One day that we went to Melissa’s grandma’s house, I asked her grandma if she had any grosbeaks show up.  She told me that there were a half dozen or so Evening Grosbeaks, or the “yellow ones” as the locals say, that appeared just a few hours before we were there.  So I watched the feeders but never saw them.

I’ve been learning that the Evening Grosbeaks are somewhat of a prize even for us northern birders.  Apparently their numbers are way down. This was both sad and surprising to me as I remember both them and Pine Grosbeaks covering our feeders when I grew up.  They were practically pests.  Though I’ve seen this bird plenty in my life, I wanted to make sure I got a photo of one.  This trip Up North would be my last opportunity for the year, so I told Melissa’s grandma I was coming to see her the next morning.  I even brought Melissa along.  Grandma’s house was nice and cozy warm from her wood furnace on this sub-zero day, and there is always a hot pot of coffee and treats on the table.  That makes for some pretty good bird watching.

The ever-present, friendly Black-capped Chickadee. I was 2 feet away from this bird for this picture.

Red-breasted Nuthatch – a year-round resident in northern Minnesota

As I watched the feeders I also kept an eye on the trees across the yard.  Eventually I saw a couple of bigger, yellowish birds moving around in the far-off tree.

It was a male Evening Grosbeak – the one I was after today.  He and a female companion eventually flew in to the feeders.

Evening Grosbeak male

Evening Grosbeak female

It felt good to get a picture. The trip over to Grandma’s would have been worth it even if we struck out.  It’s always fun to see Grandma.  As we continued to munch on treats and sip coffee, more Evening Grosbeaks came in.  There ended up being 7 birds – 4 males and 3 females.

Evening Grosbeak males

Eventually we left Melissa’s grandma and went back to our parents’ houses to see them again and get packed up for our trip home the next day.

That next day came, and it was cold!  But we had to get home.  We had already extended our trip one day because of the cold temps and a blizzard back home. It just so happens that the Sax-Zim Bog is on our way south.  We wouldn’t have time to explore the Bog since we were just passing through on County Road 7 that runs north-south.  Besides watching for birds, we kept watching the van thermometer drop. It bottomed up in the lowlands of the Bog at -33.

Brrrr

As we birded County Road 7 at 55 MPH I spotted a good bird – another Northern Hawk Owl.  It was only identifiable by sillhouette since it was so far from the road.

Northern Hawk Owl on County Road 7 in the Sax-Zim Bog

Sometimes it’s okay to not see the fine details of a bird.  Taking a step back and looking at the bigger scene playing out can be just as much fun.

Sunrise in the Sax-Zim Bog – Can you find the Northern Hawk Owl?

As we motored along we flushed up a pair of reddish birds who were on the snowbank by the shoulder.  I recognized them as Pine Grosbeaks. Again, this was a bird I’ve seen plenty, but I have not yet photographed them.  It looks like I’m going to have to wait until next winter to get a good photo, but you can at least see what they look like here.

Pine Grosbeak male

Sadly we exited the Bog and got back on the freeway.  Of course I had to make a quick detour in the town of Cloquet to look for a Snowy Owl that was reported on a Catholic church the night before.  No luck.

Another detour I had up my sleeve was to go by Grove City when we were very close to home.  A coworker had texted me the night before that a Snowy Owl showed up right near her house.  As we checked out the site and found nothing, I checked my messages.  This same coworker texted me that her husband had seen a Snowy about 7 miles away near Litchfield just a couple hours before! 7 miles is nothing, but we had just come to the end of a 265 mile trip.  Though the family was travel-weary, they obliged me by letting me go take a look.

We got out there, and the owl was still on top of a power pole! That made for a 12 owl trip! It was fun to hear Melissa and Evan say, “Yep, I see it!” after I initially spotted it. There is something exciting about owls to birders and non-birders alike.

Snowy Owl on Co. Rd. 11 near Litchfield, Minnesota

Sadly I tried to creep the car a little closer on the crunchy snow of the shoulder for a better picture of the owl, and it spooked. I never did refind it.  I was really mad at myself for being so foolish.  It’s not good to disturb these birds as they need to conserve their energy since they’ve just come from a very long journey from the Arctic.  Plus I may have disrupted it while it was hunting.  And, other birders now wouldn’t get to see it.  It was a bad choice on my part. I was happy to hear a few days later that one of my coworkers refound this same bird a mile to the north just an hour after we had seen it.

Seeing a Snowy Owl never gets old, and this was a fitting finish for an epic trip.  Though this trip was now over, the Snowy Owl fun has continued. Be sure to check it out in the next blog post.

