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| As I usually report in August, July is a slow month for birding, with few new sightings, mostly just the regular birds raising and teaching their young. The ducks and geese in the lake seem to have good survival rates this year. At the beginning of the month, a group of 14 mature Canada Geese visited for a short time but soon left the area in the hands (or wings) of the resident pair and their six young. One thing new, at least to me, is the presence of up to six Green Herons on the island at a time, late in July. They are said to be a solitary bird, but this seems to be a family group of five and an occasional mature outsider that is chased away. I don’t know for sure, but by their behavior I think the young may have been born on the island and are just learning Heron behavior and flying. Sometimes, three or four (I can’t see them clearly to get an accurate count) are bunched up tightly together on shore, like small ducks and geese often do, though the Herons are about full size. An Egret is on the lake almost every day and a Great Blue Heron quite often. I have not seen or heard Black-crowned Night Herons for a long time but they could still be there. I do go to the lake occasionally in the middle of the night (against the advice of our S.A.F.E. person) and hear only ducks, geese and a few frogs. On July 20, I got a glimpse of a shorebird on the island. About all I can say is it probably was a member of the Sandpiper family. I don’t know if it was a local bird or one migrating from the Arctic, as many are now doing and passing though western Minnesota. The lake level varied up and down quite a bit several times early in the month. I think a combination of weather and pumping in and out due to the construction projects caused this. The level was very high at the end of July, and no projects were underway in the park itself so that the Art Fair would not be disrupted. The grit chamber on 35th Street is more or less done, but 35th Street itself is under construction and the final grit chamber is being built on the west boundary of the park. I have not seen any hawks or falcons in the park or neighborhood for a couple of months, but I always check the tree between the long stairway and the north side of the lake that the birds of prey seem to like. There is almost always a bird at the top of that tree, often a male Kingbird, and on two occasions, Orioles, one a mature male and one a female or immature male. The tree is not particularly large or unique to my eyes but it must have something to draw a large variety of birds. A non-bird lake observation early in the month was what seemed to be undulating black balls in the water near the fishing dock. Close observation showed they were schools of baby bullheads with grown bullheads sometimes in or around the schools. The backyard is also slow for birding in July, but various family groups show up ranging in size from Chickadees to Crows. An unusual family group (for the backyard) was a female Wood Duck with four ducklings. The mother duck ran at me and then acted injured as I went out the back door one morning early in the month. I didn’t know what this was all about at first but then I determined it was behavior to draw me away from the four ducklings that were under bushes right by the door. Of course I was not a threat to them, and the group left for a neighbor’s yard, at least heading in the right direction for the lake. I had to get to work so I called some neighbors to help the ducks. The neighbors could not find them and I like to think the ducks made it across 15th Avenue and 35th Street to the lake. Thanks neighbors! A White-breasted Nuthatch also was in the yard, unusual for this time of year. Now for some four-legged wildlife. Late one very hot night I saw a young raccoon in a next-door neighbor’s yard, and the next night, 10 feet from me in our yard. Then for several days, I saw it in broad daylight in other close-by yards. I was worried about it, wandering around in daylight but have since found out that young raccoons have not got the “nocturnal animal” part down yet. On two occasions I have spotted the raccoon because the Crow family on our block gets very agitated when they see it and make all kinds of noisy alarm calls. The Crows are of course correct in seeing raccoons as natural enemies, but the baby Crows, now quite large, could beat up on this small raccoon. If they all make it through the winter it could be another story when nesting season arrives. I have not yet found any baby rabbits on the block but they are probably somewhere. I have seen a grown rabbit quietly watching the crow-raccoon incidents. The young grey squirrel that I wrote about after he got into the house twice in the spring of 2001 is back. Not in the house, but in the yard, He is now in his rebellious adolescent stage. I am running out of room and time, but maybe next month I can detail his rude and inappropriate behavior. Comments and observations are always welcome. Send them to me, in care of the Southside Pride. Thank you.
A fan letter to the bird man Dear John Kerrigan, |
3200 Chicago Ave. S.
Mpls, MN 55407
telephone: (612) 822-4662
fax: (612) 822-0342
