Southside Pride

I just went through my January columns for the last two years in preparation (or inspiration) for writing this one. Both years I had plenty to write about, including a flying squirrel in the yard two years ago, and a flock of Snow Geese over the house last year. This year, sightings have been slim and mostly uneventful, but I will try to come up with some items of interest.

The day after Thanksgiving I saw a Ring-billed Gull and nine Canada geese at the almost-totally-frozen lake. That was the last day for seeing either of these species at the park, though I still see Canada Geese almost every time I am near the open water of the Mississippi.

Early in December I occasionally saw Brown Creepers or Downy Woodpeckers in the park, but have not seen them in the last part of the month. I got a good view of a mature Cooper’s Hawk in the large tree just south of the park building on December 10, my only raptor sighting of the month.

I have seen and heard a few Juncos, Chickadees and English Sparrows, but on some days, nothing but a couple of Crows passing by and sometimes not even that. I accidentally discovered thousands of Crows gathering on the west bank of the Mississippi River between downtown and the U. of M. This may be where the Crows from Powderhorn and the old Honeywell headquarters are now going.
The park still provides lots of opportunities to see neighbors, dogs and skaters of all shapes, sizes and varieties. The walk is good exercise, but I am looking forward to more birds; the sooner the better.

On New Year’s Day, I was very pleasantly surprised to find many messages and slogans, written in chalk, on sidewalks around much of the lake. The messages covered a wide range of social issues: peace, justice, harmony, neighborhood, the environment, the park itself, and a great quote from Walt Whitman. I have no idea who or how many people were involved, but it was a good New Year’s idea, or anytime idea. Maybe next year such thoughtful, hopeful activist writing could cover every sidewalk in the park. On a related topic: I appreciated the moving messages that someone wrote on the sidewalks about the Wellstones in late October.

Back to birds. The backyard birding has also been slow this winter, with a few Chickadees, Cardinals and Blue Jays, and the usual introduced species—English Sparrows, Starlings and some Rock Doves (Pigeons). But no Mourning Doves. The birds do like the heated birdbath, and so do the squirrels, but I am hoping for more variety.

Last month I wrote a little bit about wind generation of electricity, or wind farms, as they are called. I learned more in early December at the Minnesota Ornithologist’s Union (MOU) annual paper session. An extremely detailed scientific paper was presented on “Avian Mortality at a Minnesota Wind Farm.” The news is good, as I reported last month. Major changes have reduced bird kills drastically and they are working on little changes to further reduce the now very low figures. Mankind is still killing lots of birds though. The major causes are tall buildings and domestic cats. All states with wind farms (except Iowa and Texas, for some reason) are studying wind farm bird deaths and mandating the best technology.

If birds continue to be scarce in the neighborhood, maybe next month I will write about other M.O.U. papers that were presented or about upcoming spring bird trips in the area.

Comments and observations are always welcome. Send them to me, in care of the Southside Pride. Thank you and have a Happy New Year!