Fox Sparrow

 The fox sparrow is a large sparrow that is found in North America. They breed across northern Canada, Alaska and the western United States. They winter in the southern United States and along the Pacific Coast. Here in Minnesota we only see them during migration. To me fox sparrows are a sign that spring is not far off. They are one of the earlier migrants that I see. Actually I usually hear them much more often then I see them. Fox sparrows often forage through the old leaf piles exposed by the melting snow searching for seeds and insects to eat.

Fox sparrows get their common name from their red color which is similar to that of the red fox. The truth is however, that there are different variations of fox sparrows living in different geographical regions. There are people that do consider them 4 different species. Most fox sparrows are considered red fox sparrows. These are the brightest in color and found throughout most of Canada and Alaska. The sooty version of the fox sparrow are darker and more brown then red. They are found along the Pacific Coast of Canada and Alaska. The slate-colored fox sparrow has a gray head and back and are found in the Rocky Mountain Region. The final version is the thick-billed which have a thicker bill then the others and are found in California.

Fox Sparrow

 Many people do not pay much attention to sparrows. They are not large like pelicans or fierce like raptors. They do not have the grace of herons or the bright color of warblers. They are often hard to identify and most people do not take the time to try. Fortunately the fox sparrow is pretty easy to identify.

The fox sparrow is large, for a sparrow weighing in over one ounce which is twice as much as many of the other species of sparrows. There are 4 different subspecies that breed in northern Canada, Alaska and along the Pacific Coast. They winter in the southern United States. Here in the middle of the U.S. we usually only see them during migration. Most often they are seen on or near the ground where they are searching through the leaves foraging for insects. The bird in the first picture was photographed on April 1st. When we see them at that time of the year they are a happy sign that spring has come and summer will soon follow. the second photo was taken in mid October. When we see fox sparrow at that time of the year it is not such a happy occasion because it means that winter is right around the corner.

Fox Sparrow

 The fox sparrow is a North American Sparrow. They are usually seen kicking up leaves and other ground cover searching for insects. They breed in the western United States and in Northern Canada and winter in the southern United States, primarily the south east. We usually only see them here in Minnesota in the Spring or Fall while they are migrating. During migration fox sparrows will sometimes get off course and have been seen in Europe, although some may have hitched a ride on ships that took them across the ocean.

Fox Sparrow

The fox sparrow is a large North American sparrow. They breed mostly along the West Coast, as well as northern Canada and Alaska. They winter down in the south eastern United States so the only time we typically see them here in Minnesota is during the spring and fall migration.
There are 4 different color varieties of fox sparrow. The one in the pictures above is an eastern variety. The eastern fox sparrow breeds up in the boreal forests of Canada. They often stop in Minnesota during migration to feed. They eat insects which the scavenge from the ground. You can often hear them rustling around in dried leaves, looking for food, before you see them.

Minnesota Valley

The second unit, going from north to south, in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge is the Black Dog Lake unit. It consists of 1400 acres around Black Dog Lake, which flows from the Minnesota River on its eastern side. Much of the land is owned by Excel Energy which has a power plant in the middle of the unit.

Black Dog Lake is a great place to visit in the winter time. It is one of the few places in the Twin Cities where the water does not completely freeze up, because the power plant is continuously pouring in hot water. The open water is a draw for many different types of birds, I have seen many types of ducks, geese, swans, belted kingfisher and eagles in this unit during the winter.

Last winter ended rather abruptly with most of the lakes and rivers in the state thawing in a week or two. This caused a lot of problems with the rivers around here. As you can see the Minnesota rose up over its banks and flooded a big chunk of the Black Dog unit.

Even after the water finally subsided it took a long time, months, before they completely opened the road that runs through this unit. The road was covered with silt and other debris from the river. It seemed more like walking down a beach then walking down a road. Once the road was finally cleared off they still kept it close because they needed to do some repairs, as the road was in even worse shape then before.
The road closure made things more difficult as one of the osprey nests that I was watching in the summer was off of Black Dog Road. The osprey have a nest on one of the transition towers that hold the lines coming from the power station. Since the tower is a little ways out in the lake it was necessary to bring my scope and tripod to try and read the bands. The scope and tripod in addition to my normal camera equipment made for a long walk out to view the nest.

Fortunately there was a lot of wildlife to greet me and make the burden of carting all of that equipment much lighter. One day I found a fox sparrow scratching its way through the scrub.

Another day the sweet song of the indigo bunting helped to quicken my step and brighten my mood on my way back to my car.

