The birds are back in town

As a nature and bird enthusiast, I should be a keen observer, and I like to think I usually am, but I missed something big in February. After returning from South Dakota, I had time for one more walk around the park before writing my column. I noticed the island seemed a little bare, but I just figured a strong wind had blown a lot of leaves down, or something like that. After getting my column in at the last minute, as usual, I made another walk around the lake and realized eight or 10 major trees on the island had been removed while I was gone. I knew the trees had been marked for removal for some time but I guess I didn’t want to believe it was going to happen. If I had been here, I suppose I would have had to throw myself in front of the chain saws and become a martyr, and I don’t know if that would have been a good or a bad thing. There still is lots of cover on the island. I guess we will have to wait and see if the tree loss makes any significant difference in bird visits.

On the first of March, eight Mallards and two Canada Geese were checking the lake from the air. The next day, four Canada Geese landed on the ice and the day after that three Mallards were on the ice. Mallards and Geese are there most of the time now that the ice is mostly gone.

I saw the first Wood Ducks on the lake the day of the first thunderstorm, March 25. Also the first Ring-billed Gull and the first goose fighting, as what I think is the usual island resident pair were harassing another pair that were checking out the island. Now there are usually around two dozen Mallards and two dozen Wood Ducks most of the time, from a few to over 30 Ring-billed Gulls, and occasional small groups of Canada Geese that usually stay away from the pair protecting their territory on the island. A few Crows are usually in or over the park somewhere but their numbers are decreasing as they start nesting.

The next day (March 26), there were also some firsts for me. An Egret came in and landed in a tree on the island just before dark. This is very early for an Egret in Powderhorn and earlier than usual for them to arrive anywhere in the metropolitan area. The Egret stayed at least until dark but I haven’t seen it since then. While looking at the Egret, I saw what I thought were a couple of small birds near the island. They turned out to be bats, also very early for them. The bats were flying in their usual darting motion so they must have been finding some early insects to eat.

As darkness fell, the bats came to the mainland and landed on the necks of small children and small dogs. Oh wait, I might be exaggerating about that, but there were two bats, probably Red Bats.

Three days after that (March 29), I found three kinds of sparrows in the lakeshore brush west of the tea house: a Junco, a Tree Sparrow and a Song Sparrow. Juncos are in the area all winter; the other two were probably new arrivals.

I also saw my first dandelion (not blooming) of the spring that day, and my first bicycle in the lake. Four different kinds of balls and several types of beer bottles have arrived to take advantage of the almost open water as well.

Small numbers of Robins, Downy Woodpeckers and Nuthatches have been in the park, off and on, most of the month. I could be wrong on the first dates that some of the park birds arrived, because I made two more trips to South Dakota for family matters in March. There should be many more arrivals in April and May.
Robins, Downy Woodpeckers and Juncos have been regular visitors to the backyard along with Cardinals, English Sparrows, Starlings, Chickadees and, unfortunately, Rock Doves (pigeons). A Grackle visited one of the feeders on the 27th. An immature Cooper’s Hawk visited the backyard for some time on the 26th. I was in the front yard when I heard it. I went around back to find it high in a neighbor’s tree. It was a nice day. I got my best bird book and binoculars, and sat in a chair and studied it for 15 or 20 minutes. The hawk had a bright green band on one leg, but there was no way to figure out where the band was from. The bird was very vocal, unusual if a Cooper’s Hawk is alone, but I could not hear any answers to its calls. The bird left without making any attempts to catch prey. Though the noise it was making probably had most small birds almost scared to death, it was seemingly more interested in finding another Cooper’s Hawk (that birds and bees thing) than in finding something to eat.

Now for some non-Powderhorn sightings ...

A birding friend not lucky enough to live near Powderhorn (he lives near Cedar Lake) recently saw a wild Tom Turkey strutting through his yard within the Minneapolis City limits.

On March 23, a North American record 822 Bald Eagles passed over Hawk Ridge in Duluth on their way to Canada and Alaska.

Snow Geese were flying through eastern South Dakota on my March trips whenever the wind and weather were favorable, which was much of the time. You could go outside almost anytime day or night and hear—and sometimes see—Snow Geese. Officials of the nearby Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge said there were about 415,000 Snow Geese on the refuge one afternoon. I went out and counted them and I could only find about 400,000. Just kidding! But I did go out there. They think about two million Snow Geese pass through the refuge each year, out of about four to five million that go through eastern South Dakota. The geese are slightly earlier than usual this year on their six to eight week trip from Texas or Louisiana to the tundra near the Arctic Circle.

And now for something completely different, as Monty Python would say. Actually it is about birding and sick people, or rather one sick person (that would be me). I attended the 12th Annual Jazz88 Twin Cities Winter Jazz Fest on March 14 “featuring 12 hours of jazz on five stages at the Millennium Hotel” (which used to be the Capp Towers and several other things) at the southern edge of downtown Minneapolis. Two of the stages were at the top (14th) floor of the hotel. I was listening to a fine local jazz guitarist and facing south toward the prestigious Powderhorn Neighborhood from the 14th floor, when I saw a Trumpeter Swan fly by. I did not jump up to point this out to the audience or the guitarist. Then a few minutes later a Peregrine Falcon swooped past, apparently coming right off the roof above us. Once again I remained quiet. I thought this was great! A cosmopolitan jazz event and bird watching combined. But for later performances on that stage, they closed the drapes behind the performers. I guess they thought some odd person might start yelling out bird sightings during the music. By the way, the outstanding South High School Jazz Band often performs at this event, but for some reason, they were not there this year. I guess they have to give other area school jazz bands a chance once in a while.

I don’t know how I can top this, bird watching and jazz in one column, and I almost tied them together. I wonder if there is a Pulitzer Prize category for this.
I hope the birds, the neighborhood, the city and the world have a peaceful Spring!

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