A year ago I was at a men’s retreat with the guys from church when I spotted a Pileated Woodpecker while visiting with my friend Allen. Seeing the bird, I started talking about this new hobby of birding and the neat experiences I had with Evan.  Then it hit me. Some of these stories were compelling and worth sharing. Thus, the blog was born.

Little did I know how that decision would impact our lives nor could I envision the incredible year ahead.  Looking back at the year, the word “memorable” does not adequately describe it.  What could be viewed as just a hobby became a source of enrichment in ways I never could have imagined.  While this blog may seem to be all about birds, the birds were merely a vehicle to much greater discoveries. In this anniversary post I will do my best to capture those discoveries. And, yes, there will still be birds.

Spending Time With My Son

I think I’m lucky that my son’s hobby also became my own.  Sharing this passion has given us countless hours together in the car, the field, and campgrounds all over the place.  I place a high value on spending time with my kids, and the birds have just been a good excuse to get us out doing something together.

Looking at shorebirds the day Evan hit #200

Camping at Camden State Park while on the hunt for the Cerulean Warbler

Taking the Family on Adventures

From the prairies of southwestern Minnesota to the beautiful north shore of Lake Superior, the birds have been a reason to visit some of Minnesota’s most scenic places and spend time together as a family.  We have had a lot of fun together and been on some amazing adventures all over the state.  Sometimes the adventures are spur of the moment, like when we headed to Aitkin to chase a Painted Bunting, and sometimes they are more deliberate, like when we spent some time birding in the Sax-Zim Bog and Duluth area.

Enjoying a non-rainy moment at Blue Mounds State Park

Viewing Lake Superior and the Sawtooth Mountains from atop Oberg Mountain

Viewing Split Rock Lighthouse while chasing a Great Gray Owl sighting – Photo Credit: Melissa

 Making New Friendships and Renewing Old Ones

Perhaps one of the greatest dividends from this past year of birding has been the numerous friendships I have made with individuals who share this hobby.  New hobbies get us into different circles of people, and it’s been a pleasure birding with and getting to know Steve, Randy, and Joel.

Randy showing Evan and Marin some Purple Martin eggs during a nest check

Randy and Evan looking at shorebirds

Interestingly through my online birding communities I discovered that two people whom I already knew were also into birding.  After sending out an email on MOU-net, I got a call from Steve whom I had known as a fellow Knowledge Bowl coach.  Ever since then, we have been birding together and trading tips on where to find the next bird.

Besides connecting with Steve through online birding resources, I also”bumped” into Malcolm, a college roommate with whom I had lost touch for over a decade.  Through birding we reconnected, and we were even fortunate enough to go birding with him when we chased the Yellow-throated Warbler at Whitewater State Park.

Malcolm quizzing Evan on some bird

The Yellow-throated Warbler, a very rare bird for Minnesota

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I have met many great people through birding blogs and other online birding communities.  I have corresponded with many birders across this country. There is a sense of comraderie and friendliness amongst birders who usually help other birders find good birds and offer sincere congratulations on a good sighting.

Experiencing Real Adventure and Making Life-long Memories

I can’t adequately describe the sheer excitement of taking a sudden, unplanned trip across the state in the hopes of seeing some bird that appeared out of nowhere.  It is an absolute rush and has created some phenomenal memories. From the agony of making the decision to chase a bird to the gut-churning, heart-thumping car ride to that bird, there is always the big question of whether or not the bird will be there.  Then to see that bird is a thrill beyond thrills.  It is a fist-pumping, buddy-texting victory.

The Great Gray Owl in Tower, Minnesota – an epic adventure like no other

The Lazuli Bunting in Hutchinson – we got the email in the morning, and we were on location that afternoon

Sometimes a chase doesn’t work out, but the hunt is no less exciting.  I don’t know what the next chase will be, but I can’t wait to hop in the car and take off.

Surely Evan will remember many of these wild adventures. In particular, I know that he’ll never forget the day I surpised him at his school to take him up north that night to go find the Great Gray Owl.  Seeing that great bird with his dad and his grandpa is something he will likely remember all his life.

Finding Excitement on the “Ordinary” Days

It has been so fun to look out our window this past year and be surprised by a new visitor.  Sometimes the best days to look for these new birds have been during those nasty blizzards that force us inside.

