MPR and Herons

Providing that there is no major news breaking, the segment I recorded with Stephanie Hemphill about the North Mississippi Regional Park should air today between 5am  - 9am on Morning Edition.  (Mom, they said an online version will be available at some point too).

I'll probably be roving out at that park in full ranger gear between 10am  - 12pm today.

Duck Smorgasbord!

Last week I had to go to a meeting in Lake City, MN about the waterfowl surveys we did last fall, sort of going over the info collected and assessing what we might do different in the future.  I headed down with Mark Martell and we took the scenic route to see what migrants might be lurking on the flooded river...we were not disappointed there was an awesome collection of ducks to be seen on the river.  How many species can you pick out above?

I love the Ravenna Trail drive towards Treasure Island Casino and just off of Co Rd 68 was a GREAT flock of ducks thanks to the recent flooding.  The Vermillion River was over its banks and demonstrating what a floodplain forest is all about.  We pulled over and scanned the ducks.  Since we had to get to our meeting and couldn't dally for long, I made a mental note to revisit the spot to enj0y the ducks during my vacation--I even dragged Non Birding Bill with me since he does enjoy a bird that is colorful, big, obvious and fairly easy to see.

Just sitting in the car on the side of the road was a great way to watch males competing for the attentions of females and to note comparisons of different species.  The two male bufflehead on the left hit the light just right and you could see the green and purple sheen of their head feathers.  The female bufflehead is in the center and the other two ducks were a pair of lesser scaup.  I sat in my car along the road figuring that the ducks wouldn't mind it.  I have a window mount for my Swarvoski scope so it can function as a blind.  Most birds don't seem to mind cars...just the things that come out of them.

Other people pulled over to watch the ducks.  Some foolishly parked on the far side and walked across the road to get a better view--flushing the ducks in the process.  Doh!  They guys didn't have any binoculars and soon left.  But, I was on vacation with oodles of time and figured that the ducks would eventually drift my way again.

There were other birds to watch for like the above sandhill crane foraging in the flooded farm field. Horned larks and robins were mixed in too.  As I was scanning some of the vegetation further out, I was surprised to find snoozing pectoral sandpipers and blue-winged teal--too far for photos, but pleased I was able to figure them out.

After about fifteen minutes, a very obliging bald eagle flew in chasing some of the gulls and ducks (in case you can't tell, that biggest dark bird in the above photo is the eagle).  The eagle drove all the ducks back towards my car much in the same way the three mean earlier flushed them away.

It was interesting to note the birds that grouped together like the above American wigeon (the bird with the white patch on his head and aka the bald pate) hanging with the northern shoveler (the bird with the enormous bill in the front).  This group clustered nearest the vegetation, dabbling.

There were also quite a few canvasbacks ( the redheaded duck on the right with the whole swoop thing going on) hanging out with some redheads (the redheaded ducks are the ones with the yellow eyes and light colored bills).  I love all the red headed ducks--perhaps that's the reason my hair is red right now.  I love watching these male ducks mixed in with the spring colors in the surrounding landscape.

There were quite a few lesser scaup mixed in and it was a great opportunity to observe the many different head shapes.  I have a tough time when someone tells me that they see a greater scaup mixed in with lesser scaup because they look so similar.  The best way to work on a species is to watch the common one long enough and eventually you will notice with the non common one shows up (in my case, greater scaup is less common).  Above is one female lesser scaup being followed by three lesser scaup males--note how different the head shape can look between three males of the same species.

Here are the same three males.  Ugh.  I think I will only count greater scaup when they are in areas when they are the most likely species.  For non birders who are not privy to the whole greater/lesser scaup thing here are some photos to show how similar they are.  It's crazy to me how one duck species can have so many different shapes.

All in all it was a great spot to watch ducks.  There were several ring-necks and gadwall mixed in too (gadwall not pictured).  Are you seeing any waterfowl where you are?

At Last A Fox Sparrow!

I had a conversation with my friend Hans about Adam Savage coming in town for W00tStock and if there would be any way to entice him to blow up a stump for us.  Hans said, "You know, I bet that since he blows up stuff for work all the time it isn't fun for him any more." I disagreed and said, "That's like me saying that birding isn't fun any more.  Some things you just love whether they are part of your job or not.

Non Birding Bill and I noticed that we both had four days in a row off over Easter and he insisted that I take a vacation--no blogging, no scheduling, no media, no nothing for four days.  Although, since I enjoy birding as much as I do, it was hard to avoid that altogether--especially with spring raging early and hard in our neck of the woods.

Yesterday along I found this obliging fox sparrow, heard ruffed grouse strumming incessantly and strong, found flocks of phoebes and noticed all sorts of mating shenanigans with wintering birds.

