Twin Cities Naturalist

Bird #43 for the year: Horned Lark

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:34:00 +0000

I recently received a new Canon 60D and I've been itching to try it out. I had my chance on the way home yesterday when I spotted my first Horned Lark of the year. I thought I saw one for a second on Tuesday but couldn't stop. Wednesday I had the road all to myself so I pulled over and shot these quick photos.

This first one is just the uncropped photo from my car window. I'm shooting across the road with a 135mm lens.

When cropped in you can see the Horned Lark on the roadside. He doesn't have his "horns" up.

This final photo was my best of them. I was really impressed with this camera and lens. This is a severely cropped in photo with that same 135mm lens. I'm going to be ordering an image stabilized 100-400mm lens so I can't wait to see what that can do!

~Kirk

Monday Phenology: February 20, 1920

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Monday will be a big day for the sun. The sun will rise at 7:06 and set giving us 5:47 PM giving us 10 hours 40 minutes and 35 seconds of sunlight. We're not quite at 11 hours yet but as of Monday we'll be gaining three minutes of sunlight per day.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday a light snow began to fall in the afternoon. It was so light I joked that it was hardly there. I was surprised when snowplows began to run down my street by the evening. They were likely mostly out to put down sand and salt though we did get a little accumulation. At my house it appeared to be about half an inch.

Tuesday was a cold valentine's day. On the way home I spotted a flock of birds crossing the road. As I approached I could see they were all landing in a very large bare tree a few hundred feet off the road. I pulled over to watch as more and more birds flew into the tree. I pulled out my binoculars and could see they were American Robins. It was hard to get an exact count but I would put the numbers at slightly more than 100 birds. It was an impressive sight.

Wednesday sunny till noon then overcast and then snow. First a light few flakes then it really came down. In the morning I had to go outside to manually reposition our web cam we have on a bird feeder. During the night, raccoons had used it as a launching off point to raid the feeder. The camera was tipped away from the feeder and there were muddy footprints all over the lens and housing.

Thursday the first American Robins appeared on site in the morning. I would not be surprised of overwintering birds had been on site earlier in the year and we just missed them. Based on the 100+ I saw just a few miles away on Tuesday it would be very possible. Overall, Thursday was a Beautiful day with a high of 36°. The sun made it feel warmer and a quick look out the window at the wet sidewalks made it clear that we lost snow pack. There were reports online of a hermit thrush. There have been many interesting reports of lone birds this winter but it is unclear of these are migrants or birds that have stuck around during a mild winter. Birds that are sticking around are likely heading further afield than their usual winter haunts as the temps rise and there are other feeding opportunities. This movement probably causes an increase in sightings. For the second day in a row I had to reposition the web cam in the morning because of raccoons. They are out on these warm evenings as they look for food. Hopefully I've raccoon proofed the camera this time.

Friday I wasn't sure what to make when my co-worker Julie told me about her morning sighting of a Scarlet Tanager while driving to work. She got a nice look and watched it fly right in front of her car as she drove down the road. She watched it the entire time it moved from one side of the road until it disappeared on the other side. It was bright red with black wings. She went though all possibilities of what else it could be but couldn't think of anything. The only other red bird around would be the Northern Cardinal but they don't have black wings. Julie has seen Scarlet Tanagers on site many times and swears by her identification even though she finds it incredible herself. According to e-bird the state record earliest Scarlet Tanager was reported by Michael Huber on May 2, 1998 at Hyland Lake Park Reserve. This would be over two months earlier than the state record.There is, of course, the possibility that this is a bird that overwintered. The latest reported Scarlet Tanager in the state was November 10th back in 1996 but in 1987 there was a Summer Tanager reported at Carlos Avery WMA as late as December 5. If a tanager can survive well into December in Minnesota it is conceivable with the warm winter we've had that a bird could just stick it out. Do I think that's really what happened? I'm not so sure. I think there's a good chance she saw a white-winged crossbill. I checked on snow at the end of the day and there was virtually no snow anywhere but on north facing slopes in the woods.

Saturday I headed out of town for a valentine's day getaway and other than the fact that it was hot this weekend, I have nothing else to report.

What to watch for:

We'll come close to an 11 hour day but won't quite get there until next Monday. According to my records I saw Horned Larks, those bringers of spring, on February 22 last year. The 22nd is next Wednesday. Keep your eyes open along rural roadsides. There have already been reports of Horned Larks just south of the Twin Cities.

Today's bird photos from the feeder cam

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:26:00 +0000

Here's some fun shots from the feeder cam we have set up at work. All of these shots are from today. Be sure to click on them for better large versions.

First up is a white-breasted nuthatch coming in for a landing just moments after I filled the feeder.

Next is this Red-bellied Woodpecker stopping for a snack. If you look closely, the red arrow is pointing at a bird band on her leg.

You can clearly tell the woodpecker is a female based on the next shot. The red on the head does not extend all the way to the front. On a male there would not be a gray patch of feathers up front. I also like this shot as you can compare the size of the large woodpecker to the tiny chickadee on the next perch. the camera actually captured the chickadee just as it landed. If you click on the photo to view the full size image you can make out the ghostly shape of the birds wings flapping in the air.

Up next we have this shot of a male downy woodpecker and an American Goldfinch.

A little while later the female downy woodpecker also showed up at the feeders. You can see in the photo below she lacks the red on the back of the head.

This next shot of a black-capped chickadee is my favorite from the day. You can probably guess why.

This shot is a little hard to see because the bird is in the shadow but you can clearly see this male American Goldfinch is getting his yellow breeding feathers (especially in the throat), a sure sign of spring.

This last photo shows an empty feeder but it is important. This was taken at a little before 3:00 in the afternoon. Note the almost total lack of snow on the ground. Compare that to the first few shots above. The snow really melted quickly after lunch.

~Kirk

Monday Phenology: February 13, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:26:00 +0000

The sun came up this morning at 7:17 AM. That's still an hour after I wake up so not a lot of joy there. We've pushed sunset back to 5:37 PM though. That gives us 10 hours, 19 minutes and 54 seconds of sunlight but who's counting right?

Here's Nature's week in Review:

Monday The cardinals singing and it was pretty nice out. It was the last warm day of the week.

Tuesday was much colder but sunny. A lone European Starling was singing a cheerful song from the top of the trees at my son's daycare in the morning. He was there every pretty much every morning for the rest of the week as well. They may be exotic species but it was nice to hear him sing.

Wednesday morning I was about to leave work when my co-worker Paul saw a bird fly past the windows behind me. We grabbed binoculars off our desks and were delighted to watch a Barred Owl perch up about one hundred feet away across a clearing. We had a beautiful view as it searched for food. The owl was my 42nd bird species for the year in Minnesota. I haven't gone chasing after gulls and such this winter so that number could be higher if I was really trying. Wednesday didn't seem nearly as cold as they were predicting but another factor is that the sun's intensity feels warmer this far from the solstice so even when the temperature is low a bright sun can feel warm.

