Kinglets, Sparrows, Eagles and Osprey

Although my trip out on Sunday was primarily to photograph migrating waterfowl I did also manage to find a large number of new passerines as well as a couple of raptors.
Kinglets are always pretty difficult to photograph, but I followed this golden-crowned kinglet around the Old Cedar Ave Bridge area for a while and was able to get a couple of good pics.
I did see ruby-crowned kinglets at Black Dog Lake and Old Cedar Ave Bridge that day also but all of my photos of them turned out to be like Big Foot pics, blurry and indistinguishable.
The song sparrows were out singing in the fields around Black Dog that morning. The males sing as a way to attract a female, as well as to warn other males to stay out of their territory.
The lenghtening days, as well as warming temps and food availability, determine when the males begin to sing their courting songs. Studies show that females prefer mates that sing a more complex song. If that was the case with humans then classical and opera singers would be studs while boy bands would be duds, well at least half of that statement is true.
While reading up about song sparrows I found that the song sparrows in the Aleutian island in Alaska are so large that they are actually twice the weight of an eastern bluebird. Talk about a raptors extra value meal.

Speaking of raptors I did see my first osprey of 2008 on Sunday. I was just a fly by, so I did not get any great pics, but it was still a welcome sight. I will need to make sure that I start checking out the osprey platform in Roseville to see if any osprey are nesting there again this year.
I also found a bald eagle perched in one of the large trees on the shore of the river. It is possible that it could be an inhabitant of the nest across the river channel, that is visible from the road. Several people who I ran into at Black Dog and Old Cedar Ave where down there looking for eagles because of a feature that one of the local stations ran on their news program about eagles at Black Dog Lake. I let the people who I talked to know that there was at least one eagle still around as well as a nest but that the best time for eagle viewing at Black Dog Lake is actually during the winter months. Since Black Dog is one of a few locations where the water does not freeze over, due to the power plant on the lake, eagles congregate there during the winter. When the temps warm up and our 10,000 + lakes thaw out the eagles disperse leaving only a few behind.

Migrating Waterfowl at Black Dog Lake

My birding expedition on Sunday began at Black Dog Lake. Much of Black Dog Lake does not freeze during the winter, due to the Excel Energy Plant that is located there, so while many other large lakes still had a lot of ice on them Black Dog was primarily ice free. This makes it one of the best spots around to see migrating waterfowl and this Sunday did not disappoint.
There were of course the usual mallard ducks out dabbling in the shallow waters.

They were joined by lesser scaups.
There were also a few pair of blue-winged teal.
The teal were located in the marsh that is east of the lake and actually a part of Fort Snelling State Park. This area has become a very good wetland area due mainly to beaver activity. I am going to try and get some beaver photos this weekend so that I can do a post on them. Since beavers work mainly at night it may be a challenge but I think that it will be worth it.
On the east channel to the river there were a couple of northern shovelers.
As I walked on the path that run along the lake from the east channel I startled a hooded merganser who swam away from shore with his hood in full display.

After I finished at Black Dog I crossed the river to check out the waterfowl at the old Cedar Ave Bridge. From the observation deck that goes out a little way over the overflow area of the Minnesota River I spotted quite a few ducks and mergansers but most were too far away to get any good pics. One exception was a group of white pelicans that had stopped over to rest on a shallow part of the river.

The shallow spot which they were roosting on was not that far from the observation deck so I was able to get some pics. Notice the notch on the beak which is an indication that it is the breeding season.

Birding Black Dog Lake

On Saturday May 5th we had a bit of sun so I set out to do some birding. I decided to head down to Black Dog Lake, since most of the lake is open water now I was hoping to find some migrating waterfowl. I came down from Cedar Avenue and as I passed the marsh, which is a part of Fort Snelling State Park, I saw my first great egret of the year. As I stopped the car to get some better pics he flushed and flew further back into the marsh but I was able to get a couple of shots as he flew by.
There still quite a few American coots around. I like coots because although they look and act like ducks they are really rails so instaed of webbed feet they have long lobed toes like the rails do. I thought that this picture was unique because the bird seemed to be caught on some vegitation or something. the other cool thing about this shot is the eye. Doesn't it look like he has a red M&M for an eye? I guess that I have never quite seen a coots eye at that angle before.
The small flock of ruddy ducks that has been hanging out at Black Dog was still there. this was very cool since I do not remember seeing many of these around last year at this time.
It is the beginning of the ruddy duck breeding season. Some of the males are already in their breeding plumage, see the first ruddy duck photo, while others, like the one above are still in the process of changing. You can see that the ruddy or rust colored breeding plumage is replaceing the gray plumage that the ruddies have during the non-breeding season. The bill is still pretty gray but looks like it is starting to lighten up. The ruddy duck is one of only two, the cinnamon teal being the other, that breed in both North and South America.