The “Team” checking out the Yellow-rumped Warbler

Evan and I checking out our American Tree Sparrow lifer

Being Introduced to the World of Beautiful Birds

It is really difficult to comprehend the number of bird species out in this world.  Evan and I have seen over 200 birds, and I am overwhelmed by the amazing birds we have seen. Yet there are over 700 species in North America and nearly 10,000 species worldwide! Wow. I could put up lots of pictures to attempt to show this diversity, but even with my limited collection this blog post would be extraordinarly long.  Nevertheless, here is a sample of what you can see outdoors.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Tree Swallow

Indigo Bunting

Common Yellowthroat

Baltimore Oriole

Northern Cardinal

Rough-legged Hawk

One of my goals in doing this blog has been to showcase the extraordinary beauty that overflows in our natural world.  Pause once in awhile and look around.  You might see a bird or something else that takes your breath away.

Insipring Others

People have commented to me that they now pay attention to birds because of the blog. I love hearing that because the avian world is truly remarkable and worth getting excited about.  One of my summer highlights was taking Jeff and his two kids, Emily and Brady, out birding and showing them birds like the Sedge Wren.

Sedge Wren

I have also heard from some men I know that they want to take their families on more trips because of what I have done with my family through this birding hobby.  This is the best feedback I’ve received on this blog.  Being a husband and father are the two titles I cherish the most, and I love to see other guys get enthusiastic about their families and spending time with them.  And it doesn’t even have to be about birds.

Becoming Aware of our Fragile Ecosystem

We have seen a lot of great birds.  The truth is that many, many species are facing sharp declines in their populations in just the last half century.  That is really scary. Potentially my grandchildren may not see some of the species I have seen.  Many species are listed in the field guides as “threatened,” “endangered,” or “declining.” Birds that were once common are hard to find and now a cause for concern, like the Red-headed Woodpecker.

Red-headed Woodpecker – I was thrilled to find a pair with young this summer. That’s good news!

 The loss of prairie habitat over the years has drastically reduced bird populations like the Western Meadowlark and Grasshopper Sparrow.

Western Meadowlark – my dad’s favorite bird

Grasshopper Sparrow

Some birds, like the Cerulean Warbler, are facing environmental pressures on two continents.  From clearing large trees in the Appalachians for coal mining to clearing large, shady forests in South America to more efficiently grow varieties of coffee plants that can withstand more sun, these warblers are getting squeezed in both their summer and winter homes.

Cerulean Warbler

Some birds, like the Golden-winged Warbler, are mysteriously declining at a precipitous rate.  Global partnerships between wildlife departments in Costa Rica and some of our states are working jointly to solve the problem.

Golden-winged Warbler

I am not a full-fledged enviornmentalist, but I am much more aware of the fragility of the life around us.  It is worth paying attention to so that birds don’t become extinct or greatly diminished.

Participating in Citizen Science

One fun thing about being a birder is that you can contribute to the scientific community by reporting your sightings and bird counts to various organizations.  Like many birders I have started filing regular reports with ebird.org.  It’s incredibly easy and doing so helps ornithologists study populations, ranges, and trends.  Plus by recording my sightings, it helps other birders find great birds!

Final Thoughts

I had no idea how birding and blogging would create such fun memories and expose us to new people and new ways of looking at and thinking about the world. Sometimes it has taken up too much time and energy (and money!). But with proper balance, it is a rewarding and energizing activity.  This past year has been a fun journey.  I’m definitely looking forward to the next one and telling you all about it.

Joel emailed today saying he had two Golden-crowned Kinglets in his yard.  This was a bird that Evan and I have not yet seen, and I had asked Joel to keep me in the loop on any he found.  Joel suggested going birding around places with water to try to find these kinglets, such as the cemetery on Foot Lake, Berguist Nature Area, and Robbins Island Park.

We started at the cemetery.  It was pretty dead there (pun intended), but we did see some bird activity. We never bumped into our target, though. Evan spent more time reading grave markers and asking questions about where bodies were buried.  He was creeped out when I told him we were walking above buried people.  What struck me while walking through the cemetery was the number of recent dates on tombstones; death is a constant.  It was particularly sobering to see that one man was born just four days before me. I was reminded of the brevity of life and the importance of living to the fullest. That’s why I am thankful for this birding hobby to be able to spend so much quality time with Evan and do spur-of-the-moment adventures. That said, when I’m gone I do not want a laser-etched image of binoculars or some bird on my tombstone.  I found those type of stones to be incredibly sad.

Despite the numerous reminders of our expiration, the cemetery itself was absolutely beautiful as the trees were adorned in beautiful fall colors against the backdrop of the bright blue sky.