Thursday we dipped down into colder temperatures but the bright sun made it feel not so bad. This has just been a really mild winter. We've only had three sub-zero nighttime temperatures for the entire winter which is kind of a joke. Julie in Mahtomedi tells me she has a saw-whet owl calling at night near her house. I was actually going to tell people to listen for them next week as this is when they start to call.

Friday was the coldest day of the week and it was overcast as well which meant we didn't have direct sun warming us up. In the morning there was delicate tiny snowflakes occasionally falling but they were easy to miss. It was easiest to notice when they accumulated on rooftops and then blew off in the wind.

Saturday I helped celebrate Darwin Day at the Science Museum of Minnesota. I wasn't able to get outside but it was fun to talk with folks about what a professional naturalist does and answer their natural history questions. A migraine headache and weekend long visit from the in-laws meant I didn't get out to observe any phenology on the weekend.

The week ahead:
The national weather service is predicting a dusting of snow for the twin cities today but that's it for the week. Those further south in Minnesota may get a couple of inches at the most over the next few days. Weather wise it will be partly cloudy all week. Tuesday though Thursday it should be just above freezing with 5-10 mile per hour winds so I expect that we'll see at least a little more melting of what little snow we have. Male American Goldfinches should have some yellow feathers by now. Take a look with binoculars when they visit your feeders. This Thursday one year ago we hit a high of 52°, even with our mild winter we won't get there this year. One year ago Friday I got reports of people hearing Northern Saw-whet owls calling consistently from the woods. It was fun to hear that Julie in Mahtomedi started hearing them this year at the same time. They are setting up territory now. Head out to listen for them at night. They sound a bit like the beeping of a truck backing up, only with hoots.

Demonstration of Raven's Intelligence

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:16:00 +0000

Here's a clip from National Geographic that demonstrates Raven's ability to learn. The public tends to dismiss crows and ravens simply because they are not colorful like parrots. Don't mistake their dull colors for dull brains. Corvids, a group that includes ravens, crows, magpies, jays and others are some of the most intelligent animals on earth. Many of them can recognize themselves in mirrors, imitate speech, solve problems, and learn.

Monday Phenology: February 6, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:47:00 +0000

Good evening! Jupiter is gorgeous in the sky tonight as is the moon. The sun set at 5:27 pm today which was almost exactly 10 hours after it rose at 7:27 am. Today was 2 minutes 42 seconds longer than yesterday.

Here's Nature's Week in Review:

Monday was a gorgeous day. We topped out at 44° F in the Twin Cities and the snow composition sure changed. I had tried to make a few snowballs on the weekend and the snow was so dry it wouldn't stick. The warmer weather put and end to that and it was a snowball wonderland out there.

Tuesday I heard Northern Cardinals singing in the morning. This is the second time this year. I last heard them back on January 5th. I expect their call will become more and more common in the coming weeks. Two cardinals flew across the road in front of my car as I drove to work. They really are spectacular birds. Tuesday turned out to be even warmer than Monday as our faux-winter continued. I noticed the buds on maple trees were very swollen. They looked like they do in March when we tap maple trees. I was thinking the sap might be running and sure enough out in the sugar bush the sap was running out of some of the trees. Incredible. A neighbor of the nature center called to tell me about a flock of bluebirds at her house. There were about fifteen of them drinking and bathing in melting snow from a pole barn roof. I'm thinking this may be a winter flock that has just stuck around the St. Croix River. They were seen a couple more times during the week.

Wednesday a report came across the listservs of a lone Red-winged Blackbird on the shore of Lake Harriet in Minneapolis. It was apparently just outside of the Roberts Bird Sanctuary. Is this a lone errant bird or a phenological sign of spring. Hard to say.

Thursday was groundhog's day and we started off foggy. That groundhog who shall not be named out east saw his shadow and was scared back inside meaning six more weeks of winter for those poor easterners. We midwesterners don't believe such nonsense. The stuffed groundhog I took outside on in the morning did not see his shadow and thus winter will soon be over.

Friday was an oddly quiet morning. I felt like the whole world was moving just a little slower and a little quieter. Maybe it was just the fact that we were on day two of thick fog. I kept expecting the fog to burn off Thursday but it never did. When I woke up on Friday it was still there. Chickadees were singing in the morning and it seemed to have a new vigor. Whereas it seemed tentative in the past month or so, Friday morning they were getting serious about territory and mating. There were several calling back and forth. The warm weather also stirred up a queen paper wasp and she showed up in our kitchen at work. All wasps but the queen die in the fall so any wasp you see this time of year is a queen. MSP airport reported 54 hours straight of fog on Friday.

Saturday morning was host to one of the most wonderful sights of the winter. Hoar frost had formed on nearly every exposed surface over night and it was striking in the sun. I went to an event with a friend in the morning and so I was inside for a few hours. When I came back out I expected the frost to all be gone but instead it had grown even more impressive! It was a truly spectacular sight and I'm kicking myself for not getting out with a camera. At least one eagle was present at the Keller Lake nest site as I drove home.

The Week Ahead:
Things are starting out nice on Monday but then we head back into the cold as temps dip down into the teens and 20s. There's only a crust of snow on the ground and southern exposed hillsides are even showing some brown. I don't think the mass of cold air that pushes in this week is going to be able to take hold for long. We could be coming back up to at least the mid 30s by next week. Take a look at the trees this week, while we think of leaves falling in the autumn, you'll notice the white oaks still have their leaves. They keep them all winter long and drop them in the spring. Watch bald eagle nests this week as well. Many eagles are already back at their nests sprucing them up for the spring. This week we should hear a large increase in territorial woodpecker drumming as they get serious about territories. My notes even show I found wood shavings on the snow this same week last year which could have been a sign of some very early woodpecker nest building.

Official 2012 Twin Cities Groundhog Report

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:29:00 +0000

The 2012 Report:

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

At 8:00 this morning, it was 30 °F and a thick fog blanketed the land. In some spots there was less than a quarter mile visibility. As all the real groundhogs are still hibernating in Minnesota, our stand-in groundhog Stuffed Stanley is the official groundhog of record.

We took Stanley outside and not surprisingly on this foggy morning, he did not cast a shadow.

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 not see his shadow in the Twin Cities so winter will soon be over.

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. 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 year is of course very different. Cold Canadian air has had trouble pushing into Minnesota at all. It should be clear this afternoon and so in theory a groundhog would see his shadow but I don't think anyone is seriously concerned we might get six more weeks of winter. We're hard pressed to say we've had winter at all this year.

