Tuesday Tweets

Common Yellowthroat

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

Birding at Old Cedar Avenue Bridge

During the summer I spend a lot of time at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is divided into several different units. The unit in which I spend most of my time is called the Long Meadow Lake Unit. Long Meadow Lake consists of the Bass Ponds, the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge and the Russell Sorenson Boat Landing. Most of my time is spent either at the bass ponds, which is mainly open space which surrounds several ponds, of the Old Cedar Avenue Bridge. The Old Cedar Avenue Bridge area has several trails that run through the wooded hill that surround the Minnesota River.
Near Old Cedar there is a small boardwalk that takes you out to a viewing platform in the Minnesota River. The boardwalk is surrounded by reeds and cattails which are home to many different birds such as red-winged blackbird, marsh wren and yellowthroat, like the one pictured above.
On the wooded trails you can see a variety of passerines. Some of the birds that I have seen here include, catbirds, sparrows, flycatchers, goldfinch, and warblers like the yellow warbler pictured here.
I always enjoy photographing yellow warblers they always appear so bright and cheerful, like a big yellow happy face. Its especially nice to post on a special day like a birthday.

Birding Carlos Avery

The third weekend in June I spent a lot of time outside taking pics. I spent one day up at Carlos Avery. There was not a huge variety of birds that day but I did find a few to photograph.
I found several Canadian geese pairs that had chicks with them near the road. They were still cute back then, I am sure by now that they are almost as large as their parents.
The only other waterfowl, besides the geese, that I found was a mallard sunning on a small island in one of the many pools.

Although the sandhill population did not look to be as large as it is over at Crex Meadows I did spot a couple of large groups feeding out in the tall grass. All in all I probably saw about 50 sandhills.
The swamp sparrows were out letting everyone know that it was a beautiful day.
I also caught a quick glimpse of a yellowthroat before it disappeared into the reeds.
I stopped over to try and get some pictures of the bank swallows that Ivar over at Ivar's birds had been photographing. Unfortunately they were not in a perching mood when I was there, so I was unable to get any pics but I did spot one of the brown thrashers that Ivar had photographed in the area.
I also spotted a red-tailed hawk keeping a eye on me. Now I know what prey feels like.

Birding Old Cedar Ave Bridge

I also found some other birds near the Old cedar Ave Bridge in June besides the yellow warblers, American redstart and Baltimore oriole.
Redwinged blackbirds are very common. They are so common that i do not usually stop to photograph them after the first couple of the season. This bird was being very cooperative though and I decided to make his dreams come true by posting his picture on the Internet.
The common yellowthroat is another warbler that stays in the area during the summer. Even though they are fairly common, it is usually difficult to catch more then a quick glimpse of these small secretive birds, because they spend most of their time in the tall reeds that line wetlands.
On the other hand the great blue heron is usually pretty easy to spot. The largest member of the heron family that can be found in North America, the great blue heron can often be seen standing in the shallow waters of ponds, creeks, rivers, lakes or almost any body of water.

Birding Dodge Nature Center

Here are some more pictures from Dodge Nature Center that I took on May 5th

female redwinged blackbird
palm warbler


Tennessee warbler

yellow warbler

yellowthroat
broadwinged hawk

Birding Close to Home.

I have been making a concerted effort to try and do more birding closer to home lately. This is partly to help the environment and partly to help my wallet. So far this has not been a problem since the warblers are migrating through the area and giving all of us birders plenty to look at and photograph. One place that I have been spending some more time at this year has been Dodge Nature Center. I visited Dodge on the first Saturday in May and had a pretty good day.
One thing that I have been seeing more of this year are female red-winged blackbirds. They have always been around in years past but the females typically are harder to spot. That is because they usually spend most of their time down in the reeds where their coloration helps to camouflage them. This year though it seems like I am seeing more of them out in the open. I am not sure why this is. Maybe the female red-winged blackbirds are sick of sitting in the shadows and want their turn in the light, they see a woman running for president this year and have decided that this is their year.

Some birds, like northern cardinals, are pretty common around here all year long, but that does not mean that if a cardinal gives me a great pose that I will not stop to take its pic.
White-breasted nuthatch are another year round resident.
Yellow-rumped warbles are now extremely common.
Palm warblers are fairly numerous right now also. They are usually the ones hoping around on the ground.
You can also tell the palm warblers by their typical little tail bopping.

The common yellowthroat is one of nine species of yellowthroats. They range through out the US and Canada, except the far north, during the summer and migrate to Mexico during the winter.
This photo is not great but it is not usually that easy to get a picture of a sora so I was happy just to get a recognizable photo. The sora is a member of the rail family. It lives in the cattails in fresh water mashes and is more usually heard then it is seen.
On the other hand wild turkeys have become quite plentiful around here. Each evening they can be seen in fields through out most of the state.
A pleasant surprise on this evening was spotting a coopers hawk out on the prowl. I was able to get a couple of shots as it flew over head.
Coopers hawks are part of the accipiter family of hawks. Accipiters have rounded wings just like other hawks, buteos, do but the wings are shorter and their tails are longer. This gives them more maneuverability when they fly which they need since much of their diet consists of small birds. The other accipiters that are native to North America would be the sharp-shinned hawk and the goshawk.

The birds were not the only thing out on that evening. Reptiles, like these painted turtles, are cold blooded and can not regulate their body temperature on there own. That is why you can often see them out sunning themselves on nice days.
As dusk approached the white-tailed deer began to come out. Minnesota has an over abundance of white-tailed deer. This is due to loss of natural predators like timber wolves and bear. Hunting helps to curve some of the over population. Even though I have never hunted and I am not a very big fan of hunting, it is more merciful to put some deer down quick through hunting then to allow them to starve to death in the winter because there is not enough food to support the large population. However many of the deer have gotten smart and live inside the city limits where hunting is not allowed.