A birding friend John Richardson shared a -37 reading on his car on Facebook Saturday morning and I knew my aborted trip to the north was correct. I later talked with another friend Kevin Manley and he noted he cancelled a trip to Sax-Zim bog as well due to the extreme cold.
Instead I made plans to venture a bit south with Peter Nichols to see if we might have some luck looking for the Tufted Duck being seen around the Red Wing, MN area. It has been an on/off type bird ranging open water along a pretty good stretch of the Mississippi River. This potential first county record When we arrived at Colvill Park a score of photogs and birders were present. At first we thought it was on considering the number of cameras pointed at a bay area. Little did we realize the pure drawing power of over 100 Bald Eagles collected in the area. The trees were lined with them showing every possible plumage variation and age. It was hours later when I realized how desensitized to Bald Eagles I've really become. That many eagles in one location and I scanned them quick, but did not take a single picture as we desired to get searching for the Tufted Duck.
Though in my defense, who is thinking photographic opportunity when it is -10 and a breeze blowing off a frozen river? The cold bit deep into our feet, hands, and face as we looked to scan some nearby rafts of Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser. Only an additional Greater Scaup was present along with the expected Mallards hanging around in the shallows.
We repositioned multiple times along the river checking birds as many other parties did the same, but to no avail. We eventually made the call to try for the a prior reported location that was part of Frontenac State Park. Of course this worked out really well for me since it is a big year in the State Parks for me.
The property is one of the separate sections from the main park land divided by private property. I had heard of others using this in prior reports, but the park map says little about proper access points and parking. After a Google Map investigation though I realized that Google Street View showed the gated access points for these properties and now knew where we would be heading.
Hill Avenue runs along the bluff area right into the main entrance of the park, but a few miles prior to that you will find the furthest north and west segment noted by signage as parking and access for units numbered 21, 22, 23 I think. This turns out to be a long standing access point for hang gliding with a picnic table and flag pole setup on the bluff overlook.
The hike up is strenuous with several rises and falls before getting to the bluff edge. This is a really cool hike location since it is so far off the main park property. I'm looking forward to this and another further south and east in the spring or summer. I like these kinds of locations that are not heavily marked or accessed due to being less convenient. Pete put on his snow shoes and I added Yak Trak's for the hike up the bluff and to the river.
As we crested the top a small flock (5) of Common Redpoll added themselves as a state park bird for me on the year. It was extra fun to snag these without having a bird feed station or something like that present. I always enjoy birds when they are feeding naturally on various seed heads.
After the long and cold hike we made the bluff edge as I dropped down to the picnic location for some pics and quick scanning. The extreme cold looked like it had sealed up a lot of the open water so my best scope views were pretty long.
The cold expanse of river seen from the hang glide launch site within a section of Frontenac State Park off Hill Avenue in Goodhue County.
In addition to the Common duo of Merganser & Goldeneye I was able to pick out a female Bufflehead. Beyond that though most open water was north towards the small town of Wacouta, a place not really available to birders at this point.
Pete and I turned back eventually happy with a nice hike a fun little side exploration. I can't state enough how much I love these kinds of hikes for this big year. I like adventure and new territory and this section seems like a lot of fun to see during spring migration. The overlook itself feels like it could be an outstanding spot for a hawk watch and I will have to keep it on my short list. My frozen beard after the hike showed the depth of the cold, but I like to think the smile showed the enjoyment level despite such cold.
Me after a fun elevation hike at Frontenac State Park.
We rolled through the old town of Frontenac looking for Tufted Titmouse. We finally broke Pete's Titmouse curse with a single bird at a feeder in town so he could add it as a county tick for Goodhue. This feeder knowledge was thanks to Kevin Manley, whom we ran into doing the same as us at this point, hiding from the cold of the far north. The same appeared true of Michael Sack and Dana Sterner out patrolling the Frontenac area for birds and adventure when we ran into them for the second time on the day.
We even did a short ag road route back in Washington County after lunch and had some good results with Horned Lark, Common Redpoll and Multiple Hoary Redpoll.
Horned Lark on Neal Ave in Washington County.
These 2 birds showing all the needed characteristics for Hoary Redpoll in a super flock of 200 along Neal Avenue also. Seems Hoary has become pretty easy to find in the metro area this year.
On the day I picked up some state park birds since the waterfowl were all adds for me from State Park property. So on a bad weather throw away day I still added 4 birds and my 10th location of the year. I'm writing this now on Sunday wanting to get out, but snow is coming down and it was still below 0 this morning with more cold tomorrow in the works. The forecast is a bit more viable next weekend and perhaps I'll be able to force a trip in then and snag a number of north shore parks for my efforts.
It was fun to run into you guys this day! I wish I would have taken a pic of all of us at the cemetery as my thing this year is logging and documenting all the birders I run into that I know or intentionally bird with and taking a picture with them (if I'm not too shy to ask). I know I'll see you sometime else this year for a photo op. :)
ReplyDelete