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

Monday Phenology: January 30, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:35:00 +0000

Feel that sun! The sun rose to a beautiful day this morning at 7:35 AM and set at 5:17 PM. The day was 9 hours, 41 minutes and 51 seconds long. We're gaining 2 minutes, 29 seconds per day.

Perhaps more important than the length of daylight is the angle of the noon sun. At its highest point, the sun rises to a height of 27.4°. Compare that to the solstice when it was 21.6°. That's only a 6° difference but you can feel it. That's the same angle of sun as on November 12th. The angle will change quickly now. By the end of February we'll be at 37.1°.

With my cold this week, I'm holding off on the podcast so you'll have to actually read this week's phenology.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday was a beautiful snowy day and it finally started to look like winter. It wasn't a big snow, perhaps three inches at the most but it made a difference. I spent the evening at Birds and Beers hanging out with birders, meeting new people and sharing stories. An expired parking meter and an impending earache ended my evening early but it was nice to see everyone.

Tuesday the usual bird suspectes were out and so were the mammals. A fresh coat of snow is wonderful for tracking wildlife. I don't think I mentioned in the past update that I saw a least weasel last week. I've worked at the nature center for ten years and while I'd seen their tracks before, I'd never seen one in person. The cute litle guy was hiding in a wood pile. They are awesome little predators and they win my award for the cutest animal in the woods.

Wednesday I had the day off from work in preparation for Saturday's big Winter Blizzard Blast event at work. I wish I could say I was tired in the morning from staying up watching the northern lights we were predicted to see. When I recorded last week's podcast I said we had a good chance of aurora Tuesday night and the prediction was for clear skies. Alas, the clear skies didn't pan out and we were completely socked in. On the bright side, it didn't matter anyhow as the show was over by the time night fell. The CME from the sun that was to cause the aurora hit at 9:00 am CDT and the resulting geomagnetic storm had mostly subsided by the time it was dark in North America. The storm did reach a k-index of 5 which means it would have been visible in Mid-latitude states like Minnesota if it had been dark. The good news is that the sun is still very active and there are likely to be more flares and CMEs from the sun in the coming months.

While driving around on Wednesday I happened to notice the shoreview transmission towers in the distance. They are each a little over 1,400 feet tall making them some of the tallest structures in the state. They are almost twice the height of the IDS tower in downtown Minneapolis. The towers are painted in alternating bands of red and white to make them more visible. What caught my attention was that the entire upper halves of all three towers were completely white. The towers by law have to be painted with alternating red and white sections. I believe on these towers each section is 200 feet in length. The upper sections are painted so I'm assuming the all white tops were the result of some sort of frost effect caused by a differing air layer starting around 700 feet up. Very interesting to see.

Thursday I saw my first pheasant of the year. I'd heard them much earlier. This was my 41st bird species for Minnesota this year. There have been some unusual birds around town like a Townsend's Solitaire, Varied Thrush and a number of gull species but I've been content to watch for the locals.

Friday morning there was a nice sun pillar then light snow came on in the afternoon. I didn't get out much during the day but I did see the results of the winter golden eagle survey. Volunteers counting overwintering golden eagles long the Mississippi River in Southeastern MN and Western Wisconsin counted a record 125 birds!

Saturday was our Winter Blizzard Blast at work and I spent much of my time on the lake. The ice was 14 inches thick and we put an underwater video camera in the lake to show the public what fish are down there. We felt safe on 14 inches of ice but there can be a lot of variation and I know several lakes have been closed to vehicles due to thin ice. Putting your truck through the ice is an expensive lesson to learn. According to the Minnesota DNR, you need 12-15 of ice to safely hold a full size truck. 14 inches is kind of iffy in my book if my vehicle is on the line. Shoreline springs, currents and other factors can greatly reduce thickness in lakes so now's not the time to be driving on unknown ice. You only need 4 inches of ice to support a person so lakes are generally safe to walk on but still exercise caution. With the camera and sampling methods we saw lots of activity under the ice from fish to macroinvertebrates.

The week ahead:

Black bears are giving birth in their dens this week. Owls laying eggs depending on where you are, a little earlier to the south, a week or so later in the North. I haven't seen any springtails yet (snowfleas) but with the warm weather they should be out this week.

Slow Motion Sparrows Fighting Over Feeder (video)

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Anyone who's watched a bird feeder long enough will note that birds don't always take their turn at the trough. Birds can agressively defend a perch or drive other birds off. I posted this photo to my twitter stream just the other day of a Red-bellied Woodpecker chasing a Black-capped Chickadee off the feeders at work. The image was captured with our automated feeder camera.

Liset Karmen and Cees Keyer in the Netherlands captured this video of European House Sparrows fighting over perches on a feeder. Even better, they captured it on a high speed camera so we can watch the action in slow motion.

Monday Phenology: January 23, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:24:00 +0000

Our last full week of January! The sun rose this morning at 7:42 AM and set again at 5:08 PM. I'm starting to enjoy having some extra sun in the mornings. We now have 9 hours 25 minutes and 47 seconds of daylight and we're gaining a little over 2 minutes per day. While most of the time gained is at the end of the day we did start gaining light in the mornings back on January 7th. We've gained 8 minutes in the morning since the 7th so, well, you've got those 8 minutes you need in the morning now to get spectacular abs.

Your Week in Review:

Tuesday I continued to see pair flights of mallards. This is yet another positive sign that spring is coming. I started seeing this several weeks ago and mentioned it on the podcast but at the time the ducks seems to be sometimes in pairs and sometimes in groups. Now when I'm seeing them flying they seem to be almost always paired up. Pair flights are a way for the ducks to reinforce their pair bond. Think of them as duck dating.

Wednesday was cold and temps continued to drop as some of the first truly arctic air of the winter came down out of Canada. Meteorologists and weather geeks of all stripes watched the temperature inch closer and closer to zero as the clock approached midnight. If the mercury dropped to -1 before midnight, we'd tie the record for the latest in the winter sub-zero temperature reading, if it dipped below after midnight, i.e. on Thursday, we'd have a new record. Alas, the official temperature at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport hit -1 just before midnight and we tied the records of 2002. Interestingly, the 2002 temp is also a tie with 1889.

Thursday was the coldest morning of the year which is no surprise given that we dropped into the sub-zero range before midnight on Wednesday. We had our first daytime sub-zero temps of the winter which was doubly shocking. I was shocked that it took so long and then shocked by the reality of the bitter cold. We've had it easy this year. When I arrived at work it was -14° and it kept dropping from there. An hour or so later it was -17 which was the coldest reading I personally saw that day. In spite of the cold, I still heard a Black-capped Chickadee singing the spring mating song.

Friday was a beautiful snowy day.

Saturday there was a prediction of Northern Lights in the evening. They were a little delayed in arriving but that didn't really matter as it was cloudy in Minnesota anyhow. We've had bad luck seeing the aurora lately due to clouds.