Ruddy Ducks FotY 2008

Another first of the year for 2008 that I spotted at Black Dog Lake on March 24th were ruddy ducks. I found a small flock of them near a flock of coots in one of the channels between the lake and the river.
Ruddy ducks are more of a western duck and are not very common in the eastern part of the US. The same is true for the state of Minnesota. Ruddy ducks are much more common in the western part of the state.

I have taken some good pics of ruddy ducks out in Montana but these were the best ones that I have been able to get in Minnesota. This past weekend I visited the park at the Coon Rapids Damn in the northern part of the Twin Cities. While there I saw another group of ruddy ducks, but they were further away and much more difficult to shoot the way that they usually are for me in Minnesota.

Ring-necked Duck FotY 2008

I saw my first ring-necked ducks of 2008 at Black Dog Lake in the Minnesota Valley NWR on March 24th.
I almost missed the ring-necked because they were mixed in with a bunch of scaup, which at first glance from a ways away look similar.

The most interesting thing about ring-necked ducks is that they do have a ring or collar of chestnut colored feathers on the back of their neck, however the only way to really view the ring is by having the bird in hand. This is one of the ducks that was no doubt named by hunters who could see the ring-neck after they retrieved the bird.

Trumpeter Swans on Black Dog Lake

After leaving the great horned owls nest on the 26th I decided to head down the road to Black Dog Lake to see if I could find any eagles fishing in the river. I did not find any eagles but the trumpeter swans, which have been wintering in the lake, looked very nice as the sun was beginning to set.
Everything always looks better in morning or evening light but that is even truer with swans. When you photograph them in midday light they can come out looking harsh and they are easy to over expose but the soft light of dawn and dusk makes them look magical.
Fortunately I can find trumpeter swans close to home through out the entire year. This gives me plenty of opportunities to get some nice shots in beautiful light like I took this evening. The next day, Sunday January 27th, I headed up to Monticello, MN where over 1000 trumpeter swans have gathered. I will post those pics tomorrow.

Black Dog Lake

After making a quick stop at the Minnesota Nalley NWR Visitors Center on the 10th I decided to run down to the Black Dog Unit and see if there was anything on the open water that would be interesting to photograph. I was hoping to get some eagles fishing or at least down on the ice but there were not any eagles around. The trumpeter swans that have been on the lake all winter were still there so I walked out the trail around the lake and took a couple of pics.
While I was walking back a double-crested cormorant landed on the channel that runs between the lake and the Minnesota River. While it moved down the channel it held its wings up in the air in order to dry them. Unlike most water birds the cormorants feathers are not water proof and so they often need to dry them out before they can fly.

It was unusual to find a cormorant still in the area in January. Cormorants typically migrate to a winter range in the south gulf states, Mexico, or California.

A Trip to Black Dog Before the National Bird Day Celebration

Before heading over to the Raptor Center to celebrate National Bird Day on Sunday I decided to take a short drive down Black Dog Road, which runs through the Black Dog Unit of the Minnesota Valley NWR. Since we have been having warmer weather lately, we had almost a week in the 30s, a lot of the ice on the Minnesota River has melted and the birds are more distributed. Even so I was driving slowly trying to catch any signs of the eagles or waterfowl that have been wintering there. I decided that I might be going a bit too slow when I got passed. He better be careful, it was a no passing zone. I finally did manage to find an immature eagle perched over the water and I took some pics. Since its head and tail were already turning white and its beak and eyes were turning yellow I would guess that this bird was in the 5 to 7 year old range.
Since the National Bird Day event had already begun I decided to get moving. I did swing by the airport, on my way up to the U of M St Paul Campus, to check for the snowy. No one has seen it since New Years so it has prolly moved on, one way or another.

