Afton was again my target with it being square in my view as a big year within my State Park big year. I figured even with large numbers being blocked to the south that southern Washington county would still be able to put a few new species on the list for the year. I was not disappointed on a nice 48 degree evening with light winds that eventually died down to almost nothing.
One thing I love about going to the same location repeatedly is you get to know the machinations of nature. You get a feel for how things flow and change over time and you begin to notice minor shifts in habitat utilization as migration ebbs and flows. This evening I quickly got a look at the relatively small patch of open water on the river from the top of the bluff. This puts you about 1500 feet away from the water and elevated well above it as well. This patch I've seen briefly inhabited by a flock of Hooded Merganser, but beyond that activity was limited as it is a stretch of water bordered by long runs of ice in the center of a high current river. I quickly found a number of Mallard were setup resting on the ice and paddling around the pool. While doing this a number of Bald Eagle were squabbling over what looked like a large carp that had been pulled onto the ice. (Imagine being a species that must rest and eat within a 100 feet of the thing that constantly tried to eat you for dinner.)
I started scanning the entire pool and soon landed upon a couple Blue-winged Teal, an odd duck so to speak for the middle of a river. Quickly I found some Common Goldeneye that had been joined by a raft of Lesser Scaup. I wanted to ensure I didn't miss anything so I started my hike down to the river edge so I could shrink the distance to the birds and pull in some Nikon shots of what ever else might be moving around. On my way a FOY (First of Year) Hermit Thrush pair popped up from the wooded edge and picked at some wrinkled berries.
One of 4 I saw on my hike, this Hermit Thrush was near the picnic overlook.
Further down I picked up a chip note of sparrow level interest and gave a small low volume phishing noise. A Fox Sparrow popped up into view and put on a show in perfect light for me for a couple minutes. I had wanted to snag one from Afton for a while now to make sure I got one on my year list for the parks.
This Fox Sparrow was so cooperative I had to put two pictures in the post.
Finally at the bottom I slogged over the flood plain forest section towards the open pool. Fortune smiled as a walker with a dog kicked up a few ducks from the Trout Brook out flow and into the middle of the river. That contained a pair of Green-winged Teal, a bird I would typically rule out of Afton State Park on the account of being very limited desirable habitat even for a migrant Teal. (Getting both on the same day together was a nice treat and added 2 Afton State Park life birds for me.)
Male Green-winged Teal on right and Malr Blue-winged Teal on the left. Both lifer Park birds for me.
A FOY Belted Kingfisher also rattled off a few salvo's of calls during this time adding to the wonderful audio layers of a nice spring day. I moved about in some wooded spaces after this and found a couple more Hermit Thrush working open patches of forest. I like adding the hilly sections of Afton as they provide awesome accidental exercise while birding for extended periods. (4 hours on this day)
Making it back to the top of the river valley I figured I could setup for a sky watch at my favorite overlook spot just south of the visitor center by about a 1/4 mile. On my way 3 FOY Vesper Sparrow popped into a tree to give me an eye. This is a nice bird for the park as they don't seem to nest at Afton and they were again a life park bird for me.
Lighting was tough, but still got a nice picture of this tougher to get Park bird. Vesper Sparrow.
Shortly after I also picked up a few Tree Swallow working up the river valley for yet another FOY bird on the day. In some cases I had to watch really closely to get some of these birds as they streamed up river at a moderate altitude. At the same time I could see even higher up Ring-billed and Herring Gulls working back down river. Apparently they did not like what they saw in the north or they were returning a roost site further down river.
As I neared my overlook location I locked on a Peregrine Falcon moving like a bullet down river along the ridge. It was crazy to see the speed with which this bird moved. Everything else appeared to either labor against a cross wind or attempt to soar on updrafts and thermals. Not this Peregrine though as it pulled wings in tight and moved with purpose.
During my sky watch an Eastern Meadowlark let out a volley of song behind me in the prairie. A few days back I had my first 3 in this area begin to make some noise. Prior to that I had a single bird near the entrance station giving contact calls only. You can get a vibe for these changes the more you get out in the same space and really track the arrival of a species, it's transition to song, and eventual claiming and winning of a coveted territory that causes others to move onto another location.
My day wasn't done yet though as I started to see some Turkey Vultures working a thermal together to the south. It started with 4 or 5 and as I looked back a minute or two later saw they were joined by many more and the tornado expanded to 35. This is always fun to watch the formation of such a flock looking to spend as little energy as possible.
Watching Turkey Vulture soar in a large kettle is mesmerizing.
Something interesting happened though as this flock overtook my position I noticed another couple behind them and a pair of American Crows came out of the Pine ridge to give chase and started making a racket. I was confused why on earth they would care about a Turkey Vulture. It dawned on me that wasn't the case and I next assumed they were giving chase to one of the many Bald Eagles in the area. That made little sense either as I've rarely seen a Crow work over an Eagle. In fact I had just watched them hang out with the Eagles at the river looking to get in on the Carp that had been landed. It finally dawned on me that I was seeing something else completely and I got my binoculars on a Golden Eagle (juvenile/2nd year). the white tail base and small patches of white at the feather bases on the winds sealed it very quickly. I was able to see a golden sheen on the head and neck, which showed a distinctly shorter projection that you would see on a Bald Eagle. Fortune smiled as I had my camera already on and the zoom fully extended and I just had to get it in frame as the bird started to come out of a soar and switched into a gliding dive looking for the next thermal. The bird flew directly over my head no more than 100' above me. What an amazing moment and one I finally was in the position to snag a picture. As you can see below I had terrible lighting so the post processing is rough, but shows this amazing bird as it quickly exited to the north a mere 30 seconds after the American Crows pointed it out.
First rule of identification shows is to just get the picture. 30 seconds is all I had and as you can see a lot can be done in post to get a good enough picture for identification and documentation.
I'd go on to add a Sharp-shinned Hawk and many fly by Mallards along with a few more days birds before I topped out at 38 species in 4 hours of after work birding time. What a great evening of bird watching for the spring.
The great finds added 6 all time Afton State Park birds for me and moved my Afton year list up to 65 species while ticking the State Park list up to 93 species. I even added 13-lined Ground Squirrel to my mammal list on the evening.
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