Twin Cities Naturalist

What's up with all the Robins?

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 13:41:00 +0000

I'm sure you've noticed by now. There are robins everywhere this year. The numbers are staggering. I counted 50 quickly this morning on the lawn at my son's childcare and every yard that lacked snow was also full of robins. I easily saw 1000 robins this morning just on my commute to work. The story is the same in every part of the Twin Cities.

Here's the scoop. There are several factors at play. First off, we're doubled up on robins. Our summer resident robins mostly move south in the winter in search of food. Robins from further north, and I mean all the way up into Canada, also moved south this winter. Some of them went past the Twin Cities while some of them formed winter flocks and hung out around open water and ornamental fruiting trees. The slow start to spring and continued fowl weather including lots of snow up north has put a halt to migration. Pretty much the entire Mississippi Flyway's worth of robins are backed up in the Twin Cities right now. These are resident birds mixed in with a sizable percentage of all the birds in Canada.

Like us, they are simply waiting for the weather to improve. This is about as far north as they dare go at this point.

I do believe there is one other factor at play and it has to do with freakish weather. We have a late spring this year but and unbelievably early spring last year. It was already in the 70s in March last year and many birds were very successful at nesting. I heard reports of many species laying an entire extra clutch of eggs over the course of the season. What we may be seeing here is a combination of the backing up of migrating birds combined with a higher than normal population of birds.

Jason DeRusha just did a Good Question segment on this topic and it featured my buddy Sharon.

~Kirk

From the field: Another sign of spring!

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:46:00 +0000

Wellie weather.

From the Field: Sign of Spring

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 23:42:00 +0000

As the snow melts away in the woods it is always incredible to see green plants hiding out that stayed green all winter long.

Official 2013 Twin Cities Groundhog Day Report

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:38:00 +0000

The 2013 Report:

Today, Saturday February 2nd is Groundhog's Day, here's your official Twin Cities Groundhog Report.

At 8:30 this morning, it was 2 °F and with clear skies. Snow fell overnight with more forecast for today. As all the real groundhogs are still hibernating in Minnesota, our stand-in groundhog Stuffed Stanley is the official groundhog of record.

Surprisingly given the forecast of ore snow, the sun shone brightly this morning and Stanley cast a shadow for the first time in some years.

Note: Stock photo. Stanley was grumpy this year and refused to sign the photo release.

According to legend, the sudden appearance of the shadow scares the groundhog back into hiding and we will have six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow then spring will soon be here.

The official Twin Cities Groundhog Prediction:
The groundhog DID see his shadow in the Twin Cities so we have six more weeks of winter to look forward to.

Background:

What's the connection between Groundhogs, shadows and the seasons?

The connection is tenuous at best. Further south than Minnesota, male groundhogs do come out of hibernation early to scope out and check on their breeding territory. In Minnesota, February 2nd is usually too early for this to happen. Seeing the first groundhogs checking out their territory is surely a sign of spring though. Okay, but what does seeing a shadow have to do with it? The connection to shadows has to do with prevailing weather patterns. We often associate sunny days with warmth and the coming spring but sunny days in the winter aren't always warm. Clear winter days are often the result of cold Canadian air that has settled over the state. A shadow in the winter often means we're in a pattern of cold air flowing south. It can take many weeks to break that pattern and warm the land.

This winter is ver different than last year. Last year was so warm because cold Canadian air had trouble pushing into Minnesota at all. Right now we are in the middle of a cold snap of air from the north. In general these patterns take time to break up so there is at least a slight correlation between how long winter lasts and what sort of weather pattern we are experiencing

Celestially, February 2nd is an important day. According to the solar calendar, it should mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Forty-two days ago was the winter solstice, the day of the year when we have the least sunlight. From that day on, the amount of daylight increases until the day when there are equal amounts of night and day. We call this day the equinox and it falls around March 21st. February 2nd falls half way between the solstice and the equinox so in theory it should mark the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Has anyone seen any crocus flowers blooming?

Obviously the winter solstice is not really mid-winter. Why do we call the solstice mid-winter if it is really more like the day winter begins? This has long been a puzzle and even caused a few arguments between astronomers and meteorologists. The answer is something we call the lag of the seasons and it affects Groundhog’s day as well. Yes, it is true that Groundhog’s day technically marks the beginning of spring from a celestial point of view but our experience tells us otherwise. Our seasons lag behind what the sun tells us in the sky.

