Powderhorn Bird Watch

As reported very well today, April 28, by Public Radio and very poorly on at least one TV channel (Ch. 11), Ivory-billed Woodpeckers have been found again (in east-central Arkansas) after over 60 years without a confirmed sighting. A couple of years ago, I wrote about the big, well-publicized but unsuccessful search for the woodpeckers in Louisiana. There was still hope that some would be found in Florida or Cuba, but none have been seen yet. This time the search was kept secret to protect the possible birds and their fragile habitat. Of course it is still not absolutely certain, though there is pretty convincing evidence, that at least one male Ivory-billed Woodpecker exists. As smart Powderhorn residents with knowledge of the “birds and bees” know, it will take more than one woodpecker to keep the species going. And I am hopeful that if humans could find one, there are others, and I am still hopeful about finding Ivory-bills in Florida and/or Cuba.

Again, the search has the same Minnesota connections as the Louisiana search. The head of the Cornell Ornithology Lab, John Fitzpatrick, was interviewed on the Public Radio piece, and his brother Jim, a Minnesota naturalist, was briefly shown on the Channel 11 bit. The two Fitzpatricks were deeply involved in both searches, are native Minnesotans, and have a long-time family friend (and avid birder) in the Powderhorn neighborhood.

I am glad Ivory-billed Woodpeckers are not extinct, plus it gives me something to write about in a month when some bad weather and extreme work pressures on me have kept me away from the park much more than I would like in April.

Other, Less Exotic Species

I have been there enough to know that the ice went out on April 4, and the usual ducks and geese have returned with the same (I think) pair of Canada Geese nesting in the same spot on the east end of the island. The only other waterfowl I have seen in the park have been seven Blue-winged Teal in the middle of the month, and from one to six Pied-billed Grebes most of the month. I still have not seen any members of the Heron family or any Double-crested Cormorants on the lake, though I have seen them at various places around the Twin Cities. Small birds around the park include Song Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Eastern Phoebes, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Brown Creepers and White-breasted Nuthatches.

There was a White-throated Sparrow in the yard for a few days. Then the neighbors asked me about the dead bird in their front yard. It was a White-throated Sparrow, dead of unknown causes, and the last one I have seen in the neighborhood so far.

There were several days (and nights) with strong south and southwest winds during the warm early part of April. Experts think, and sometimes know (using new kinds of radar), that many small, night-migrating birds came through the area on the winds and did not stop, as sometimes happens. I am still optimistic that many more birds, large and small, will visit the park and neighborhood this spring.

The early warm weather brought out the turtles, including the Spiny-soft Shelled Turtle and the usual Painted and Snapping Turtles. On the 18th, I found baby Snapping Turtles near shore and on shore at two locations on the lake. Not in the neighborhood, but not too far away, large numbers of frogs were out on a warm rainy night near Becker, Minnesota, on April 10. I enjoyed the early frogs that were enjoying the early rain, and thankfully I avoided running over any of them.

Back to birds. A friend called me on another warm early April day to report a pair of Cooper’s Hawks about 3 blocks south of the park. I saw the friend and the birds on the nice Sunday afternoon. One hawk was carrying twigs in its beak so they might be building a nest nearby. I have seen them since then, but have not been able to determine if or where they are nesting.

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