Watery Wednesday: Barrow's Goldeneye

Each winter flocks of goldeneye ducks migrate into the area from their breeding grounds in Northern Minnesota and Canada.

As the lakes and ponds that they spend their summer on begin to freeze they head south in search of open water.

Many end up spending the winter in the southern part of the state where the Mississippi River does not freeze. This includes parts of the river from Prescott, WI. down through Redwing, MN and south to Reeds Landing and Wabasha, MN.

Most of the goldeneye in these flocks are the more widely distributed common goldeneye but every so often some spots, or thinks that they spot, a Barrow's goldeneye mixed in. When this happens then birders from all over the area converge to see a bird that is rare to this area.

Whenever we travel to Yellowstone the most common duck that we see is the Barrow's goldeneye. They can be found in almost every lake, pond, pool, river and stream. So I always try and take advantage when we are there and take a lot of Barrow's goldeneye pics. I found this Barrow's on trout lake. Originally he was on the other side of the lake but he took off to chase another goldeneye that was on the lake, they are very territorial especially in the spring. Fortunately I was in the right place and the right time and was able to snap this series of pics.

My World: Lamar Valley

The Lamar Valley is often referred to as the Serengeti of North America but I prefer Osborne Russell's description. Russell was a fur trader in the Rocky Mountains who kept a journal of his adventures between 1834 to 1843, which was later published. He called Lamar the Secluded Valley and described it like this, "There is something in the wild and romantic scenery of this valley which I cannot nor will I, attempt to describe but the impressions made upon my mind while gazing from a high eminence on the surrounding landscape one evening as the sun was gently gliding behind the western mountain and casting its gigantic shadows across the vale were such as time can never efface from my memory, but as I am neither Poet Painter or Romance writer I must content myself to be what I am a humble journalist and leave this beautiful Vale in obscurity until visited by some more skillful admirer of the beauties of nature who may chance to stroll this way at some future period." This was the first written record of the Lamar Valley.

I think that Russell was too modest. Lamar is the kind of place that is beyond description but I think that Russell did a great job, better then I could ever hope to do. Fortunately I took a few pictures and, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

The Lamar Valley was formed around 13,000 years ago during the last ice age. As the glaciers receded they left this wide U-shaped valley behind, scattered with glacial pounds and large boulders which were carried by the glaciers. Today the valley is home to a wide diversity of wildlife. Ungulates, like bison, elk and pronghorn antelope can often be seen grazing in the wide open expanses.

Not all of the wildlife in Lamar is as large as the ungulates. Many different type of rodents, such as mice, chipmunks, marmots and ground squirrels live in or around the meadows of the Lamar Valley.

With such an abundance of small prey animals Lamar is good habitat for predators like coyotes. Predators help to preserve the natural balance by limiting the population of prey species.
Predators in Lamar come in many shapes and sizes. There are plenty of ground squirrels and other rodents for a mother badger to raise her family out in the sedge and grass.

Larger predators, like wolves and bears, can also be found in Lamar. During the day they rest beneath the trees on the near by hills and mountains but during the cooler morning and evening hours they are on the hunt for larger prey like deer, elk, moose or bison.

Predators can also be found in the skies above or perched on the trees that dot the valley. Raptors which can be found hunting above the fields include American kestrels, prairie falcons, red-tailed hawk, northern harrier and golden eagle as well as vultures. When darkness comes owls take over on the night shift.

Running through the middle of the valley is the Lamar River Creek. These waterways are also a great source of wildlife viewing. We spotted our first grizzly bear in Yellowstone, back in 2005, fishing in Soda Butte Creek. Over the years we have photographed many shorebirds, like spotted sandpiper, and waterfowl, like the Barrow's Goldeneye pictured above, in the Lamar River or Soda Butte Creek.

The waterways also have their own predators. Several pairs of osprey can typically be found nesting in the area. Since osprey only eat fish they spend most of their lives close to the river, creek or small lakes and ponds that dot the valley.