Saying spring starts on Groundhog’s day is a little like saying a frozen dinner is ready to eat as soon as it is pulled out of the freezer. The northern hemisphere has been cooling down for months by the time the solstice arrives. Forty-two days with just less than a minute more sunlight each day is not enough to thaw out the frozen landscape into a lush vernal garden.

The established pattern of cold weather continues for many weeks after the beginning of the increase in daylight. This lag makes it seem like mid-winter actually falls on Groundhog’s day rather than the solstice. Rest assured though that on Groundhog’s day, even if it feels like the middle of winter, we are getting an hour and seven minutes more daylight today than we did just forty-two days earlier.

Groundhog’s Day may marks the beginning of spring according to the sun but it will be about forty-two more days until we feel the change enough to call it spring. It may seem like winter has a grip on the land but the sun has been working hard to reverse the trend for over a month and we’ll soon start to see those effects.

Incidentally, the legend tells us that if the groundhog sees its shadow it will be scared back into the den and we’ll have six more weeks of winter. Why six weeks? How many days are there in six weeks? Forty-two. Six weeks takes us exactly to the spring equinox.

Be sure to keep up with other nature news by following Twin Cities Naturalist on Twitter. Follow @tcnaturalist

Minnesota Young Birders Club

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:54:00 +0000

I've been working behind the scenes for a while now on a new project and it is time to bring it out into the daylight.

There is a growing trend across the country to set up young birder clubs. This time last year there were fifteen states with young birder clubs. As of yesterday there are twenty one states with clubs and more are forming. Earlier this month the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory had grouped up to form the Young Birders Network.

Each state club is unique. The Minnesota Young Birder Club connects youth to other young birders in the state via monthly field days, workshops, and social media. The goal is to provide a challenging environment where youth can learn about birds, conservation and science while socializing with friends.

Skills: Through hands on workshops youth can learn about how to identify, attract and help birds. They develop skills with the latest gear and learn how and where to find birds in the field.

Conservation: By taking part in conservation projects youth can help improve habitat for birds in Minnesota.

Science: Youth get trained on citizen science programs such as e-bird, project feeder watch, project nest watch and more. They not only learn how scientists collect data but they actually take part in and contribute to real scientific research.

Community: Though the club, youth interact with peers in friendly competitions, challenges and learning experiences. They share their photos, observations and stories online. Members interact via a private invitation-only Facebook group. Youth members can post photos or questions while keeping up on what's happening in the group.

The Minnesota club is open to youth ages 13-18 from Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

Official meet-ups and field trips are held monthly. There are workshops, field days and a week-long summer camp.

Field sessions take place across the metro while workshop are usually held at the Lee & Rose Warner Nature Center located in Marine on St. Croix. The club provides free transportation from the Science Museum of Minnesota for the first 13 registrants for each field trip (but not workshops).

You can help!

Right now we need two things. Youth who want to participate and adults who want to sponsor the future of birding in Minnesota.

Youth members pay just $20 per year and can then attend as many events as they wish for no charge. The week-long summer camp is an additional fee. Once they join they receive a new member packet with information on events and how to access our Facebook group.

Youth Member Application

Adults are encouraged to become club sponsors. Adult sponsors help underwrite the cost of the club for our youth members and make our education programs possible.

Adult Sponsor Application

If you have any questions about the club contact Outreach Coordinator Kirk Mona at kmona@smm.org.

Crows Roosting in Minneapolis

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 23:00:00 +0000

I was recently interviewed on WCCO talking about all of the crows roosting in Minneapolis.

The winter roost is really incredible to witness. You can head into the city in the evening, grab some dinner and watch thousands of crows coming into the city. They come because the city parks are well lit and make a good place to watch out for Great Horned Owls. Crows have always grouped up in the winter to communicate as well. Since the 1960s though these small winter roosts have come together into mega roosts. It a a fascinating new adaptation and not one we are likely to see go away. ~Kirk

From the Field: Northern Shrike

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:21:00 +0000

A Northern Shrike on a cold winter's morning.

Ran into this guy on my morning commute. Shrikes are impressive predators that catch other birds and rodents and then impale them on thorny bushes so they can come back and eat them later. The practice has earned them the name The Butcher Bird.

~Kirk

Washington County Raven

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:21:00 +0000

I headed out at lunch today on a quick drive to look for some new birds for the year. Just a few minutes from work I spotted a large bird in a farm field. I could tell right away it was a Common Raven. Luckily it flew into a tree right over the road and I was able to get some photos. Ravens have been moving down into northern Washington County and based on behaviors I have seen in the past I believe they are nesting somewhere in the area. This one was seen on of Oldfield Road just off County Road 7 near Square Lake.