The week ahead:

There was another large cornonal mass ejection (CME) from the surface of the sun on Monday??? It was also directed toward the earth. The material is expected to hit the earth on Tuesday the 24th and there is an elevated chance for aurora on Tuesday night. They may even be visible from Mid-latitude states such as Minnesota. The evening sky forecast at this point looks fairly good for clear skies on Tuesday night so we might be in luck this time around. Best estimates at this point are for up to 30% cloud cover rolling in around sunset but things will improve slightly as the evening goes on. Predictions show clear skies by 11:00 pm.

Pole Dancing Black Bear

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:50:00 +0000

I had to share this. This video was captured on a motion activated camera by the Northern Divide Bear Project.

Enjoy.

Monday Phenology: January 16,2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 03:43:00 +0000

Much like the US Post Office, Monday Phenology is closed on holidays. So, with that in mind, I present a special Tuesday edition of Monday Phenology.

The sun crept up over the horizon this morning at 7:47 AM and set again at 4:58 PM. We gained about eleven and a half minutes from last Monday so we're at 9 hours 10 minutes and 57 seconds of sunlight. Spring may be coming second by second but the deep of winter is just around the corner.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday of last week was warm and a just a prelude to Tuesday. We recorded a high of 46° but that was in the shade in the middle of the woods. I still hadn't see a Hairy Woodpecker yet in 2012 and it was starting to bug me.

Tuesday was wonderful and warm. We need days like this in the winter to help us though. There were snow craneflies flying around and a lone house fly at the windows at work. It is always cool and nothing short of incredible to see insects in the winter since they are exothermic i.e. cold blooded. The Hairy Woodpecker still eluded me. While out on a hike it felt like spring and the warm weather made it feel like warblers were just over the next hill about to come into view.

Wednesday was a sudden shock to the system after the heat wave of Tuesday. The day just got colder and colder. I took a hike with some volunteers in the afternoon. We spooked some deer but otherwise it was pretty quiet wildlife wise. We did see some coyote tracks. Still no Hairy Woodpecker.

The rest of the work week was fairly uneventful except for Friday morning. I left a planning meeting early to run out to an outreach event at a school and sure enough I heard loud tapping on a nearby tree. I looked up to see my first Hairy Woodpecker of the year. This was a good sign of things to come for the weekend.

Saturday began a long holiday weekend and I spent the entire day birding. I woke up a little after 4:00 am and headed out to meet friends and head up to Sax-Zim Bog for some northern birding. We arrived on the outskirts of the bog area just as the sun rose. We spent the entire day driving to various sites looking for our target species. I had never made it up there so I was able to add a few "lifers" to my bird list. I saw my first ever Boreal Chickadee, Black-Backed Woodpecker, Black-billed Magpie and Great-Grey Owl. In addition to the lifers, I we tallied up a bunch more species. Our list for the day included, Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk, Downy Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Shrike, Gray Jay, Blue Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, Black-capped Chickadee, Red-breasted Nuthatch, White-breasted Nuthatch, Pine Grosbeak, White-winged Crossbill, Common Redpoll, Pine Siskin, American Goldfinch and Evening Grosbeak. It was quite a day of birding.

The Week Ahead:

Winter will finally catch up to us, at least the cold part. There's some super cold air hanging out just north of the Canadian Border (super cold as in-35) and there's a good chance it will start to spill south later this week. We'll likely see our first sub-zero morning temperatures Thursday. Thursday will be a special brand of cold we've not felt since last winter. We're talking a high near zero. Where'd I put those snow pants?

Monday Phonology: January 9th, 2012

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:14:00 +0000

I'm getting back into the swing of things with phenology now that the holidays are over. The sun rose Monday morning at 7:50 AM and set at 4:50 PM. I work until 4:30 so I can tell you I am really excited about those 20 minutes of sunlight in the evening. It isn't a lot but it already makes a difference. The previous Monday, sunset was at 4:42 so we gained about 8 minutes at the end of the day. Here's the interesting thing, sunrise for both of the last Mondays were only one minute apart. We're definitely gaining more at the end of the day than the beginning. Just for fun let's compare to the solstice back on December 21st. On the solstice, the sun rose at 7:34 and set at 4:34 for 8 hours, 45 minutes and 58 seconds of daylight. Monday, January 9th had 8 hours, 59 minutes and 28 seconds of daylight. We've gained about 14 minutes of daylight so far and we gain it faster and faster now. We're gaining about 1 minute and 22 seconds per day now. .

Here's your week in review:

Tuesday: I started my bird list for the year. I added the usual suspects at work but a few were missing. No hairy or pileated woodpecker, though there were downy and red-bellied. No juncos, or blue jays. These things will all show up though. I saw a flock along the side of the road I assumed were American Tree Sparrows and will check tomorrow. On the way home, five beautiful Trumpeter Swans flew right over my car, very low. It was an awesome way to add them to my year list. They circled around a farm field and stirred up a large flock of birds. I had a hunch what they were but pulled over to double check. Indeed, the flock was entirely snow buntings p, a great find for my first day out.

Wednesday on the way to work I spotted my first of the year Red-tailed hawks and first of the year Starlings. I also stopped to check on the flock I'd seen feeding on the side of the road the day before and sure enough they were American Tree Sparrows. Adding those three to my list on e-bird brings me to a whopping 14 species for the year. In the afternoon I took a hike at work looking for long-eared owls. It was a bit of a long shot and we missed. We did find a flock of at least 35 cedar waxwings, some American Tree Sparrows, Black-capped Chickadees, Blue Jays, Crows and one purple finch. We also heard pheasants but did not see them. Some people list every bird they encounter, whether it be seen or heard. Personally, I don't count birds I just hear. There is value in recording these things, for example in ebird, but for me it is all about seeing birds. I'm not too worried about not seeing a pheasant this year.

Thursday I woke up and was greeted by the predawn singing of a Northern Cardinal in my neighbor's yard. It couldn't see him but it sounded beautiful.

Friday I headed down into Marine on St. Croix to pick up some lunch and some items at the St. Croix Watershed Research Station. On the way I saw some great winter birds including first of the year Common Redpolls, Bald Eagle, Pileated Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal and Dark-eyed Junco. This brought me to 25 species for the year. Not too bad considering these are just the species I have run into and haven't really put any serious effort into finding birds. The Hairy Woodpecker annoyingly eludes me.

I took the weekend off from birds and phenology and put my focus elsewhere.

The week ahead:
Things will start off with crazy heat for the winter. Temps may get into the 50s and break records. Watch for winter insects out and about with the warmth. This will be a great opportunity to see winter craneflies out and about.

Monday Phenology: Weird Mini Edition

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:52:00 +0000

I'm taking the phenology a bit easy this holiday week but there were some sightings to share. Just between you and me let's call this a Mini-Midweek-Phenology-looking-at-last-week-thing.