Black Dog 1-4

The weather was pretty nice, for a change, on Friday the 4th so I decided to stop out at the airport, after work, and look for the snowy owl that had been reported there. I made a couple of trips through the airport and still did not see the snowy so I decided to head down Cedar Avenue and check out the birding at Black Dog Lake. When I arrived it was already around 3:30 pm so there was not a lot of time to photograph before it got too dark. Most of the ice on the river channel had melted so that the areas where most of the birds had been on past visits was pretty quiet this time.

I did find a mature bald eagle perched in a tree on the road side of the river.

While I was photographing this eagle another car stopped and the driver told me that there were a couple of immature eagles on the ice further up the river. I packed up my camera and hurried down the road until I spotted a young bird on the ice looking over a gigantic fish head. Most of the fish was gone. It had probably been eaten by other eagles earlier in the day. Eagles can only eat about 2 to 3 pounds otherwise they become too heavy and may not be able to fly. Since their still seemed to be a lot of fish left another immature joined the first. At times the two would squabble a bit over the large prize. Inevitably they both ended up leaving it on the ice when the growing throng of gawkers finally ended up spooking them. I continued down the road but I did not find any more birds of any interest. I did find a couple of deer who had made their way down on to the ice.

The light was getting low so I decided to head back towards home. On my way back through I passed the giant fish head again. This time there was an adult eagle nibbling on it. I stopped to take some shots but the light was too low to get any thing descent.

Another foray to Black Dog Lake

On Thursday December 13th I decided to go back down to Black Dog Lake to see if the horned grebe was still around so that I could get some more pictures. I did not find the grebe but the trumpeter swans that have been hanging out on the lake were in a better possition for me to get some pics.

Out on the river the warmer weather has melted some of the ice so there is now more open water then there was at the beggining of the month when we had extremely cold temps. The hooded mergansers were still hanging around.
But a group of common mergansers has now also moved into the area.

The eagles where still around but they spent most of their time perched in the tall trees across the river. One immature did take off and moved up river.I had to practice my parking in the middle of the road technique and shoot through the small trees lining the road just to get a pic.

Winter birding at Black Dog Lake

Last week I made another trip to Black Dog Lake on Monday after work. It was pretty cold out but the sun was shining. At first I went to check out the north side of the lake. There was a group of trumpeter swans as well as Canadian geese dabbling by the shore. However my attention quickly shifted away from them when I spotted a horned grebe diving for fish near the shore where I was standing.
I followed the grebe down the shoreline until he went further into the lake. When I returned the swans had moved too far away to get any descent pics so I decided to go back and check the open waters in the river. The water near the spill way is usually open so it is a good place to find ducks and other waterfowl like this pair of male hooded mergansers.There was also an immature eagle flying around looking for some dinner.

Eagle watching at Black Dog

Another place where the water stays open during the winter is Black Dog Lake and portions of the Minnesota River that are fed from the lake. The reason Black Dog stays open is because of the Excel Energy Power Plant that uses water to cool turbines which it then treats and pumps out into the lake. This continual supply of warm water keeps the lake and river open.

This open water is a draw for eagles, trumpeter swans and other waterfowl. On the 8th of December I headed over to Black Dog to try and get some eagle pics. It had been particularily cold and so there were only a few openings on the river where the eagles usually hang out.
I did find a few eagles near the open water by the Cedar Avenue Bridge.

In total I only saw about a dozen eagles.

There where also quite a few photographers there from Cameratalk. They are a group of photographers that share information with each other through their website. They told me a bit about their group and told me that I should check out their website. Their website has a lot of great pictures and they look like they might be a great resource for me so I went ahead and registered. Currently I am waiting for my account to get activated.

I had a feeling that this might be a good group to get involved with. It takes a person who is a bit nuts to sit on the side of a mostly frozen river, with a day time temp of about 2 degrees and a wind chill of about -10 degrees, taking pictures and yet there we all were.There were also a few immature eagles. Bald eagles get their familiar coloring starting when they are about 5 years old.