This morning, I came back to work by escorting Stephanie Hemphill from MPR to the North Mississippi Regional Park heron rookery.  The birds are still fairly easy to see and if the weather is good on Thursday, I'll probably roam out that way in a ranger capacity with my scope around 10 am (if anyone is playing hookie from work).

I have some fun duck photos coming, hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend.

Peregrine Falcons At The Colonnade

I was out at the Colonnade to check out the peregrine falcons that nest on that building.  I had a KARE 11 segment this week and when I drove by the tall building, I could make one of the birds perched on the nest box ledge.  When I returned with my digiscoping equipment that male visible.  This is a nesting territory that I've blogged about before and some very interesting prey items have been found in their nest box.

As I watched him for a bit, I wondered if he had a female laying eggs or incubating.  Then he kept looking up and soon began to vocalize.  When I volunteered at The Raptor Center and we would be outdoors with the education birds, we learned that if they looked up, you should look up, they saw an aerial raptor--sometimes it would be a mere pepper speck to me.  I tried to follow the male's gaze skyward but could not see any other raptors flying over.

Then I saw her.  A big female circling...and then I saw a second one (who was too fast for a photo).  An aerial battle between two females was underway.  Look at those distinct pointed wing tips that separates a falcon from a red-tailed hawk! In raptors, females are larger than the males (especially with peregrine falcons) and the females will engage in bloody battles to the death for prime territory.  There's an infamous story from the Colonnade in the 1990s of 2 females who battle for over 2 and a half hours for the nest box--one losing an eye and eventually her life.  Excited at my discovery of an aerial battle, I texted my buddy Mark Martell who has been involved with banding the birds at this building.  He immediately replied, "I can just see you out there shouting, 'Chick fight!'"

He wasn't too far off in his guess.  The best part of it was as the females circled the building and chased each other, the male remained at his perch screaming...perhaps he too was calling, "Chick fight...over MEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Actually, he did something kind of interesting.  As the females duked it out in the air, he hunched over, fluffed his feathers and appeared to flash his cloaca.  I wondered if this was some sort of display of encouragement to his mate or he was just flashing the goods to the females, "Yes, ladies, this is what I have to offer the winner of this display!"

The battle was probably more about the territory than the male.

It wasn't a very serious battle and it soon ended.  The other female was chased off and the remaining female circled the building and flew to the ledge where the next box it tucked away.  Mark said that the people who monitor the falcons from inside the Colonnade report there is one egg in the nest.

After all settled down, the male continued his watch of their skies from a nearby ledge.  Then he walked towards his reflection on the windows.  If one were to attribute human emotions to this bird, he could be thinking, "Yeah, boy, you are the total package.  They wanted you, my man."

But who knows what drew this bird to the window.

If you want to watch the peregrines at the Colonnade there is a small parking lot to the northeast of the building--just to the east of the parking garage for the Colonnade.  You could also try driving to the top of the Colonnade's parking garage and watching from a scope there but I'm not sure how the building's security team feels about that.  The Colonnade is on the northeast corner of hwy 394 and the Xenia Ave & Park Place exit on the west side of Minneapolis.

If you know what to look for, you can usually make out one of the adults perched on the ledges of the building.  But to see the falcons well, you will need to have a scope or at the very least some binoculars to get a better look.

Cat vs Fox While Eagle Watches

This is from the same YouTube Channel that I posted earlier of the eagle contemplating the tastiness of a cat: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V63-jJknM9A[/youtube]

I think putting scraps on your deck to attract foxes and bald eagles and allowing that wildlife to mingle with your cat is a risky proposition. One day there will be a larger fox who will not be so started by that cat.  Or maybe the local food will not be enough and the usually satiated predators will try for the cat.

Random Song Sparrow

Holy cow I saw a lot of migrants back today!  Some like the above song sparrow were singing right on the same spot they were singing the year before.  Today was full of first of the year birds for me including pelicans, phoebes and tree swallows.  I hope we don't five inches of snow in the next month that puts a hitch in their arrivals.

Bald Eagle Ponders Eating Cat

This is a young bald eagle working out whether this furry creature is potential food.  The cat is lucky.  Had this been a golden eagle...it would have been toast. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1baqLbmqaQ[/youtube]

North Mississippi Park Heron Rookery

This is the week to check out the great blue heron rookery at North Mississippi Regional Park (or the one at Coon Rapids Dam too).  I headed out to the North Mississippi rookery yesterday to take a look, right now the nests are very visible--even without binoculars.

You can get a great view of all sorts of behavior including nest building as the herons are coming in from migration.  Some have been at this rookery for a few weeks already.

Quite a few of the herons were perched on or near a nest and not moving.  I read on Cornell's Birds of North America Online that like many migratory bird species, males arrive to the nesting grounds first and establish who is taking what nest.  From there, when not foraging for food, a male will spend all his time at the nest.  Perhaps these were males waiting for a female to court or hoping to prevent other males from stealing sticks for their nests.