These are all from the week previous, not this week.

Monday I was really noticing the dark. We're so close to the solstice the days are pretty short now. The lack of snow makes it seem not as bad though, at least in my opinion.

Tuesday I saw a bald eagle fly over the nature center as I walked to the front door in the morning. After lunch, my co-worker Paul and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather to cut down some large Buckthorn seed trees. On our walk down the driveway we heard our first Black-capped Chickadee singing the spring Hey Sweetie song. An excellent early sign of spring and the solstice was still two days away.

Wednesday was a wonderful winter solstice. The sun was still below the horizon and there was a light coating of frost on the ground as I stepped outside. I was able to watch the sun rise during my long commute to work. It was a gorgeous orange globe as it rose through the trees. When I got close to work, a trio of trumpeter swans rose out of a corn field and flew across the road in front of me, heading toward the rising sun. Absolutely perfect start to the day. It turns out about a dozen swans are hanging out in a corn field near work.

Thursday I had the day off so I dropped off my son at school, swung by work to photograph th Trumpeter Swans in the corn field and then headed down to Point Douglas Park just outside of Hastings MN/Prescott WI, on the St. Croix River. There had been a report of a long-tailed duck there and I wanted to check it out. The wind coming down the river seemed bitterly cold but I've felt worse in other winters. Point Douglas Park is a popular destination for birders on new-year's day. There's usually a small group there trying to kick off their year list with a rarity. For the past few winters this has been the site of an overwintering harlequin duck. On cold winters the water just north of the park and also under the bridge to Wisconsin is some of the only open water around and all kinds of good things can be found. It is a great place to see birds but dress warmly. This year with the warmer weather it was quite challenging to find anything as the open water extends for a good distance up river from the park. Some birds were even out of range of a spotting scope. I saw hundreds and hundreds of Common Mergansers, a small flock of Canada geese and a random smattering of common goldeneyes. The goldeneyes were of particular interest as reports had it that the long-tailed duck was very loosely hanging out with them. I scanned back and forth in the cold with no sign of the duck. Before I gave up I thought I would check down by the bridge. What I saw there was disheartening. The river was open for a good distance downstream as well. There was a good chance the duck was on the other side of the road with no good safe spot to set up a scope. Before packing things in I decided to scan the water again from this other angle. Sure enough, a ghostly camouflaged bird appeared in my scope. It was the long-tailed duck and it was a lifer. I took a good look and then decided to try again from my original spot. It should have given me a much better view but alas, I could not relocate the elusive bird. Too much water, too much cold.

Friday I drove my son to school and saw something cool along highway 36. There must be open water somewhere because there is a flock of mallards that fly over the highway throughout the winter. (Incidentally, I know of at least one location with open water all year, there is a little creek behind the Mueller-Bies funeral home on Dale St. near Hwy 36. I've seen mallards there in the middle of the winter.) The mallards I saw on Friday weren't flying in a big group but rather in pairs, if the Chickadees singing at the beginning of the week was the first sign of spring, this is the second. Pair flights are an early sign of spring mating. The birds pair up with their mate and fly together as a way to strengthen the pair bond.

I'd normally tell you at this point what to watch for in the week ahead but it is already Wednesday and the week ahead is already half over. The normal podcast will resume Monday, January 2nd. Enjoy the winter!

Monday Phenology: December 19, 2011

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:49:00 +0000

We're getting pretty close to the solstice and the numbers sure show it. Sunrise today was at 7:47 AM and sunset at 4:33 PM. That's 8 hours, 46 minutes and 12 seconds of sun. Today's daylight was only 14 seconds shorter than yesterday. There's actually something really interesting hidden in those numbers. The solstice is the coming Wednesday but most people don't realize the solstice is neither the day of the latest sunrise nor the day of the earliest sunset. It is simply the shortest day. The sun set has actually already started to get later in the day. As of today, the sun is setting one full minute later than it did just a few days ago. The sun rises will continue to get later for a little over a week or so and then they too will reverse course.

Your week in review:

Last Monday I mentioned that in the week ahead people should listen for Black-capped Chickadees practicing their spring "Hey Sweetie" song. Listerner/reader Marcie dropped me a note in the comments saying she had indeed heard heard them singing down near Lake Pepin on Monday. How cool is that? Not even to the solstice yet and we have our first sign of spring. On Twitter, Rebecca sent me a message that she had heard them as well. She's over in North-eastern Wisconsin.

Wednesday on the drive home I noticed the first ice house on an area lake. I'm told it was there earlier in the week and I just missed it. It probably put up on the weekend. Wednesday it rained all day so I imagine that cemented the ice house in real well. Should be fun to get out at the end of the winter. The weather was just bizarre Wednesday. It was foggy and misty rain that just would not let up or go away. I went out to dinner that night and didn't bring a winter jacket of any kind. I just wore just a sweatshirt. How may years can I do that in the middle of December?

Thursday morning we had a very light coating of snow but nothing the sun couldn't take care of. It all seemed to be pretty much gone by the end of the day. On the drive to work I saw one lone swan flying south. Then, closer to work, I also saw a pair of swans flying. I wondered what was making them move around that morning? Was it a coincidence I saw them? There can't be that much open water around for them except on rivers. During the day there were just a few flakes but mostly it just got colder and windy by the end of the day. There were some very brief peeks at a blue sky.

Friday there were also some brilliant peeks at blue skies and sun. It was incredibly unseasonably nice out but that was just a preview of Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday was a beautiful day weather wise and that night I taught an astronomy program. The skies were clear and gorgeous. I haven't seen such clear nice skies for astronomy in a long time. Jupiter was out and we got a nice look at the cloud bands as well as the four largest moons. For an extra treat I turned the scope on the Andromeda Galaxy. At 2.5 million light years away it is the furthest object you can see with the naked eye. If you look closely in the right spot in a dark location you can just make it out even without magnification. Pretty incredible to think about how far away it is.

Sunday was insane weather wise. It was in the 40s in the twin cities but out in Montevideo they hit 61°. That's just crazy. I don't have high hopes for my snowshoe program scheduled for next week.

The week ahead:
Sun lovers rejoyce! For the last six months I've been telling you how many minutes of sunlight we've been losing. Fear not. The upward trend begins on Wednesday which is the solstice. From mid-week on we'll be seeing more and more sunlight each day. The longer we go without snow on the ground the harder it will be for winter to really take hold as well. As sunlight increases so does our heating during the day. Last winter seemed like it would never end. At least so far it looks like we could be in for a pretty short winter.

The Corprophagic Mouse

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 15:17:00 +0000

A couple of weeks back I mentioned an interesting find on one of our automated cameras. My co-worker Paul had wanted to capture photos of the raccoon using our back steps as a fecal depository. Raccoons are what we call Proud Poopers and they like to leave their waste in conspicuous spots. There were three photos on the camera that appeared blank. Here's an example.