Minnesota Valley NWR Visitors Center

Even though the weather was pretty bad last Friday I decided to do a bit of birding after work anyway. It had been raining or snowing all week and besides for a quick trip Wednesday after my shift at The Raptor Center I had been cooped up all week. Since it was still raining or sleeting or raining some more, I decided to go over to the Minnesota Valley NWR visitors center wher I could shoot pictures of birds at the feeders from inside instead of running around and getting my camera all wet.
It was pretty busy at the feeders but the low light made taking pictures difficult. Instead of taking pictures of many of the same types of birds that I have been photographing all winter long only in ugly gray light I decided to mostly just watch the action.
There where a couple of types of birds that I have not had the opportunity to shoot to much so far this year that I did take a couple of shots of like the male and female house finchs above.
There are also quite a few fox sparrows around right now. It is fun to watch them dig up old leaves and ground looking for burried treasure. Hmmmm I wonder if Jack Sparrow was a fox sparrow.

MN Valley headquarters 2-21

Winters in Minnesota tend to last a long time and can get some what depressing. Sure we have some cool winter birds but most of them are only in the northern part of the state. Down here, in the southeastern part of the state we mostly see the same birds through out the winter such as dark-eyed juncos, tree sparrows, crows, goldfinch, white breasted nut hatch,

downy and hairy woodpeckers
and northern cardinals.
But in the last couple of weeks of February I started to notice some differences on my frequent trips to the Minnesota Valley NWR visitors center. There have been some changes and some new visitors to the feeding stations that they maintain there. One noticeable change is that the goldfinches are beginning to get there color back. Goldfinches molt twice a year, once in the winter, into the drab olive color and once in the spring into the brilliant lemon color that most people identify with goldfinch.

A new visitor to the feeders have been house finches. Originally house finches were a resident of the southwestern US and Mexico but in the 1940s they were introduced to the eastern US. Since then they have spread and are now year round residents for most of the US, including most of Minnesota. I have not seen many around this winter and I have not seen any at the MN Valley NWR this winter, until now. Anther year round resident that has been noticeably absent until recently have been house sparrows. House sparrows were introduced to North America from Europe in the 1800s.
The most exciting new visitor has been a fox sparrow.
While I remember some reports on the list servers back in December about a fox sparrow at the MN Valley NWR I have not seen any in my many trips here. Fox sparrows are birds that we usually only see during migration. There wintering grounds are in the southeastern US where there is less snow making ground foraging easier. Their summer breeding territory is in the western US, northern Canada and Alaska. Spotting a migrating fox sparrow is usually a good sign that the spring migration has begun. Let's hope so, we can certainly use a bit of spring up here in the frozen north.

Playing hooky at Wood Lake Nature Center

On Saturday October 13th I participated in the Upper Midwest Audubon Conference in Bloomington, MN. I arrived at the conference at around 8:00am and after registration and the welcome I went to a very interesting program session entitled The Great Northern Owl Irruption of 2005. Having photographed many great gray and northern hawk owls during the irruption I was very interested in hearing the speaker, Dave Grosshuesch, talk about his research on the phenomenon. It was very interesting and it left me looking forward to the next northern owl irruption whenever that may be.

The second program session that I went to was not very exciting and it was all that I could do to keep from falling asleep. As soon as it ended I went outside to check the weather. As the weather man promised the clouds had left, the skies had cleared and the sun was shining. This was the first nice day in a week and I was going to be in the conference all day. I was scheduled for a field trip to the Bass Ponds at 2pm but I could not wait that long to get outside. So I took my camera and headed over to Wood Lake Nature Center, which was right down the road. I figured that I would skip one session then head back for lunch but sometimes plans just don't work out, especially when out shooting on a beautiful day.

When I first arrived, at Wood Lake, I checked the small trees down by the dock near the visitors center. These trees always have a lot of small birds to photograph and this Saturday things were no different. The first thing that I spotted were a few song sparrows in the brush next to the trees.Up in the trees there where northern cardinals.
The male looked like he had completed his molting.

The female looked like she was still missing some feathers around her face.

I also spotted some ruby-crowned kinglets. This one almost came right down to me. He got real close and flashed me his crown, unfortunately I was not fast enough to get that shot but I did get him a bit further up. I also caught this american goldfinch. The ruffled feathers kind of threw me off and I thought that it was a yellow-rumped warbler at first, but a helpful reader pointed out my error and when I looked at it closely I can see that it's beak looks too wide for a warbler.I guess I am not the only one who likes a good bath. Out on the trails I spotted a white-throated sparrow. The last one of these that I saw was in Duluth three weeks earlier.I also spotted a fox sparrow out on the trails. This was the first one of these that I have seen so far this fall.Even though it is already mid October there were quite a few insects around, like this autumn meadowhawk.George Bush finally admitted that there is such a thing as global climate change so I guess now it is real and the dragonflies can hang out here into winter. LOLThere were a few waterfowl out too. American coots have been moving through the area in the past week or so. I saw about 20 coots through out the park.I also got some shots of the pied-billed grebes that have been hanging around for about a month.

By the time I got through the park the lunch time for the convention was already half way over. So I decided to eat the food that I had with me instead. On my way back to the convention I took a wrong turn on 494 and somehow ended up at the Bass Ponds.