Backyard Wilderness

I have spent much of the last two months in South Dakota, dealing with various problems with my aging parents. The situation with my aging parents seems stable, but at the same time, tenuous. I look forward to the rest of the spring migration, and hope I will have time to write columns in the coming months. Thank you to the people who told me they missed last month’s column.

I, of course, have not been making my usual number of visits to the park and other local birding areas, but the timing has been somewhat good in that February is probably the slowest birding month. As I have made various trips to and from South Dakota in March, I have been able to see the progress of spring and spring migrations on the prairie.

Locally, a few Crows were usually the only birds I saw at the park until well into March. The backyard birding was, and still is, slow, with just the usual winter birds hanging around—Chickadees, Cardinals, Crows, Juncos, House Finches, Blue Jays, English Sparrows, Starlings and Rock Doves.

A small flock of Canada Geese was in an unusual spot on March 11. They were along the railroad tracks where 35th Street crosses the tracks by the grain elevators at Hiawatha Avenue.

On the first really warm day of March (the 13th), I noticed that more trees and brush had been cut on the island. I assume (but haven’t had time to check) that this was part of the Buckthorn removal program.

On St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) Edgar the duck and about 50 of her fellow Mallards and some Ring-billed Gulls returned to the lake even though the ice had not gone out. Some of it had sunk a foot or so, allowing enough water for the ducks around the fishing dock.

Also on the 17th, I saw the first drug deal of Spring in front of the house. I did not have time to get license numbers, but the car and pickup truck involved both had identifiable characteristics and I hope to see them again, get the plate numbers and have time to act next time this happens.

A friend reported that Wood Ducks returned on March 23, but ice was still covering most of the lake. I was back to check this out in person on March 25. I found about 20 Wood Ducks, the new aeration system was going, people were playing soccer, six migrating basketballs were out on the remaining ice, and there was a very well done peace memorial (authorized or unauthorized) in the tea house. The ice went out on March 31.

While writing this column, I made a last minute visit to the park (on April 3). It was a very cold, wet, windy afternoon, and even the waterfowl didn’t seem to like it much. There were two Canada Geese, a few Gulls, Mallards and Wood Ducks, but not the usual numbers. I heard one woodpecker and saw a small flock of sparrows. I believe they were Song Sparrows but the wind, rain, sleet and lack of sunlight prevented me from getting a good view. A couple of good observers have seen hawks in the park in February and March, but I have not.

Now, back a few days to March 14. That was the 100th birthday of the National Wildlife Refuge system. Politicians in various parts of the country went to events and said the usual things. This also happened at “our” refuge, the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (MVNWR). The next day (Saturday, March 15) the Audubon Society also held an event at the refuge headquarters in Bloomington. MVNWR is one of four “urban refuges” in the country, with some of the same problems that Powderhorn has as an urban park. Our water quality problems come from runoff on nearby streets. The worst water quality problem the refuge faces is runoff from the nearby Mall of America parking areas that go into the Minnesota River. And, like many levels and agencies of government, the refuge system faces big funding problems and policy problems such as the attempts to open the Arctic NWR to oil drilling. After a well-organized program about local and global issues that the refuges and the Audubon Society are dealing with, we met in front of the headquarters to participate in guided bird walks.

Of course, instead of paying attention to the bird walk organizing, I was looking around and soon spotted a Red-tailed Hawk in the air, not far away, and way beyond the hawk, a Bald Eagle. While everyone was looking at the hawk and eagle, three more mature Bald Eagles came over the group from another direction, just above tree level. Not bad for an “urban refuge” right by the airport!

That was the high point of the bird walks, and we had not even started walking. The actual walks, though lead by very good birders, did not turn up anything that you could not find in our neighborhood, except because of the open water, some Coots and two species of Merganser ducks. It has been that kind for winter, not many unusual sightings in the whole area.

Now that Spring is more or less here, bird varieties should increase greatly for the next couple of months. I am now seeing all sorts of birds on my trips back and forth to South Dakota, including Robins, Meadowlarks, Cedar Waxwings, Killdeer, Wild Turkeys, Grackles, Kestrels, Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, Ring-necked Pheasants, Shrikes, Swans, Coots and various species of ducks and geese. For several days in late March, geese were flying almost continuously from before dusk to well after dawn over Eastern South Dakota. Sometimes I could see flocks in all directions, and with binoculars, flocks way beyond the range of the naked eye. At night, I would often stand outside for a few minutes and listen to flocks from horizon to horizon. There must have been literally millions of geese, and watching and listening to them provided some peace in a stressful situation. On my last trip back to Minneapolis, I was taking a little side trip though the Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge as I often do, when I accidentally startled an immature Bald Eagle. He (or she) flew off a perch (with a perch?) in a tall tree and dropped his (or her) fish back in the water probably saying bad things about me.

Back to more local information. One of my loyal readers recently called me about the Great River Birding Festival that I have written about. I was out of town and inadvertently erased the message instead of saving it. She, or anyone else, can get information about the Mother’s Day weekend festival by calling 1-877-525-3248 or going to www.mississippi-river.org on the Web.

Comments and observations are always welcome. Send them to me, in care of the Southside Pride. Thank you and please work for peace.