From the Field: Iced Muskrat

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:54:00 +0000

I came upon a muskrat today and he went for a stroll across the frozen lake. Ice today was about 5" thick.

From the Field: Common Merganser in the Setting Sun

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:19:00 +0000

A Common Merganser in the setting sun on Mille Lacs Lake. There were lots of Common Mergansers on the lake this week.

~Kirk

From the Field: Bonaparte's Gull

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:16:00 +0000

I've been pretty quiet on the website lately. Many apologies. Life has been far too interesting to stop and write about it. I stopped off at Mille Lacs lake this weekend and there were lots of Bonaparte's Gull. Cool birds.

~Kirk

From the Field: Cottongrass blooming in the bog

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:30:00 +0000

The fall colors are starting to fade but the cottongrass is still blooming in the bog.

From the Field: Oaken Fall Colors

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 13:59:00 +0000

We're at fall color peak and it looks like this year the oaks will peak very close to the maples giving us a gorgeous but brief fall color season. Last year the oaks and maples peaked two weeks apart.

~Kirk

Woodcock on the Game Camera

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 22:00:00 +0000

This past summer I set up a game trail camera with my summer camp kids to see what comes across our bog boardwalk at night. I expected a deer, raccoon, a cat or a squirrel but woodcock? The kids were pretty excited to see this series of photos on the camera.

It looks like two individuals and one is certainly chasing the other. Click each photo for a larger version.

If you want to see what lurks around when you're not around you'll need a game trail camera. Lately I've been very happy with the Primos Truth Cam 35 Camera.

From the Field: Hello Mr. Sedge Wren

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:16:00 +0000

A Sedge Wren teed up nicely for me while I was teaching my photography camp this week.

~Kirk

From the Field: Sundew flowers are about to bloom

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 19:00:00 +0000

I headed down to the bog this morning with my photography camp and we got about 20 minutes of photo taking before the second wave of rain came in. I found these delicate sundew flowers just about to open up.

From the Field: Huge Hermit Flower Beetle

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:49:00 +0000

Yesterday this hermit flower beetle, Osmoderma eremicola, showed up at work. That's a large beetle!

Monday Phenology: June 25, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 04:02:00 +0000

This is an abridged transcript of the Monday Phenology podcast. If you are reading via email you can click here to listen. As an added bonus, yeah, I sing on this one.

The sun rose this morning at 5:27 AM and set again at 9:04 PM. We got 15 hours, 36 minutes and 14 seconds of sunlight today. Last Wednesday was the solstice and we got 15 hours, 37 minutes and 04 seconds of daylight. So, bad news sun lovers, it is all downhill from here. We've already lost almost a minute of sunlight.

Your Week in Review:

Monday it was hot and muggy. Blue flag Iris was in bloom and there were berries on the Jack in the pulpit. Speaking of flowers, Swamp candles were also in full bloom. Widow skimmer dragonflies were at their peak.

Tuesday I didn't get a lot of sleep. The weather alarm radio went off at 3:30 in the morning with a thunderstorm watch. Since we could already hear thunder and see lightening, it was rather predictible that it turned into a warning just a little while later. The alarm went off again for that. Then it went off again, and again, and again. It seemed like about every half hour between 3:30 and 6:00. I was ready to throw the damn thing out the window. "Seek shelter from damaging winds." Well I don't hang out out outside with my weather alarm so I have that one covered. I really wish there was a way to fine tune what sort of alarms go off when. For example, don't go off between midnight and 5:00 am for thunderstorms. I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to unplug it at this point and that goes counter to the idea of having people have one. If you annoy them enough the public will ignore the warnings and then not have the radio on when a tornado arrives. This is especially true for watches. I don't want to be woken up multiple times in the middle of the night for a thunderstorm WATCH. Now that being said it sounds like the storm ended up being a little nasty. There were 72,000 people without power in the east metro. Still, I think we need to find a way to refine the warning system or people will start to ignore it. People will only be woken up by so many watches before they unplug the radio and throw it away. I'd at least like the option to have silent watches activated on a radio but that doesn't seem to be an option. Large counties also need to be broken into more SAME codes. Some of the largest already are. These are the codes that activate the radios if the watch/warning are for your area. The forecasts coming across the warning radio give pretty specific areas for the warnings. They are getting good at granular detail that is smaller than the size of some of the counties. For example, Washington county only has one SAME code. It makes no sense to wake people up at 3:00 AM in Forest Lake when there is a thunderstorm down in Cottage Grove which, while technically in the same county and SAME code is actually 40 miles away. I applaud the NOAA staff for trying to keep people safe and of course they need to err on the side of caution, my point is that they need better tools and systems or people will start to ignore the warnings.