Tree Frog

The European, or common, tree frog can be found through out much of North America, South America, Europe, and Australia as well as parts of Asia and north Africa. They are members of the Hylida family, which are the true tree frogs.All though they spend most of their lives in the trees the European tree frog does not typically live deep in the forest. Instead they prefer to live on the edge of the forest typically near ponds or other wetlands. Most people do not see them because they only come down from the trees to mate and lay their eggs, which they typically do in a pond or pool so that the tadpoles will be in the water when they hatch. We found this tree frog while looking for dragonflies at the Maplewood Nature Center last August.

Today's Flowers Old Cedar

Another fairly common wildflower that I find around home is birds-foot trefoil. This non-native species was originally found in parts of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa but has since spread to most of North America as well as Australia. It is a low growing perennial that is a member of the pea family and often found growing in sandy soil. It is sometimes grown in pastures as a foraging plant for livestock.

Bird's-foot trefoil has five leaves but two of them are difficult to see because they are lower then the other three. The three upper leaves resemble the trefoil symbol, three interlocking rings, which is why it is a trefoil. Later in the year the flowers will develop into a pod, like other members of the pea family, which hang down from the stalk. This is how it got the bird's-foot potion of its name.

Camera Critters: Merlin Falcon

One of the lesser known falcons in North America is the merlin. These small falcons, which are only slightly larger then the American kestrel, breed across most of Canada and Alaska. Most spend the winter in the western US, Florida, Mexico, Central America and down into the northern portions of South America. Here in Minnesota there are some merlins that will breed during the summer in the very northern portions of the state but mostly we see merlins during the migration.

I photographed this merlin last September at Park Point in Duluth. It most likely stopped by the park, which is a strip of land that extends into the southern portion of Lake Superior, to do some hunting before continuing its fall migration south. Merlins, like most of the larger falcons, are primarily bird hunters. They use a variety of different methods to hunt including ambush hunting from a discrete perch, low fly overs to flush prey, or stooping, diving, from high above. Their prey typically consists of small to medium size passerines which includes open country birds like sparrows, longspurs and larks as well as woodland birds like vireos, warblers, kinglets and thrush, depending upon the habitat in which they are found. They will supplement their diet with small rodents, lizards and large insects, such as dragonflies. Dragonflies are especially common for immature birds.

Sky watch Friday: Red-tailed Hawk

The red-tailed hawk is one of the most common raptors that can be found in North America. They range all through out North America with the exception of the far north regions of Canada. One reason for their success, where many other species have declined due to mans interference, is that when it comes to food they are generalists, meaning that they have a very diverse diet. This allows them to adapt well in a variety of different habitats because they are able to find food. So you can find red-tails in Minnesota in the winter, where they are hunting for rodents under the snow, or you can find red-tails in the desert where they are hunting lizards and snakes or flying in the skies over Yellowstone, like this one was, hunting for ground squirrels.

Another reason for that red-tails have been so successful is their ability to adapt to us. The most common place that I see red-tails here in Minnesota is perched on light pools on the side of highways and freeways. The reason for this is because human populations have a tendency to attract rodents, its because of all of our garbage. Freeways and highways are no exception. People often through garbage out their windows as they drive down to the road, this garbage attracts rodents, which in turn attracts the hawks. Since there are not many trees along the sides of the bigger highways and interstates, and since we are kind enough to keep the grass cut short it is an easy place for the red-tails to hunt for these rodents. The only obstacle are the cars, which is why quite a few red-tails, as well as other birds, are admitted to the clinic at The Raptor Center each year because they have been hit by a car.

Wordless Wednesday: Tiger Swallowtail

Watery Wednesday: Snow Bank

Here in Minnesota we are used to getting snow, we frequently spend about half of the year digging out from the stuff, but I always find it interesting to see the type of snow fall that they get up at higher elevations. Last year, 2008, when we visited Yellowstone had a lot of snow still on the ground. I remember driving through Hayden Valley and the snow banks on the side of the road were taller then the big RVs that were driving through.
This year things were closer to what we normally see. There was a little snow in parts of the Hayden Valley but no huge drifts. However we did find a good sized drift just south of the Golden Gate of Yellowstone. If you look carefully at the picture you can see a person standing on the bank in the back of the picture. This should give you a reference to how tall that this bank still was. Over the past 48 years Yellowstone averaged about 72 inches of snow annually, according to the Western Regional Climate Center.