It just looks like an empty shot of the stairs. We have the camera set to take three photos in rapid succession so there were three of these shots. We scrolled between the photos to see if something moved. Even a leaf blowing across the stairs could trip the camera. We were surprised by what we found.
Read more »

Monday Phenology: December 12, 2011

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 17:27:00 +0000

Monday morning the sun rose at 7:41 AM and it set again at 4:31 PM giving us 8 hours 49 minutes and 33 seconds of daylight. I get off work at 4:30 so that means I technically had one minute of daylight to enjoy after work. Wheee. Monday was 47 seconds shorter than Sunday.

Nature's Week in Review:

I was a little lax on the phenology for the first half of the week. Tuesday it was cool with light snow. There were beautiful delicate flakes in the air. Some of my co-workers and I spotted some smaller than one would expect Canada Geese in a spring fed pond near the St. Croix River. We got into a debate over what they were exactly. I think they were smaller than the Common Canada Goose. There were perhaps 5 of them but there were only mallards for size comparison, not other geese. This really complicated the matter. Were they really smaller than normal or just messing with our heads. They were larger than the mallards but not hugely larger and did appear to have small bills but then again, compared to the geese in our heads. When it comes to telling all of the various forms of smaller geese apart I'm not sticking my neck out. There are a lot of people who will see any goose smaller than the full size and instantly call it a cackling goose. I'm not so sure I could make an ID like that on these. I'd be willing to bet a good number of "cackling" geese people see are actually "Lesser" or "Richardson's" Canada geese though to make things confusing Richardson's and Cackling have been lumped together to make Cackling a separate species and Richardson's a sub-species of cacking. Confused? There are differences other than size but if you're viewing a flock at a distance and you go just by size are you 100% sure you can tell the difference between a 27 inch long Richardson's and a 25 inch long Cackling? How about a small Richardson's and a large Cackling that are the same size? Can you really id a 1 to 2 inch boy length difference in a goose at 50 yards? Check out this primer.

I made some general observations Wednesday and Thursday. I noticed the first Muskrat holes in the ice on area lakes this past week. They gnaw holes in the ice and then push vegetation up though the hole. You can see these muddy piles all over the place. Muskrats are active all winter and like to get on top of the ice when they can for a breather.

With the coating of snow on my yard I found many tunnels in the area of my bird feeder. I don't get to see many rodents around the yard so seeing signs of them in the winter is interesting.

English House Sparrows have set up their winter shop in my yard. My god there are thousands of them. Well, okay, maybe just over 30 but it seems like a scene from The Birds every time I walk outside.

Around the metro and state there continue to be many reports of snowy owls. I haven't seen one yet but I've done plenty of distracting driving looking for them.

Friday there were pale blue skies and cold it was cold out. I was happy to see the sun and blue but this usually means it will be colder if we don't have that warm blanket of clouds at night. There was a Lunar eclipse at moon rise. I hope you all got to see it. It was beautiful.

Saturday: I taught a birthday party program and there was lots of deer sign in the woods. Saturday was the first day we lost less than a minute of sunlight. As we approach the solstice we loose less and less each day. Today was 56 seconds shorter than yesterday. The solstice is just 9 days away. Incidentally, December 21st will be four seconds shorter than the 20th so we're getting to the point where you can't really notice a difference. Congratulations, we're already pretty much as dark as it will get.

Sunday was a beautiful warm day. This is December? The small ice dams on my roof started to melt away along with all the snow on the ground. We picked up a Charlie Brown tree, set it up in the living room and then started to do the only sane thing we could do on a warm day in December. We started painting the house. Is this some bizarre cabin fever setting in early? Stay tuned in to find out. One room done, two more to go.

This week:
Continue to watch out for Snowy Owls which should be easier to spot on the brown ground which lacks snow. Also let me know if any of you hear Chickadees singing their spring "Hey Sweetie" song this month on these warm days. This is usually the first sign of spring though can we count it if it happens before the solstice?

Working by the fire

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:22:00 +0000

The heat was out in out building this morning when I came to work. Laptop+WiFi+huge fireplace means the work goes on.

Trailcam reveals coyote, deer, beaver and even snow.

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 20:48:00 +0000

Here's a collection of recent trailcam shots. These are just the highlights. There were many more. First up is this daytime shot of a coyote from back on November 24th at 2:47 in the afternoon.

Later that night at 8:09 pm another coyote, possibly the same one, took the same trail back.

Not too surprisingly there were lots of deer on the camera. It was placed on a narrow strip of land between two lakes where wildlife is squeezed into a bottleneck. There is a whispy cloud in this photo near the deer's head (click to see it larger.) I'm really curious if this is a wisp of ground fog moving between the two lakes or fine clouds forming from the warm breath of the deer on the cold night. There was another photo with a cloud very near the ground by the camera and a deer looking into the camera.

This last photo is cool for a couple of reasons. That large wet lump on the right hand side is the back end of a beaver. The beaver is the real reason we had the camera up in the first place. This photo tells me that we had the camera too close to the beaver trail and also that they are really quick when they scamper from one lake to the other. We caught the back end of the beaver going in both directions that night. The other cool thing the camera piked up was the snow. November 26th was one of the first snows of the year and we never would have known it had we not captured photos that night. There was no trace of the snow by morning but it appears to have snowed for about an hour from 2:30 to 3:30 am.

Monday Phenology: December 5, 2011

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:47:00 +0000

Those of you listening to the podcast get to hear me refer to "the fall" as a "month" instead of a season. I must be tired. Enjoy.

Wake up people. Just because the sun rose at 7:35 AM this morning and was already set by 4:31 PM giving us only 8 hours 56 minutes and 39 seconds of sunlight is no reason to hibernate. Well maybe it is but remember these two key points if you decide to enter a state of hibernation over the next few months:

1) In some species, up to 60% of the population dies while hibernating
2) If you don't survive the process, we get all your chocolate.

Nature's Week in Review:

Monday was a nice day. This unseasonably warm fall has been nice though I know farmers are hoping for some precipitation. Long range forecasts at this point look scant for snow.

Tuesday I saw a few gulls hanging out at Har Mar mall during my morning commute. I found myself wondering when I would see the last of them. Certainly their numbers are lower already. At work we reviewed motion activated camera shots of raccoons defecating on our deck steps. Make no mistake, raccoons are what we in the business like to call "proud poopers." They drop scat as a signal and they love to do it on top of fallen logs or for some reason, the back steps to the nature center. What we found really fascinating though was that in between the shots of the raccoons were a bunch of empty photos of the steps. Why did the camera go off? Closer examination revealed a mouse coming by to eat seeds out of the raccoon scat. Lovely. I know all love coprophagy (the eating of poo) and want to see this so I'll try to post up the photos as soon as I can this week.