Wednesday I went to Arcola Mills and rode on a pontoon boat with Bob Downs of the National Park Service. I saw a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Bald Eagle, Tree Swallow, Great Egret, Northern Rough-winged Swallow while on the river. Bottle Brush grass Elymus hystrix has seeds but they are not quite dry yet. It was a great way to spend the summer solstice. Our director found blooming lily-leaved twayblade orchids on the property. I was surprised to learn that our observation hive swarmed. We knew it was likely to happen. It was getting crowded and several new queen cells had been created. We tried to stop them from swarming last week by removing the frames with the queen cells and taking half of the bees along with them to create a new hive off the property. We made sure the queen stayed behind. It didn't work. They swarmed anyhow. The queen left to create a new hive somewhere in the wild and she took most of the bees with her. About one frame's worth of bees were left behind. They have created a new queen cell and once she emerges they will start to re-build our observation colony. It has been a very interesting process.

Thursday I got to spend part of the morning catching dragonflies with the Master Naturalist class we're teaching at work. I caught a Green Darner, Dot-tailed Whiteface, Racket-tailed Emerald, Eastern Pondhawk, Calico Pennant, Halloween Pennant and Widow Skimmer dragonflies.

Friday the hawk weed was starting to bloom and the deer flies were pretty horrible. It might not have seemed as bad if I had been with other people but I took a quick solo hike when I arrived at work a little early. The female deer fly needs a blood meal from a vertebrate in order to produce eggs. I had females chasing me though the woods. Normally I'm not opposed to that sort of situation but bloodthirsty females not so good.

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early in my yard in a tent. All things considered if I was that close to my bed I would rather be in bed. For me, camping isn't about the joy of sleeping on the ground, it is about getting to explore new fantastic places. Sleeping on the ground is a price you pay. Since my yard isn't that exotic of a location, sleeping on the hard ground was simply for my son's benefit. He had a blast. At 6:00 in the morning though the first drops of rain started to fall. With no rain fly on to increase air circulation, we felt the drops coming right into the tent. We all scrambled. My wife and son piled all pillows and blankets into opened sleeping bag while I went out and pulled the stakes out of the tent. I popped the poles out and had everything disassembled within one minute. We quickly made our way inside, well prepared for the oncoming downpour. Only, it never came. The rain stopped the second we came inside. We all crashed and slept a little longer.

Sunday I noted that the hollyhocks are blooming really well. There's also been an increase in paper wasp activity. There must have been a hatch of larva.

The week ahead:

Don't count on seeing much change to daylight next week. We're only losing about 20 to 30 seconds per day at this point. Here's the weird part. Because of a lag in how the solstice actually works the date of the latest sunset is actually today, Monday, five days after the solstice. The sun sets at 9:03 for the remainder of the month.

Monday Phenology: June 18, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 03:05:00 +0000

This is an abridged transcript of the Monday Phenology podcast. If you are reading via email you can click here to listen.

I'm back! That was a longer break than expected. Life's too short to spend all my time on a computer.

Monday I saw a Blanding's turtle on the side of the road on the way to work. My assumption was that this is a female on her way to lay eggs. I found a female painted turtle on the move over land on Friday. My morning commute also revealed a female pheasant with a bunch of little chicks. They were patiently waiting to cross the road. Speaking of baby birds, I haven't seen them personally yet but word has it that our resident Trumpter Swans have raised two cygnets down at the lake. Will they survive or will the eagles eat them for lunch? Time will tell on that one. A line of thunderstorms came though the metro late night and dropped half and inch of rain on St. Paul. Out at the nature center I was shocked to see downed trees and leaves littering the ground. Things must have been more intense out there. A lot of our storms so far this year have been tight lines of storms and damage seems to be very spotty.

Wednesday my big phenology sighting was actually the lack of something. The showy lady slipper orchids are done blooming.

Thursday I headed into work, barely awake after only two hours of sleep the night before. I taught a short lesson on geologic history. It started to rain just as I finished up my and I brought the group inside. I then drove home in the rain and tried my best to sleep all day. That sleep was interrupted somewhat by the sound of quarter sized hail hitting our roof. Luckily it didn't get any bigger. We ended up with almost an inch of rain in St. Paul but that pails in comparison to the Cannon Falls area where they got enormous amounts of rain. A couple of sites reported over 8 inches and Stanton, MN had over 10 inches of rain!