After leaving the cemetery we stopped at Berguist Nature Area for a quick stroll down the loop path.  There wasn’t much bird activity at first, but just before we left I spotted a Blue-headed Vireo! This bird has eluded us continually.  I was fortunate to see it over a month ago and another time since, but it took me five months to find it. Evan has never seen it.  Additionally I have never gotten a picture.  Fortunately on this day I was able to point it out to Evan so he could add it to his list.  I also got a recognizable photo of this bird.  I’d still like a better one.

We saw many other great species of birds at Berguist including Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Wood Ducks, Eastern Phoebe, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, White-throated Sparrows, Lincoln’s Sparrows, and a Song Sparrow. I couldn’t get over how much activity there was on this fall day.  No, we didn’t get our target, but it was nice that Evan got another lifer.  Plus it was an absolutely gorgeous day to be out.

“A steam locomotive!” Melissa hollered when we both heard the old-timey hollow whistle of a train.  It’s a sound we all know well from TV and movies, so I just figured the kids were watching some show on the iPad.  I didn’t realize it was an actual locomotive cruising down the railroad tracks near our house.  “I read about this last night – quick, take Evan outside to see it go by!” she yelled.  Evan and I hustled out the door and looked toward the tracks only to see two big puffs of smoke coming from the west.  The train was headed away.  We missed it.

Just then Melissa burst out the door with Marin in her arms.  “Did you see it?”

“No, we just missed it.”

“Do you have your keys?”

“Yeah, let’s go!”

In a frenzy the four of us piled into the car, and we were off, racing out of the neighborhood and nearly taking corners on two wheels. We got onto the highway that runs parallel to the tracks and were straining to see where it was.  Unfortunately traffic was moving slow because the lead car was running right beside the locomotive giving himself a good view while the rest of us couldn’t see it.  Apparently everyone else knew what was going on today because at every train crossing there were lots of cars with people standing out in the rain, hoping to catch a glimpse of this old train in operation.

We finally got near the locomotive as it slowed down in Willmar where it was stopping at the Old Depot.  There were people everywhere, and most of them were men past the age of 60.  People were driving wrecklessly as they jockeyed to catch a view.  I never would have imagined being cut off by an 80-year-old man.

We were able to find a place to park.  We were a little bummed that neither of us had a cell phone along to take pictures with until I realized that I had my birding camera in the car.  So we were able to get out for some fun pictures.

The locomotive then detached from the old passenger train it was pulling.  We determined (after chasing it) that it decoupled from the train to get on another track, turn around, and attach to the other end to pull the train back east.  

It was an exciting chase. I even told Melissa that it was just as much fun as chasing after a good bird. This was a really fun, unexpected outing on this day.  I’m sure my dad, who is a train buff, would have loved to see it.  He would have been even more excited to learn this locomotive was built in June 1944, two months before he was born.

Since we knew that train was heading back east, we went on ahead of it to an old bridge that goes over the tracks to get a really good view of the train passing under us.  We got tired of waiting and decided to head back home on the country roads. That’s when we started to see some bird action.  There were numerous Vesper Sparrows on the roads.  But then we saw a bigger bird fly up on to a wire.  It was a Western Meadowlark – another reminder of my dad as that’s his favorite bird.  These birds are in decline and are always a delight to see. We were able to get a few pictures of this guy before finally heading home.

So we went after a train on a lark, and we ended up finding a lark too.  It was a memorable adventure.

Hopefully we haven’t lost all our devoted readers to this month-long hiatus from blogging. No, the birding hasn’t stopped, but the uptick in life activity along with the decline in birding activity has provided little opportunity to write. Fall migration has been slow, but we’ve still managed to see some good birds.  Life, on the other hand, has been fast and furious. The start of a new school year is always hectic for Melissa and me as we both teach.  First-grader Evan is also busier as he now has homework, Cub Scouts, and piano lessons. Add in a birthday party sleep-over and a new obsession with playing catch with a football, and there is very little room (or interest) for birds.  Marin is also experiencing her own busy little life as she started a new daycare this fall and is enrolled in a dance class.  And we are all busier with church as small-group Bible study and Sunday school classes have resumed with the fall season.

One thing that’s been keeping me busy in my limited spare time is the development of a a new birding website called Birding Across America. This site is a national platform for birders across the country to connect with each other allowing traveling birders to see more birds when they are in unfamiliar lands.  On the site each state has its own page with a featured photo gallery where registered users can upload photos, share sightings, and read the rare bird alerts of that particular state’s listserv.  It has been time-consuming to say the least, but the site is growing and I have met a lot of friendly birders through the process. It’s my hope that this new website will satisfy my own birding and coding interests and allow me to stick to the integrity of this blog: writing about birding outings with my family and documenting those memories and sharing them with you.