Wednesday, swans were flying in the morning and lakes were frozen over at work in the morning. High predicted was 38 but only got to about 36 at least out at the nature center. The ice stayed on the lakes so we're calling official "Ice On." There are still larger area lakes open though. I measured an inch of ice off the dock on Terrapin Lake.

Thursday I woke up to very light snow on the ground. So cool to see all the animal tracks again after so many months. You forget how active all the animals are at night. I saw a gull fly over Hwy 36 so they are still around. In all fairness, some will stick around for a long time after all the others have left.

Friday I took the day off from work and headed out of town with my wife and son for two days of waterslides in brainerd, Minnesota. I would have recorded some phenology but I was too busy giggling with delight as I sped though dark tunnels on waves, stood under thunderous crashing torrents of water and soaked in the hot tub. Phenology? What phenology?

Saturday you surely all felt the shorter day right? Saturday was a big day ironically due to how short it was. On Saturday we only got 8 hours, 59 minutes and 19 seconds of sunlight which was the first time we'd had fewer than 9 hours of sunlight in a long time. We won't get back to 9 hours until January 10th. I spent the day driving home from Brainerd, Minnesota. While smaller lakes were completely frozen over there were still ducks and geese on the larger lakes that had some openings. The Mississippi River is still largely ice free as well.

Sunday my suspicions about open water were born out when I took a look at the birding listserves. There are still many good species such as gadwall and canvasback being seen on larger lakes and the Mississippi. The Old Ceder Ave bridge site seems to be turning up good species this week as the few spots of open water around the metro are causing waterfowl to converge into a few locations. There were also more reports of snowy owls across the state. We're witnessing the beginning of an irruption from Canada. I had some interesting conversations about this phenomenon this past week. Someone asked me on Twitter why Great Grey owl and Snow Owl irruptions don't happen at the same time. I think the assumption is that a hard winter makes it difficult for both species to find food. While the snow is a factor, the population dynamics of their prey species has more to do with the cycle of their irruptions. Snowy owls eat lemmings while Great Greys eat almost exclusively meadow voles. When the prey population crashes, the birds head south. This is the common story but it seems there is evidence something else is at play this year. My co-worker Paul was telling me that the reports out of Canada are that the lemming population hasn't crashed, it is at an all time high and has been for a year or so. There is so much food that the snowy owl population is booming and the younger birds are having to head south in search of territory. Indeed, many of the reports I'm seeing are of young owls. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

The week ahead:
Even the larger lakes are going to have a hard time battling the cold as we head toward lows approaching zero toward the latter half of the week. Waterfowl that remains will continue to concentrate in the existing open water making for some fun birding. Check out the MOU-Net and MN-Bird list serves for recent sightings. Watch out for more snowy owls as well. People are reporting them across the Northern United States.

Monday Phenology: November 28, 2011

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:35:00 +0000

It's been nice knowing you fall. You were a good friend. I think it is time we said goodbye. A wintery sun rose this morning at 7:27 AM and set at 4:34 PM. Now it you're noticing these times are not changing as much now as they did a few months ago that's because we're approaching the solstice and the amount of light we lose each day gets smaller and smaller the closer we come. Today was only 1 minute and 44 seconds shorter than yesterday giving us 9 hours 07 minutes and 08 seconds of sunlight.

Here's your week in review:

Monday, lakes in the area were almost completely frozen over. The shallow ones certainly were and larger ones were getting close. That wouldn't last.

Tuesday, the weather warmed up and the snow from the previous Saturday (you remember the snow right) was melting like mad. In the morning I saw 20 to 30 crows flying over Snelling Ave in St. Paul. I can't be sure but I strongly suspect they were partying all night at the Minneapolis crow roost. They were flying from west to east and had this walk of shame look to them. I saw 7 more crows heading east at the 694/35E commons around 7:30 in the morning. It makes me wonder how far out the Minneapolis roost draws from. I attended Birds and Beers on Tuesday night and we talked about how many interesting birds are already showing up this year. Good numbers of snowy owls are in the twin cities and there are signs of other northern species moving in as well. This could get very interesting.

Wednesday I spent the day packing to leave town and then driving for hours on dark roads.

Thursday was Turkey Day and I spent it down near La Crosse, WI. No wild turkeys showed themselves but I did see plenty of Tufted Titmice which is always a pleasure when in across the border. I also spent a little time outside in the wonderfully warm and unseasonable weather and happened to walk out just as a mature bald eagle flew over my head. Nice. Incidentally, the state animal of Wisconsin is the Badger but, uh, they also have a state wildlife animal which is the White-tailed deer, because, um, I guess the badger isn't, you know, wildlife. What the hell Wisconsin? At least they have their act together and agreed on a state fossil. Minnesota never seems to get around to making that happen.

Friday night/Saturday morning we got the faintest dusting of snow back in Minnesota. Unless you happened to be awake at 2:30 AM Saturday morning you would have no idea it came down. The only reason I know is that the largest of the flakes set off one of our motion activated trail cameras and we found the photos the following Monday. There were also raccoons, beaver, deer and coyotes on the camera. Busy day.

The Week Ahead:

Watch for colder more seasonable weather. Lakes will start to freeze up again Monday night and ice will increase all week. Wednesday we might hit 40° which will slow down the ice but Thursday night we're heading down to 15 which will take a toll. By the end of the week I suspect even some of the deeper more wind exposed lakes will have ice on them. We may see a little more snow as well if things set up right. I think winter is finally going to catch up to us. Friday is the last day with 9 hours of sunlight. Next Saturday will only have 8 hours 59 minutes and 19 seconds.

The winners for the Spotting Scope Giveaway are...

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:46:00 +0000

Okay everyone, here are the winners. I used a random number generator to select them from a spreadsheet with all the tweets, email subscriptions and entries.

First place, the Vortex Skyline 80 spotting scope goes to @ArdeaAbe who also happened to be the first person to tweet about the contest. That was a fun coincidence. His tweet on November 16th at 10:23 am was the winner.

Second place (the birding DVDs) goes to @Blobbybirdman who's tweet on November 14th at 4:46 pm won.

Third place didn't go to a tweet at all. @dliljegren wins the binocular harness because she signed up for the email subscription. About 125 other people signed up that way as well so thanks!

I'll be contacting everyone about how to get their prizes. I wish I had something for everyone! It was a lot of fun. Stay tuned, who knows I may do another giveaway again.

What's next?

Thanks to everyone for following on Twitter and Email. I've been promoting my weekly podcast more lately and want to get the word out that it can now be found on iTunes. You can subscribe directly in the iTunes application by searching the iTunes store for "Monday Phenology."

Thanks for playing!