My World: Biscuit Basin Yellowstone

Biscuit Basin is another thermal basin in Yellowstone. It is located about 3 miles north of Old Faithful on the Grand Loop Road. As with most of the thermal areas in Yellowstone, Biscuit Basin is made up of geysers, pools, and springs. Surrounding many of these features are unique colored bacteria that grow in the warm thermal waters.

The heart of Biscuit Basin is Sapphire Pool. Sapphire pool used to be surrounded by biscuit like rock formations, which is how Biscuit Basin got its name, however an earthquake in 1959 caused the pool to begin to erupt. It continued to erupt for several years cresting up to 150 feet in the air. These eruptions doubled the size of the pool and in the process destroyed the biscuits surrounding it. Eventually the eruptions subsided and it returned back to a pool.

Avaco Spring was named by the Hague Expedition back in the late 1800s. At that time it was just a simple spring but the earthquake of 1959 brought it to life. Today it is a fountain style geyser with 10 to 30 second eruptions every 1 to 20 minutes.

The Mustard Springs are actually a pair of springs that are tied to each other through subterranean tunnels. The two springs are similar in size and shape and both have mustard colored bacteria growing around their lining, which is how they get their name.

The Mustard Springs are separated by around 50 feet. Currently the East Mustard Spring, shown above, is in geyser status while the West Mustard Spring is a dry spring. This was not always true however, the West Mustard Spring used to be more active until a tremor in 1983 reversed this.

Shell Geyser is so named because of the rock formations in the lining that resemble the shell of a bivalve molluscs. Shell geyser is a small geyser that erupts at irregular intervals.

The largest geyser in the Biscuit Basin is the Jewel Geyser. It was originally named Soda Geyser by the Hayden Expedition, but was renamed in the early 1900s to Jewel Geyser because visitors believed that the rock formations in the lining resembled pearls.

Jewel Geyser erupts regularly every five to ten minutes. Eruptions typically last a minute or two and consists of one to five burst of water that rise 10-30 feet in the air. You can see one of these bursts pictured above.

Butterflies

During the summer, when the birding gets a little slow, I have turned to photographing other parts of nature. At the beginning of last September I found quite a few interesting butterflies to photograph. Even though the least skipper is pretty common in North America many people over look it due to its small size.

Even though the Cabbage White butterfly is a common sight around woods, roadsides, farms, gardens and yards it is actually not native to North America. They originally came from Europe and were accidentally released into Canada back in the 1860s.
It is easy to distinguish between the male and female cabbage white by the number of spots on the forewing. If the butterfly has one spot, such as the first picture, then it is male but if it has two on the forewing, as shown above, then it is a female..
The eastern-tailed blue is another small butterfly that can be found through out most of the eastern part of North America, from the eastern coast of Canada and The US west to North Dakota, Colorado and central Texas, as well as parts of Mexico and the West Coast.
The eastern-tailed blue is a member of the Gossamer-wing family of butterflies and can be identified by the long hair like tail on the hindwing for which it gets its name. The only other blue butterfly with a tail is its cousin the western-tailed blue which is a bit larger and lacks orange spots at the base of the hind wing.

Eastern-tailed blue butterflies have a number of different types of host plants. Since their proboscis, or feeding tube, is not very long they look for short tubed flowers or ones that are open. Favorites include white clover, white sweet clover, shepherd's needle, wild strawberry, flea-bane. asters, winter cress and others. In the picture above two eastern tail blue are using their proboscis to drink nectar from a birds-foot trefoil flower.

Today's Flowers: Ox-eye Daisy

Many of the wild flowers that I commonly see around my area are actually not native to North America. The ox-eye daisy is a good example of this.This perennial was originally brought from Europe back in the 1800s but is now commonly found through out most of North America, at locations like the Minnesota Valley NWR where I took this pic.