Speaking of that, I’d like to start the birding part of this post by showing you some pictures of one of our regular birding stops in early September – a mudflat near Willmar that was a stopping point for many shorebirds.

 Here are two Wilson’s Snipe. Yes, Jeff, snipe do exist.

A crazed Green Heron flew in and ran about the mudflat.

And this next one is a lifer.  The problem is we don’t know what it is.  It’s either a Baird’s Sandpiper or White-rumped Sandpiper.  Shorebirds are so frustrating. On one of our trips to this mudflat, there was just a trio of yellowlegs – two Greater Yellowlegs and one Lesser Yellowlegs.  They are very similiar in appearance and their size is only discernable when they are next to each other. As we watched these three, we heard a sharp “Ki-ki-ki-ki” and saw a Merlin fly in and try to nab one of the yellowlegs!  It was very cool to see this raptor.  If only I could have gotten a decent shot of it.

Another local haunt that I brought the kids to in September was Robbins Island Park.  I don’t even remember how many times we came out to look for migrating birds.  We saw lots of warblers and vireos.  I even managed to see my nemesis bird, the Blue-headed Vireo, but was unable to relocate it for Evan or for a photograph. On one of my solo outings I did capture this migrating vireo – the Philadelphia Vireo.On these frequent outings to Robbins Island, the kids were more interested in being kids while I scanned the trees for birding activity. Looking down at the ground showed some other activity. Note Marin’s “birding” boots.

One time when I was alone at Robbins Island, I happened upon this very tame Red-tailed Hawk sitting on top of the swings!  I was able to walk within 10 feet of it. It freaked me out a little, and I made sure to put a light pole between myself and the bird while I took these pictures. I didn’t want a face full of talons. I found its perch to be humorous as I wondered if it was waiting for an unsuspecting toddler.

One time that Evan and I went by ourselves to Robbins Island, we caught up with our Cooper’s Hawk again that we wrote about in the last post. Last time we saw the Cooper’s Hawk being dive-bombed by crows. This day, however, the hawk was chasing the crows!

In late September we were able to sneak away for a camping trip to St. Croix State Park with Melissa’s parents and nieces.

It was a gorgeous weekend with perfect weather. The cousins enjoyed their time together as did the adults, and I even managed to take a couple bird photos of some migrating birds. Here is a Yellow-rumped Warbler.

And another late-migrating warbler – the Palm Warbler.

It’s hard to go birding/camping without playing around the water.

Looking up from the water into beautiful blue sky revealed a kettle of Broadwinged Hawks riding the thermals as they migrate.

After our St. Croix trip, the kids and I found ourselves out birding again the following weekend.  I had to find something to write about for my October contribution to Birding is Fun!. So we went out with no real birding plan but happened upon a pair of Trumpeter Swans. This is always a fun bird to see. Evan and I first became enamored with them when we read E.B. White’s The Trumpet of the Swan. Seeing as this bird has a limited range in the United States and that is was once endangered, I figured it would make a good article for Birding is Fun!

The size of the Trumpeter is massive! That’s a Mallard in the foreground if you have any idea how big they are.On this same day, the kids and I went on to check out another favorite birding haunt: the Atwater sewage ponds. Among the hundreds of Canada Geese and Ring-billed Gulls, we were delighted to find seven more Trumpeters!  This was the bird of the day.

On the way home I stopped to take some pictures of sparrows.  Here is a Savannah Sparrow.

Speaking of sparrows, I finally filled our bird feeders at home just in time to see some of the neat migrating sparrows.  This next picture is very bad, but it is also very cool.  In this one shot you will see three migrating sparrows.  From left to right: White-crowned Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, and Harris’s Sparrow.

Here’s a better shot of the Harris’s Sparrow.  

In addition to these fine three, we had a new yard bird – the Lincoln’s Sparrow! I didn’t get a picture, and Evan didn’t see it (he’s seen a Lincoln’s before), but he was really excited when I told him the news.  And just today we saw our first returning Fox Sparrow – also not pictured.

The best yard bird, though, and arguably one of my favorite birds, has also been showing up regularly – the Eurasian Collared Dove.  Evan first discovered this bird in our yard over a year ago and proved himself an observant birder as he argued with me (correctly) that he saw this bird I had never even heard of at that time.  You can read more of the story at More Than Just a Name. Moreover, during the past year I’ve learned that this is a good bird in Minnesota that people get excited to see.  Almost every day I get to see it and remember how this whole journey of birding began.  I don’t know what kind of birding adventures we have in store for the fall, but we are eager for winter to come so we can chase after northern owls and other migrants from the north.