A serious walk in the park

by John Karrigan

This is a non-birding but tender and I think uniquely Powderhorn sort of observation. On the last Sunday of October, I was walking on the south side of the lake when I saw a piece of notebook paper on the ground ahead of me, halfway between me and a trash can. I thought I would pick it up and deposit it in the trash as I passed by. As I got closer, I saw that the paper was pinned to the ground with a pencil and was not just litter. It was a memorial to a dead squirrel that was lying nearby. It stated: "R.I.P. We didn't know you but God Bless Lil Squirrel. Your in a better place now" and was signed with initials. This is one of the many reasons I love this neighborhood. Most people here really care about life, nature and the world in general. At least that's what I tell myself. This does not include the people that covered the storage building by the ball fields with gang graffiti a couple of days later. The squirrel and memorial were removed, I assume by the park custodial staff, who I know also care a lot about the park.

Now, on to living things. An immature Pied-billed Grebe has been on the lake for a few days but you have to be looking carefully to see it, though it comes quite close to shore. It is well camouflaged, noiseless, and spends a lot of time under water. The usual ducks are still there but I think most of the Wood Ducks have gone. The Canada Goose numbers vary greatly from day to day. So far there are not many Crows; some years there are many by this time. And there are from a few to many Ring-billed Gulls. The gulls are usually silent this time of year, but once in a while they call. This always reminds me of waking up on a beautiful morning on a sailboat on Lake Superior to the sounds of many gulls, though the fall mornings here have been mostly beautiful so far.

Around the shore, Juncos, Song Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows can sometimes be seen. Robins are back in the park and the yard, at least for now, and of course the Chickadees and Cardinals are brightening the area, too.
I have been hearing White-breasted Nuthatches lately, in the park and neighborhood, but haven't seen them. I have seen a hawk in the park a couple of times, and a friend saw what might be the same hawk on the Midtown Greenway. We don't know what it is yet. It has an unmarked white breast and appears plump or fat. Most hawks don't appear fat or have unmarked white breasts. Hopefully we will get better views and be able to identify it. Hairy Woodpeckers are about the only other yard or park birds I have seen lately.

Freeway birding has been good with lots of Red-tailed Hawks on posts and signs. Twice in one day in mid-October I saw pairs of Red-tails sitting together on the same lampposts. This must be some kind of "pair-bonding behavior" as the experts would call it. I often see what I think are pairs, but they are hunting in close proximity to each other, not perched together.

I also saw a Western Grebe on a pond by the freeway in Western Minnesota, naturally enough, and I see flocks of turkeys now and then, often near the Mississippi River in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Tundra Swans are just starting to arrive around Alma, Wisconsin. This is a great November day trip as I say every year. Seeing and hearing them is hard to describe, and there will probably be lots of other waterfowl, eagles and hawks. I was in that area in mid-October. No swans had arrived but there were lots of Red-winged Blackbirds, always a treat for eyes and ears.

Great Gray Owls and Northern Hawk Owls are already showing up in northern Minnesota. Maybe this will be another record year like last year, also a great road trip for birds and other wonders.

Back to Powderhorn as a neighborhood. I was pleased that the park did fly the flag at half-staff to honor Rosa Parks, a truly important person in the civil rights movement, a movement that is far from over. It was two years ago this month that I spent an afternoon at the Ford Museum in Detroit. They had just received the very bus, in restored condition, that Rosa Parks sat down on, second seat from the front, on that historic day. We were able to board that bus and listen to a guide describe that occasion. What a privilege to be so close to that history.
Rosa Parks has enormous importance on her own, but I also bring this up because the park has not lowered the flag on the too many occasions that flags around the state have been flown at half-staff to honor Minnesotans that have been killed in Iraq. I have talked to the staff about this several times. They say they are trying to come up with a system so they will know when the funerals are held and will follow this state lead in this. If you agree with me on this, you might want to say something to the park staff or board. While I'm on this depressing subject, I would like to thank the people on 35th Street who keep a running tally on the sign in their yard of the U.S. troops lost in this ill-conceived war.
Walks in the park are good for the body and soul, but we need to remember the various bad situations in our country and the world and try to do something to improve them.

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