A few herons were already incubating eggs.  These nests will either be way ahead of the game with chick rearing or have to start over in a few weeks.  We are heading out of an unusual March--no snow in the Twin Cities at all.  This is highly irregular, March is technically our snowiest month.  It's not out of the realm of possibility for us to get snow in April.  I'm loving the opportunity to bike on the trails a whole month early, but I'm not going to hold my breath and say that we are totally free of snow for the rest of the spring.  If we get a cold snap, these already incubating herons may risk losing young and have to start over.  But that's what birds do.

So, take a moment to head to one of our heron rookeries before the leaves are out.  You can always somewhat see the nests at North Mississippi Regional Park and Coon Rapids Dam but it's ten times easier to point them to kids before the leaves are out.  If this 70 degree weather keeps up, that could be rather soon...aw man, that means that leaves will be well out when warblers get here in May.  That's going to make warbler watching a challenge.

UPDATE 2011: This heron rookery was destroyed by a tornado that ripped through Minneapolis in May, 2011.  All the nests were destroyed.  The birds did renest, some up river at Coon Rapids Dam and others at a new site at the Riverside Power Plant near the Head of Navigation on the Mississippi River. Most of the young did not survive, but the few that were rescued were eventually released later in the summer.

KTLK Today, Showcase Minnesota Tomorrow

I'll be on Outdoor Talk on KTLK FM 100.3 today (Sunday) at about 5:30pm talking about migration.  I'll also be on Showcase Minnesota tomorrow (Monday) morning between 10 am  - 11 am on KARE 11.

Spring Signs: Blackbirds & Merganser Style

Friday, I had a meeting in Eden Prairie, MN--the southwest side of the metro Twin Cities.  As I  traveling on the highway, I noticed a large group of gulls loafing on a pond off the highway.  I made a mental note of the exit and decided to stop there on my way back home after the meeting.  When I pulled down the street, I noticed the ponds were almost completely ice free and could have some bird potential.

When I stepped out of my car, I could smell what had the gulls excited--a fish kill.  The unmistakable aroma of dead fish hung in the air.  The gulls were a mixture of ring-billed and herring and they were so chatty, you almost thought you were at a beach.  A few crows joined the gulls in the rancid feast.

A couple of bald eagles made some passes over the gulls--spooking them a few times.  The eagles flew low but did not land on the ice.   I'm not sure if the eagles were uncertain about the quality of dead fish or the amount of people walking around the lake.  The eagle pictured above eventually perched on top of a tree and watched the gulls for quite some time and never flew to the ice. I got the sense that the bird wanted its share of the dead fish but felt unsure of the situation.

I've heard red-winged blackbirds on and off the last week or two and their call was unmistakable around the fish kill lake.  We still don't have any female red-wings here yet, so the early arriving males still have some time to negotiate their territories.

There was a pond on the other side of the parking lot that was completely ice free and I noticed some splashing sounds.  A quick scan with the scope revealed about 3 pair of hooded mergansers engaging in some mating displays.  Love these little ducks!

Hooded mergansers will use wood duck boxes for nesting--I had one use a nest box at the bird store a few years ago.  It's cool to see this fish eating duck move further and further into the Twin Cities metro area for breeding purposes.  Check out that male's bill above with that dainty little hook on the end of his beak.  One of my favorite illustrations from the duck stamp contest I judged last week was of a male hooded merganser fishing underwater.

The males seemed to have each found a female and the settled down by the time I got close enough for some photos.  I was hoping I could hear their mating call but I think even if they had been giving it, the close by highway would have made it hard to hear.  You can listen to hooded merganser mating calls at Xeno Canto--I love that little croaky call.  I checked over at Cornell's Birds of North America Online for what entails the mating ritual for hooded mergansers and it reads, "Males have elaborate courtship behaviors which include Crest-raising, Head-shaking, Head-throws with Turn-the-back-of-the-head, Head-pumping, Upward-stretch, Upward-stretch with Wing-flap, and ritualized Drinking."

Not unlike humans.  BNA says that you can distinguish "ritualized drinking" from "normal drinking" in male hooded mergansers by the strongly depressed crest and almost vertical orientation of the bill.  So, if you're at a bar and a guy is trying to impress you with his drinking ability--perhaps he is trying to woo you with a merganser flirting strategy?  If you suspect that is the case and you would like to take him up on his advances, you can respond by moving your head up and down in a rapid, jerky motion with your bill (or chin) pointed downward, uttering a hoarse gack.

Here's a video that I got at Wood Lake a couple of years ago of a little hooded merganser display:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeG5KKa539A&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]