Friday the Rose Pogonia orchids were in bloom in the bog at the nature center where I work. It looks like this will be a good year for them. I also saw a good deal of the carnivorous sundew plants. They are not flowering right now but their sticky "dew" covered leaves are out waiting to catch insects. The sundew won't flower until mid-july.

Saturday I went to the Twins game with my dad for some father's day fun. The Twins lost but in-between at bats and innings it was interesting to note some of the wildlife at the game. There were lots of Green Darner dragonflies but they were joined by the first Twelve-spotted Skimmers I've seen this year. Many of the flying insects were being eaten by the resident cliff swallows. Kirby the Kestrel was a no-show but a Turkey Vulture did fly low over the stadium before the storm front blew past. The wind picked up by the end of the game bringing some relief from the heat but no amount of wind could encourage the Twins balls to fly anywhere near where they needed to be for the twins to score.

Sunday I spent most of the day indoors taking a bonsai course at Como Conservatory with the Minnesota Bonsai Society. While on lunch break it started to rain and I saw a female mallard duck standing on the edge of the reflecting pool in front of the visitor's center. It looked like she was standing on top of something but I couldn't make out what it was. One she moved a little it beame clear it was one of her chicks. It was the only chick I could see. It looked like she was trying to shelter it from the rain. A minute later the duckling jumped into the water and began to swim of. The mother looked agitated and I looked up to see a Red-tailed Hawk flying very low over the area. I'm not sure if her initial behavior was to keep the duckling out of the rain, which seems kind of odd for a duck, or because she knew the hawk was in the area. There was a little more rain during the day and then more in the early evening when I went to Boom Island for a father's day boat ride. The skies cleared just in time for our ride. We went up to the Xcel Energy plant and got a pretty good look at the Great Blue Heron rookery. This is the new nesting location for the birds displaced from Coon Rapids Dam after the tornado destroyed the rookery.

The Week Ahead:
Watch for Blue-flag Iris blooming around lakes. If you happen to see any Yellow-flag Iris, enjoy the beauty of this plant and then destroy it. It is a horribly invasive species in the state.

Bald Eagle Vs. Ring-necked Pheasant (video)

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 22 May 2012 22:30:00 +0000

What do you do when someone brings you a dead pheasant that hit their window? Put it in the prairie with a motion activated camera on it so you can see what shows up for a snack. None of us expected a Bald Eagle to come and take the entire thing at once!

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Monday Phenology: May 21, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:44:00 +0000

This is a transcript of the Monday Phenology podcast. If you are reading via email you can click here to listen.

The sun rose at an amazing 5:37 am. It is almost hard to imagine that back in the dead of winter the sun didn't rise until 7:51 am. Tonight the sun set at 8:42 PM giving us 15 hours 5 minutes and 17 seconds of sunlight.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday reached 85 degrees which was the hottest day yet for 2012. Why on earth did I wear jeans? I saw my first Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Indigo Bunting and a great looking first spring male Orchard Oriole.

Tuesday, dragonflies were still emerging in great numbers. Mosquitoes too. While hiking in the woods I found I was swatting them away for the first time this year. It was another beautiful sunny day.

Wednesday the trillium were blooming in the forest which meant they were eaten moments later by giant forest rats a.k.a. White-tailed Deer.

Thursday was a good day for bird banding at the nature center with all kinds of warblers. There were Nashville Warblers, Tennessee Warblers, Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats and even Northern Parula.

Friday morning my co-worker Paul and I took the morning off and went up to Falls Creek SNA for some birding with Paul's wife Leslie. The three of us birded like mad for a few hours, got some good species but not the one I was really hoping for. I wanted to see a Cerulean Warbler which I've never seen but alas we didn't even hear one. They have been spotted there this spring and many other springs as well. The two species that are close to a sure thing there, Acadian Flycatcher and Louisiana Waterthrush, did not disappoint. We spent 45 minutes trying to get a view of a calling male Northern Parula. We could tell exactly what tree it was but the little guy was a master at hiding. I finally saw the bird briefly but it moved before the others could get on it. We had to leave. It wasn't a lifer for anyone but would have been nice if we'd had time for everyone to get a look. On a side note, there was poison ivy in spades and it was at times challenging to watch the tree tops and the ground at the same time. Exercise all due caution at this site.