~Kirk

Monday Phenology: November 21, 2011

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 03:33:00 +0000

Hello Snow! We've got some talking to do this week. The sun rose today at 7:18 AM and set again at a depressing 4:39 PM. I don't know about you but I'm turning extra lights on in the office to fight off a little seasonal affective disorder. It be dark out people. There were only 9 hours, 20 minutes and 31 seconds of daylight today, to put that into perspective, that's an hour and 20 minutes LESS light than we have on February 21st. We're a month from the solstice. Ouch.

Here's your week in review:

Monday I walked around outside and noticed that even the buckthorn is looking tired. This hardy invasive is the last to lose leaves in the Fall but after recent below-freezing temperatures even it is having trouble holding onto leaves. Monday was also the day I marked 10 years of being a naturalist at the Lee & Rose Warner Nature Center. I've been a naturalist other places but for some crazy reason I've been there for a decade now. I've seen a lot of changes in that time. When I started, you had to really search to find buckthorn. Now you can't avoid the stuff. That's all I'm going to say about it because it is incredibly depressing. I did enjoy seeing a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers drinking together from the edge of a still open pond on Monday, that was cool. I'd never seen that before and it just goes to show ten years isn't nearly enough time to see everything in one spot.

Tuesday was far nicer out than I expected. I was loving that sunshine. It still has the power to warm. The birds were crazy active at the feeders all day and I noted on my drive home that the beavers in local lakes have stored up huge caches of food for the winter. If you see a beaver lodge look just in front of it for a large pile of small twigs. This is a winter food cache. It will become frozen in the ice and they'll nibble off it all winter long.

Wednesday it was an icy cold morning. The small pond where I watched the red-bellied woodpeckers drink on Monday was completely frozen in the morning. I cracked though and measured 6mm of ice. Area shallow ponds were nearly all frozen though not any lakes. I noticed lots of Canada Geese on the move on Wednesday. It was possibly just because the corn harvest is still on and they're searching fields for spilled food.

Thursday the temps held around 20° all day. This sounds cold but it was surprisingly nice out due to the almost complete lack of wind. I measured the ice on the small pond near our bird feeders again and in 24 hours it went from 6mm to 22 mm. That's 16mm of ice growth in one day. This was the same day we finally all headed down to the lake at work to remove the docks. Nothing like waiting until the last minute. They were already iced in with a thin sheet of ice but the truck pulled them out just fine. It was very interesting to examine the ice forming on the lake. The thickness went from about an inch near shore to paper thin about 30 feet out. The shallower lake on the property was nearly iced over in both of the shallow southern bays. We took some time to throw small rocks out on the ice to listen to the incredible noises it makes.

Friday in the morning I quickly pulled off the road when I noticed swans on West Boot Lake which is on my commute. It thought there were about four but when I pulled over and looked with my binoculars I saw there were a bunch of gray young that were hard to see originally. There were probably 7 swans total. On the way home I looked over again and to my surprise I quickly counted 30 adult swans on the same lake. Knowing I could only see and count the adults at that distance I figured there must have been more than 30 total. Given the larger size of the flock they were almost certainly Tundra Swans.

Saturday we got our first significant snowfall of the year. We can scarcely count those few stray flakes last week. I'm sure we'd all forgotten about those by now. Here's a riddle for you, how much snow on the ground does it take for people to turn into stupid drivers? If you answered "any amount" you are correct. I saw a couple of cars in the ditch and at some schmuck in a huge pick-up truck skidded through an entire intersection on a red light while I watched. Never mind that I have a tiny car with bald tires and was able to somehow stop in the centimeter of snow. What is it about snow that makes people drive stupid? On a hike with a group of high school students I noted that there are only a few buckthorn leaves still on the trees and even those drop off if you touch them. We've seen our last green for a while.

Sunday I heard from my co-worker Paul that he drove past Big Carnelian lake in Washington County and he saw a couple hundred Tundra Swans staging there. Pretty cool. This is just south of the lake where I saw them on Friday. There were also reports of a Snowy Owl in North St. Paul this weekend. Very cool.

The week ahead:

Things look pretty nice if the forecast is to be believed. I even heard a high of 60° thrown out there for Turkey Day but I'll believe it when I see it. I'm all for the warmer weather. I still need time to put the de-icing cables on my roof. I intended to do it in the summer but come on, how can you think about ice dams when it is 90° out?

Leonid Meteor Shower Visible Tonight

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:30:00 +0000

The Leonid Meteor Shower will be visible tonight in the Twin Cities (the rest of the world as well.)

The debris that burns up in a meteor shower is from dust trails left by passing comets. The trail for the Leonids was laid down by comet Tempel-Tuttle. When we encounter thick lanes of dust there can be a meteor storm such as depicted in the drawing on the left from 1833. Tonight's show is not expected to be a storm though the Leonids are know for occasional bright fireball meteors.

There is some suggestion that there may be a peak around 6:00 AM CST so perhaps your best bet is to watch for meteors early in the morning. Typically, after midnight is usually best for meteors. It looks like there will be clear skies in the Twin Cities tonight though there will also be a very bright moon which will obscure most meteors.

People have asked me where the best place is to view meteor showers in the twin cities metro area. That's a tough question. It all depends on how many you want to see. I've seen plenty of meteors from my light polluted St. Paul back yard. Shield your eyes from any stray light such as street lamps and turn the lights off in your house. Most of all, let your eyes adjust to the dark. Fifteen to thirty minutes of letting your eyes adjust to the dark will let you see many many more meteors.

Suppose you want to drive a little though to get a good view? Check out the Minnesota Astronomical Society website. They have a really cool light pollution map created by Craig Cotner. If you look at the map, you can see light pollution is pretty bad anywhere near the metro. What direction to travel depends a little on where in the metro you live. Heading out to an area in the yellow zone on the map will at least give you somewhat darker skies. You need a minimum of a two hour drive to get to a truly dark site and likely it will take even longer. Think boundary waters for true darkness! At any rate, you can most likely easily see a few good "shooting stars." from your own back yard.

If you can't see any tonight you might be able to listen to them on Space Weather Radio. If I get a chance I'll listen in and try to record some meteors. You can read about listening to meteors and hear some of my audio samples on my Listening to the Leonids article.

~Kirk

Pond Ice Thickness, one day later

kirkmona@yahoo.com — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 21:30:00 +0000

Today the ice on the pond was 22 mm thick, yesterday it was 6. That's 16mm of new ice in one day. If you look closely at the photo, the old ice is on the right and the new ice on the left. The two hve a slightly different quality and bend the light differently. The new ice forms on the bottom of the old ice so my thumb is touching the bottom of the ice sheet and my pinky is on the top of the ice.

Below is yesterday's ice from the same spot for comparison.

That's pretty impressive growth. It has only been about 19° or so all day so we're making plenty of ice out there. Tomorrow is supposed to be above freezing.

~Kirk