Afton SP 2012 08 16

Today's adventure:

Afton SP, Washington, US-MN
Aug 16, 2012 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
Comments: Started out quiet. A cold front came through on Wednesday. First 15 minutes, no birds but then found a couple of small flocks.
22 species (+1 other taxa)

Turkey Vulture 1 - I don't know if it was the same one 3 times or 3 different ones
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 heard
Downy Woodpecker 1
Eastern Wood-Pewee 1 heard
Empidonax sp. 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Eastern Kingbird 2
Blue Jay 1
American Crow 1 heard
Black-capped Chickadee 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 1
Eastern Bluebird 10
Cedar Waxwing 4
Eastern Towhee 1
Chipping Sparrow 3
Field Sparrow 2 - Several sparrows not counted, including a possible Henslow's. All were flitting around the prairie grasses.
Song Sparrow 1
Indigo Bunting 1
American Goldfinch 4 heard

At one point, I heard an unusual noise and thought it was some weird bird. Scared up a doe and two fawns before I realized the sound was the "bleating" sound of a fawn. Pretty cool !

Also had a Red Squirrel running up and down a tree, checking me out. A female, based on the enlarged mammary glands.

A Gray Squirrel was munching on some berries of a juniper tree.

Backyard Birds

Took a couple of photos today of our Maplewood backyard critters - not much different than some places in Afton.

Some fun photos

Eagles today

Drove over by the Snow Buntings on 100th today. We watched for about 15 seconds, then a truck drove by and flushed them into the corn stubble away from the road. We couldn't see them any more.

Ran at Afton SP for about an hour and a half - running & walking & watching the raptors. I looked down to check my footing, then I'd look up to check the skies. Loren & I counted 22 eagles so far today. They are both mature (white head, white tail) and immature (mostly dark) eagles. Also saw 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Rough-legged Hawk and two unidentified raptors.

Also found a mixed flock of Cedar Waxwings and American Robins feeding on the cedars. Loren counted 20 waxwings and I counted 5 robins. There were more hidden in the branches of the cedars.

Start temp: 18 degrees
End temp: 22 degrees
Mostly cloudy, wind 5 - 10 mph
Partial snow cover

Snowy Afton

Luckily, many of the birds have migrated. Several flocks were still seen. The two identified were American Robin and American Tree Sparrow. The other 3 flocks I didn't see well enough to ID.

Just outside the park to the south, was a Bald Eagle with a beautiful white head and tail. Not sure what it was doing on the ground. When we drove over to investigate, it flew away and I couldn't find it again.

On the west side of the park, I saw a Northern Harrier. It seemed to be flying towards the south but not in a direct line and didn't appear to be hunting.

Omaha, NE

Made a quick trip to Kansas over Labor Day Weekend.  Stopped to see the thousands of Purple Martins that were reported on 8/25/2010 to be roosting in Omaha.

Here is a short video of the spectacle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7QGwFG4jjM

There were other birds, like Cliff Swallows, American Robins, European Starlings and some kind of Grackles.  The oddest bird of the day was a parrot / lovebird that enjoyed flying with all of the birds. It would perch for a while and then take off and circle with the rest of the birds. Here is a photo.

Checking the bird boxes

Took some time today to check the boxes.

The box that had 4 white eggs (tree swallows) last week - just an empty nest today :-(

The boxes that had chickadee nests (made from moss), had twigs from a wren on top of the moss :(

The wren nest had 3 little brown speckled eggs and an adult singing nearby.

The bluebird box was very quiet - I saw adults bringing food to the trees - I hope they were feeding the newly fledged young.

Surprised to see 3 vultures flying north. Heard 2 towhees calling. Saw 5+ tree sparrows and almost as many bluebirds. No meadowlarks ?

In Maplewood, I saw 3 hummingbirds (2 male, 1 female) FOY, no orioles, heard the Barred Owl in the night and again this evening. A house wren was singing loudly. Three deer, one lactating female, one young buck with nubby antlers in velvet, the other 1 to 2 are unknown were lounging around in the backyard. Linda said she saw newborn fawns over the weekend, so new one was still in the sac!

The second tree peony is blooming. It was supposed to be red. It doesn't look red to me. See the bee in the photo? By evening, all 4 blossoms were open. Spectacular!

Maplewood Today

Maplewood Birds today:

Bluebird
Palm Warbler FOY
Black and white Warbler FOY
Red-winged Blackbird
Chestnut-sided Warbler LIFE
Oriole
House Sparrow
American Goldfinches
White-throated Sparrow
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Cardinals
Mourning Dove
Chickadee
House Finch