Saturday I got a lifer Bay-breasted Warbler. It involved a bit of sprinting. My co-worker Paul spotted it in a tree above our bird banding station and I was a tenth of a mile away on the other side of a bog. He told me about it over the walkie talkie and I set of running. I got there just in time to see it before it flew off. I had to cancel an afternoon canoe program due to high winds. A thunderstorm whipped up by dinner time and we got a downpour of rain. It wasn't long lasting but we got .7 inches of rain. The bulk of that seemed to come in just a few minutes.

Sunday morning things got colder and my Bonsai in the garden were very happy for it. The sweltering heat of the last few days had been taking their toll.

The week ahead:

Dragonflies emerge in waves over the course of the summer. Watch for Chalk-fronted Corporal dragonflies emerging early this week. They have a distinct white shoulders and white upper tail. Their faces or "fronts" are also white but this is often harder to see.

Monday Phenology: May 14, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:59:00 +0000

This is a transcript of the Monday Phenology podcast. If you are reading via email you can click here to listen.

The sun came up this morning at 5:44 AM and set at 8:35 PM. It was an incredibly beautiful day, all 14 hours, 50 minutes and 20 seconds of it. We're still gaining sunlight but slowing down to only about 2 minutes a day.

Here's Nature's Week in Review:

Monday I saw black cherry blooming and noted that Black-and-white Warblers were still around. I saw the a Black-and-white Warbler while on a walking brainstorming meeting at work. I didn't see than many other birds but there was a fantastic White-crowned Sparrow that teed up right in front of me. I've seen them multiple times in Arizona but this was my first time seeing one in MN so that goes on the state list as well as the year list. I haven't seen them yet but Orchard Orioles and Canada Warblers have both been reported in the area.

Tuesday I had the day off from work and I took full advantage of the birding opportunity. I started my day at Gray Cloud Dunes SNA in Cottage Grove. I had been there once before and wasn't that impressed. The previous visit I had entered from the north entrance but this time I came in from he southern entrance and had a better sense of the lay of the land before I came in. I was very pleasantly surprised by this site and will go back for sure. It was wonderful. I was there for two and a half hours before the rain came in. By that time I had tallied fourth-one species of birds. Not a bad morning. There were Grasshopper Sparrows everywhere, a Lark Sparrow, many Brown Thrashers, a Yellow-throated Vireo and a Blue-headed Vireo, and dozens of other species. I saw my first of the year Eastern Kingbird, Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Gray Catbirds, Magnolia Warbler, and Vesper Sparrows as well. I'm sure if I had stuck around longer I would have seen more. I spent the afternoon dodging more rain storms and explored Pine Point Regional Park in northern Washington county. It isn't listed as a hot spot on e-bird but it perhaps should be. There is a good variety of habitat and I saw good birds. I saw 36 species of birds in a little over and hour in less than ideal weather. I was pleased to find a number of new birds for the year. There was a beautiful Chestnut-sided Warbler, a Northern Waterthrush, and and many Common Yellowthroats. I picked up a Red-breasted Nuthatch to boot. That was nice as we just don't have the pines to bring them in at work.

Wednesday Beth in the Highland Park neighborhood of St. Paul wrote in to tell me that she's seeing lots of red admiral and sulfur butterflies at her house. I've noticed an uptick in butterflies this week as well. She also reported seeing the first June Bug last week. I'll have to check out by my back porch light! Kids taking the Reptiles and Amphibians class found a blue spotted salamander in the woods.

Thursday reports were coming in of nighthawks and hummingbirds. Time to watch for both.

Friday I spent the day teaching kids about raptors at O. H. Anderson Elementary in Mahtomedi, MN. I got to bring along our resident Red-tailed Hawk and the kids were excited to see him. I've been bringing the hawk and attending the school's trail day for a decade now. I can easily say this was the nicest, warmest trail day in the history of the event.

Saturday I taught canoeing all day. I know, rough life. There were quite a few Turkey Vultures around. I could hear blue-winged warblers and yellow warblers calling around the lake as we paddled. It was a nearly ideal day. An Eastern Phoebe was nesting inside of one of the canoes on the rack and the nest had eggs. I'm thinking this might be a second nesting of the season for them. Sandhill Cranes were present on the lake and I believe they are nesting as I have seen a pair in the same secluded site multiple times. A Trumpeter Swan pair was present too and I'm really hoping this is the year they successfully nest. I think they tried last summer but we never saw any cygnets. It is possible they were eaten by bald eagles. There is an active eagle nest about 300 feet from where the swans are nesting. I saw two eaglets in the nest on Saturday. They have outgrown their gray fluff and have nice dark brown feathers. They appear to be about the size of the adults now. Saturday was a big day for dragonfly and damselfly emergence too. While pointing out a large cloud of newly emerged Spiny Baskettail dragonflies along a trail, a Green Darner dragonfly flew into the middle of the group, snatched one of the smaller dragonflies and then rather conveniently perched on a shrub branch and started to eat the other dragonfly while we watched. It was a great teachable moment.

