Open Space & Lazy Drive

I decided after work to do a little new location scouting so I drove to the Woodbury Open Space that I had spotted off of Manning and just south of 94. Upon arriving a Red-bellied Woodpecker made itself known immediately, but little else did during the walk. The largest portion of the woods no longer looks like what is seen from overhead in current satellite images. The understory has been gutted and appears to be in the process of being gutted heavily. I'm guessing a lot of dead / downed trees along with buckthorn had them go for a very aggressive strategy. The area is not a very open woodland for a good sized portion of the location.

About half way back on the trails that appeared to be travelled only by another person and a dog since the last snow opened up into a hidden track of long grass, though not likely true prairie. It at least holds some interest in that it might support some interesting sparrows in summer.

The back half nearest the sand/gravel pit was much less gutted and had some pretty thick territory. I'm not sure the birding value of the whole area, but it certainly seems to be of interest. Maybe now that the main wooded area is opened up the way that it is, we'll see Red-headed Woodpecker.

I did see a nice hole in a tree about 30 feet up and wanted to see if it worked to rub a stick on the tree to make a resident pop it's head out. Sure enough a squirrel popped up immediately to see what was happening on his tree. Almost looked like the face of a Fox Squirrel, but was hard to tell at the angle I was at before it ducked back inside.

I plan to give the area another look in the spring and then maybe again during breeding time to see what sets up shop in the area and see if I can put it on the map a bit.

After that I drove through Lake Elmo Regional Park just to take a look around. I saw a good sized (20) flock of American Tree Sparrow near the road working for seeds and grit. Just short of the equestrian center I found 3 Horned Lark (year bird) near the road also and they only hooped to the road edge and gave me a nice long look at them from the car. It was a pretty windy and brisk day, but always fun to get out and see some birds. Now if I could just get my BirdLog phone app to submit records. It quit working 2 days ago and I've tried every type of troubleshooting possible to remedy the problem. I may submit something to the app devs and see what they come up with as I couldn't find anything online about the issue I'm having.

Lake Elmo Park - Snowshoe

Working Lake Elmo Park’s blue trail (one of the few non-ski trails in the winter) last night I took the snow shoes out just to keep getting used to them. Probably a bit of overkill considering the lack of true snow pack and the trodden nature of the blue trail in winter. The park was devoid of much avian activity. I had 1 Hairy Woodpecker run me down and squeak a bit to let me know someone was awake. Later I saw a solo American Crow fly across the skyline no doubt heading for night time roosting location. The bright light on the evening (besides a nice after work trek) was a lone Northern Shrike standing atop a tree a few hundred yards away from me. Having finally learned what I need to be paying attention to when looking for Shrike I have had much better luck the last couple years spotting them.

 

I found 1 while walking with Melissa late in 2014 at Oakdale Park and now found this one at Lake Elmo Park. I was able to saunter closer by cutting across the camping and prairie area (the only decent workout of my snow shoes) getting to about 75 yards and seeing most of the good field marks much better. The bird then flew off and I kept it in my binocs for as long as possible to watch the flight path and wing beat. I noted it to be a multiple fast pump with a pause and then repeat.

 

Again, little else showed on the night, but it was good to add another 2015 year bird and move to 38.

 

Looking forward to a big birding trip Friday and Saturday as I will drive up to Duluth to try and track down the Common Eider that has setup show for a while now. Additionally I’ll be looking at a pretty long list of birds to add to the year and life list.

 

1.       Common Eider

2.       Raven

3.       Northern Pintail

4.       Pine Siskin

5.       Common Redpoll

6.       Red Crossbill

7.       Gray Jay

8.       Great Gray Owl

9.       Purple Finch

10.   Evening Grosbeak

11.   Northern Hawk Owl

12.   Thayers Gull

13.   Glaucous Gull

14.   Greater Black Backed Gull

15.   Boreal Chickadee

16.   Ruffed Grouse

17.   Sharp Tailed Grouse

18.   Snow Bunting

19.   Red-Breasted Nuthatch

20.   Black-backed Woodpecker

21.   Bohemian Waxwing

 

Those are just some of the birds considering several other more rare birds would be welcome as well. Looking forward to it a lot and hoping for the best.

 

This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or
proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity
to which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended
recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified
that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is
prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the
sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately.