Surviving the winter—just like the birds

BY JOHN KARRIGAN

What mischief are you planning, Mr. Crow?

I will start with the "big one." Then the rest of the column will be downhill.Maybe all my columns go that way.

I saw a flying squirrel in the yard early in the evening on Nov. 16. I walked right up to it to see if it would eat out of my hand. It was hanging upside down on a tree at the time, and probably couldn't take anything from my hand if it wanted to, which it didn't. It moved about 2 feet away and kept looking at me, so I left the usual bird feed in the feeder and on the ground and left the squirrel alone. That was the last I saw of it so far. Exactly a week before that, I ran into a neighbor from prestigious West Powderhorn who had seen a flying squirrel in the park recently, also a fairly close encounter. He thought the squirrel was going to land on him.And I was reminded of the nice people that had read of my last winter's flying squirrel sighting and said that I could come over sometime and see the ones that regularly visit them, just a few blocks out of the neighborhood. If I don't see any more, I should take them up on their kind offer.

I ran into the prestigious West Powderhorn neighbor and all kinds of other nice people, some that I had known for years and many that I had never met before, at the Powderhorn Empty Bowls event at the park gym on Nov. 9. At 6:30 in the evening, there were literally hundreds of people there near the end of the eight-hour event.Neighborhood potters had been making soup bowls since May Day. A young man sitting across the table from me had made 50 bowls for the event. A longtime neighbor from down the alley had made 600. For a contribution, attendees chose a handmade bowl, and had their bowl filled (and refilled) with any one of several hearty soups, plus bread and beverage. Plus they could keep the bowl they chose. Proceeds from the event went to support the food shelf at Division of Indian Work on Lake Street, and the Kids' Café of PPNA.

That evening, a neighbor from down the block related her experiences watching Ring-billed gulls fighting, probably over food, in the air over the lake. A week later, while our block was having a Saturday morning coffee-and-muffin gettogether, another down-the-block neighbor told me of seeing a hawk, probably a Cooper's, in her back yard. I also learned that Saturday morning that one neighbor, a charter member of my fan club, is moving away, and will, of course, miss reading my column every month.

I guess the point of this rambling is that Powderhorn gatherings, large and small, are a great way to meet old and new residents, learn about kids, schools, happenings, causes, etc., even birds and squirrels.And, in my opinion, give people a real sense of community that is important now or probably anytime in this modern and often messed-up world.

Back to more birds.

November is not a big time for backyard or park birds, of course. The Goldfinches are now back (in their non-gold colors) on a regular basis, along with Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, English Sparrows and Pigeons. This morning there were at least ten Juncos in the yard at one time, a record I think. I haven't seen much of the Cardinals lately, but I hope that's just a timing issue.

The park department finally started on the three boulevard elm trees on the block that were marked for removal before the Fourth of July. They took what amounts to about half of the trees' height and easily chopped the large branches into very small pieces with a very powerful, very noisy wood chipper. I don't know when they will return for the trunks.Woodpeckers returned as soon as the crews left and seem to be finding things to eat, but they have lost a large percentage of their bug finding area. I hope the handful of elms left on the boulevard survives, but I know the odds are not good.

Not much at the park in November. The ice came in on Thanksgiving and, unlike some years lately when it comes in and goes out again, I'm pretty sure it's here to stay this winter. The Crows have been off and on so far, at least when I have been there. I received a nice letter from a new resident about hundreds of Crows and a Cooper's Hawk interacting and performing on Nov. 9 [see letter below]. I was there that night for the Empty Bowls dinner, but missed all the bird action. I hope the esteemed publisher has room for the two letters the new resident wrote [sorry, only room for the one-we'll try for the other one, and hopefully more, next month]. She is a very descriptive writer. I will probably lose my job to her and be put out on the street with no benefits or thanks, which is probably what will happen to me anyway.

Another hawk, a large hawk the letter writer also referred to, is probably the same one that I saw in the park on Nov. 12. I came to somewhat the same conclusion she did. It could be an immature light phase Redtail, an immature Krider's variant of the Redtail or a light immature Ferruginous Hawk.Whatever it was, it was very large, unusual in the park and not a Cooper's Hawk.

The young woman also asked about the existence of a bird hotline. The local number is 763-780-8890. The hotline has weekly (sometimes more often) reports on rare bird sightings throughout the state. You can leave messages on the line, but in my experience they have not always been good about answering them. One last park item: I saw a Robin in the park after dark on Nov. 27.

I did manage to make two Tundra Swan (and other bird and animal) watching trips in November as I said I might last month, but the swans did not cooperate a lot. The first trip (Nov. 4) south along the Mississippi River, the weather was great (mid- 50s), sunny and nice. We saw Bald Eagles, Ring-billed Gulls, Canada Geese, Pied-billed Grebes, Cormorants, Mallards, Greenwinged Teal, at least two kinds of hawks and one Great Blue Heron. We also saw nine of the 30 Tundra Swans that the Alma (Wisconsin) Tundra Swan Watch website reported (www.almaswanwatch.org). On Thanksgiving evening, while leaving a very nice Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house in Minnetonka, at about 6 p.m., I heard swans overhead. I couldn't see any, but it sounded like a very big flock,maybe thousands. A great treat to listen to!

Two days later, the swan watch website reported 1,000 swans had arrived at a Mississippi River backwater near Alma the day after Thanksgiving.Were these the ones I heard? I have no idea, but we set out again on Sunday, the 25th.We didn't find 1,000, but we found about 200 at the Reick's Lake swan watching area, which had already frozen over. The swans were just hanging around, sitting or standing on the ice in family groups, sort of pretending it wasn't frozen, but of course they couldn't' get any food through the ice. Every now and then, a small group would leave and another small group would arrive. The arrivals were great to watch and something I had never seen before because of the ice. The swans would come in, in their usual graceful aerodynamic way with the feet back, then at the last second, put their feet forward and slide for a few feet on the ice, like a kid sliding on a frozen puddle. Though neither trip yielded the thousands and thousands of swans that are sometimes migrating through the area, they were still fine trips with stops at cheese and apple shops, and a nice new restaurant in Alma, Wis. Of course, beside birds, we also saw deer, sheep, cattle, llamas and buffalo (not roaming free), and an elk ranch I had never discovered before.

A related story about Tundra Swans from a friend who volunteers at the Wildlife Rehab Center in Roseville: Five adult Tundra Swans were brought to them by the DNR in conjunction with the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. The swans were found wandering through the woods in heavy fog and weren't able to take off. They ran some tests and found nothing wrong with the birds, other than the fact that they were mildly dehydrated. They headed back to the Wabasha area on Nov. 27 for release. Thank you. Survive the winter and holidays. Comments and observations are always welcome.

Send them to me, in care of the Southside Pride. Thank you.