Sunday I spent most of the day working in the garden and making multiple trips to the compost site and garden center. My best sighting of the day was while filling up on gas on Snelling Ave. I could hear chimney swifts circling overhead and soon saw them in the sky. I looked around for a suitable chimney and spotted one across the street. While I watched, two of the swifts flew over then chimney, tucked in their wings and dove in. It was very cool to see. I'm going to be sure to report the site of the chimney to Audubon Minnesota as they conduct surveys of existing roosting sites and even talk to owners to make sure we maintain nesting habitat. It is strange to think of brick chimneys as habitat but that's the case and sadly the habitat of chimney swifts is disappearing.

The week ahead:
Look for Eastern Wood Pewees, Cerulean Warblers, Red-eyed Vireo and Indigo Buntings to return this week. Next Saturday we will cross over into 15 hours of daylight.

Monday Phenology: May 7, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:26:00 +0000

This is a transcript of the Monday Phenology podcast. If you are reading via email you can click here to listen.

The sun came up this morning at 5:53 AM and set again at 8:26 PM. The sun is now coming up in the 5:00 hour and we'll stay here until the solstice. The earliest sunrise in the twin cities is 5:25 am so not much further to go. Today was 14 hours, 33 minutes and 25 seconds long and we're still gaining 2 and a half minutes per day.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday morning there was 0.1 inches of rain in the rain gauge. Blue-grey gnatcatchers and Clay-colored Sparrows showed up at work in the morning but I managed to miss both. On the way home I heard a Sora but didn't manage to see it in the little time I had. A Black Bear showed up at work and tore into our seed storage area, ripping open a locked garbage can. There are photos on the website.

Tuesday I saw the Blue-grey Gnatcatchers when I arrived at work and it only took a quick walk to the prairie to spot the Clay-colored Sparrows as well. Winds steadily picked up throughout the day.

By Wednesday morning we had .83 inches of rain. It got into the 80s by the afternoon. We had many new first of the year birds at work. Brown Thrasher, Blue-winged warbler, Northern Waterthrush, Western Palm Warbler. Of those, I only personally saw the Palm Warbler. Our cameras revealed the bear came back Tuesday night. We captured it on video this time. Sunrise was at 6:00 am on Wednesday which was the last sunrise in the 6:00 hour. The sun won't rise this late again until August 2.

Thursday was a great day for birds. I stepped out for a short lunchtime hike and was rewarded by Nashville Warbers, a Baltimore Oriole, Black-and-white Warber, Blue-winged Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Add to that a Rose-breasted Grosbeak I saw out the window from my desk. At the end of the day I also saw a Yellow Warbler, Least Flycatcher and an Eastern Towhee. That was eight new species for the year in one day! American Toads were hitting their full stride today and singing like mad. It sounded great.

Friday morning there was .77 inches of rain in the rain gauge from all the rain we had on Thursday. I went out on a hike to help the bird banders Friday morning and I picked up a number of new birds for the year. Warbling Vireo, Tennessee Warbler, Brown Thrasher, American Redstart. I also heard Wood Thrush and Great Crested Flycatcher. The black and white warblers and ruby-crowned kinglets were making themselves seen too.

Saturday morning we had .3 inches of rain in the gauge. When the rain came down Friday night it was heavy but didn't last long. During the day Saturday, I was at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis for the annual Great Strides walk to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. My focus was on family so I didn't notice many birds aside from a loon, some coots and a mallard. The mallard had ducklings which reminds me I saw the first goslings of the year earlier this week.

Sunday morning we had 1.14 inches of rain in the gauge. Everything else was a wet blur.

The week ahead:
This next week will be all about warblers. Watch for Canada Warblers, Wilson's Warblers, Northern Parula, etc. I think we'll have all of the warblers by the end of the week. This will also be a good week to look for mushrooms what with all the rain. If you're into fungus get out there and explore.

A bear raid at the seed stash

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:00:00 +0000

We had an interesting visitor to the nature center this week. On Monday night a Black Bear decided to swing by. Tuesday morning we found the feeder pole outside the preschool room completely flattened.

Preschool feeder pole flattened

About 10 feet down the sidewalk is our back staircase. We store the bird seed under the stairs in custom designed garbage cans with locking tops. Something had chewed on the large stair beam.

Chewing on the stairs post.

More than that though, something had simply walked though the decorative lattice work. We were clearly dealing with a bear.

New bear entrance.

The most impressive thing was still under the stairs. The bear had opened the top of the trash can like it was made of paper.

Nothing here to stop a bear.

Tuesday night we set out a motion activated camera and sure enough the bear came back. This adult bear likely weighs 300 pounds.

The bear came back for more Tuesday night.

You can see the bear behind the lattice work.

We completely removed all seed from the area as we didn't want to habituate the bear to coming to the nature center for food. We set up the motion activated camera again on Wednesday night and set it to video. Here's what we captured. Be sure to make the video full screen as it is nighttime and a little dark.

Hopefully with no more food around he will stop coming. They sure are impressive animals.

~Kirk

Monday Phenology: April 30, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 01 May 2012 03:16:00 +0000

The sun rose this morning at 6:56 AM and set again at 7:39 PM. That should give us a lot of nice warm sun but cold winds seemed to dominate the week at least from where I was standing. Today we got 12 hours, 42 minutes and 28 seconds of sunlight. We're still gaining three minutes of daylight each day.

Here's Nature's Week in Review

Monday I went down to Lebanon Hills Regional Park for the Birds and Beers annual Woodcock Tailgate. We got nice views of the sky dance. The park is a pretty easy place to see them. They call and fly from the high hill to the north-east of the visitor center parking lots.

Tuesday it got real nice and warm. Up to the low 70s. I moved the lawn in the evening and it was overdue. Rabbits looked to be setting up shop in the grass. We had to open our windows at night to let in some cool air. Forecast called for a storm later but it was unsleepably hot in the house.

Wednesday morning at 3:30 am my wife and I were both awoken when the storm hit. The winds were very strong as the front rolled though and we had to get up and close all the windows. Rain gauge didn't show a lot of rain, about .16 inches. It got up to 73° and that was the last 70° day for the week. Incidentally, we finally crossed into 14 hours of daylight on Wednesday. We'll cross into 15 hours on May 19th. We don't make it to 16 hours. The most we get in the Twin Cities is a little more than 15 and a half hours at the solstice.

Thursday morning we installed bees in our new observation hive at work. The fact that it was so cold out kept them nice and calm. I'm curious to watch them and learn more as they are fascinating. The hive is inside the building and the bees have to go though a twisting tunnel to get outside. It took them a little time but they finally figured it out.

Friday morning I took the day off and tried to find some birds. I was woefully unsuccessful. I started at the Old Cedar Ave Bridge. Now to be fair, I did see a good number of birds. I saw Wilson's Snipe, both yellowlegs, myrtle warblers, wood ducks, teal, etc. What I didn't see or even hear was a Sora which was what I had gone to look for. I didn't see a Virginia Rail either. I see on ebird other people saw them, my timing must just be rotten. It was damn cold that morning too. I had my winter had on but I was wishing I had gloves. Maybe the birds were semi-frozen. I headed to another site after that where I had a line on some Merlins. I heard one calling briefly but it flew off before I could locate the bird. I didn't see it fly off, I just heard the call fading into the distance. So, from a target species perspective the day was a bust.

Saturday it rained and I ended up with .23 inches of rain in the gauge. I rested up for my big morning on Sunday. The sun rose at 7:00 am Saturday which was the last day of the sun rising in the 7 o'clock hour this spring.

Sunday I woke up at 4:45 in the morning and headed down to the Tiffany State Wildlife Area in Wisconsin. I was there for the Birding by Mini-Train event. There were around 60 other birders. It ended up being a nice day. I added three birds to my year list but overall I was a little disappointed in the total number of birds. I saw 38 birds, I think the group total was more like 41. Apparently last year they say 76 species. That's no small difference. We didn't see a single warbler nor a single shore bird. I think the trip was scheduled too early in the spring for maximum species.

What to look for next week:
Did I say Chimney Swifts would show up last week? Hmm, let's try that again. Chimney Swifts will show up this week. Also keep your eyes open for the first Blue-grey Gnatcatchers and Clay-colored Sparrows. On the insect front I expect to see a few swallowtail butterflies this week. If you see any of these things or something else interesting I'd love to hear about it so be sure to leave a comment.