Want Some Sauerkraut With That Vireo?

I had seen the report and dismissed it quickly.  There was no way that a White-eyed Vireo would stick around long enough to chase it. Their presence in Minnesota during migration is ephemeral. Then I got a phone call a couple weeks ago that changed my thinking.  Ron Erpelding, a locally-based 87-county lister, calls me whenever something good shows up within a reasonable distance from Willmar.  Ron told me that he went to see the Vireo at Flandrau State Park in New Ulm a few days after the initial sighting and that it was singing up a storm.  Hmmm. Could it be that this misplaced Vireo was trying to set up a territory for the summer?

The singing White-eyed Vireo was intriguing on its own.  The location, though, was what pushed the decision to chase over the edge.  New Ulm was only an hour-and-a-half away, but more importantly, it was the city where Melissa and I got our first teaching jobs.  This chase would be a family affair and a chance for Melissa and I to revisit a beautiful place we called home for a few years and show the kids our first school, first house, etc.  It’s always held a special place in our hearts.

Nestled in the scenic Minnesota River Valley, New Ulm boasts the highest per capita population of German descendents, and it shows. It is a town where the industriousness of its residents is showcased in well-kept, stately brick homes and perfectly landscaped yards (there is no bad part of town), and the love of beer and all things sausage is proclaimed everywhere.  It is a town where you can (and I did) roll out the barrel.  You name a season, and I’ll name a beer festival for that season.  New Ulm is the only place in America, and this is no joke, where schools offer up vats of sauerkraut on hot dog day and the kids pile it on.  Life is a continual party in New Ulm, and partying it up just upriver from the famed Schell’s Brewery was a little bird I wanted to see.

After a quick drive-by of the old house, we went straight to Flandrau State Park right in town on the Cottonwood River.  There were other birders responding to the call and making the short hike along the river to the spot.  One guy, Bill Marengo, was in the parking lot and told us the bird was indeed present this morning. Yes!Evan MarinGetting to the scene a few hundred yards down the trail, I heard the bird immediately.  Several birders and I strained to locate it.  One lady claimed she saw it.

White-eyed Vireo Stakeout

The rest of us didn’t.  Then, we weren’t hearing it at all.  After an hour or so, I decided to call it quits.  You can only stare at the same trees for so long.  Hiking back to the parking lot I checked my email and saw an eye-bulging report from the very same Bill Marengo with whom we had just spoken.  He had made his way over the waste-water treatment ponds in nearby Sleepy Eye and found gobs of shorebirds–really good shorebirds. The trip went from being a downer to all the sudden being exciting again.

Once we were back at the car at Flandrau, there were some FOY Indigo Buntings to enjoy– a paltry, albeit lovely, consolation prize.  The promise of some shorebird lifering was making up for any disappointment over the White-eyed Vireo.

Indigo BuntingBefore we left, I thought I heard the soft bee-buzzzz call of a Blue-winged Warbler.  Nah, couldn’t be…

Even with a heard-only White-eyed Vireo and several potential lifers in Sleepy Eye, probably the best find of the day came when we stopped for a hot dog lunch at one of our old haunts, the Kwik Trip. (And yes, there was a huge tub of sauerkraut with the condiments). As we were leaving, who should we run into but our old neighbor and friend, Adam! The next half hour passed quickly as we reminisced, laughed, and caught up with Adam; I didn’t even have the usual anxiety when life birds are on the line.

Eventually we did part company and make the 15-minute drive to Sleepy Eye.  Bill wasn’t kidding about the shorebirds.  There were two main groups, each in different ponds and close to the entrance.

Sleepy Eye WTP

Sleepy Eye WTP

Birders who read this have probably already tried to sort through some of the goodies in these photos.  When I was sorting through them in real life, I was looking for one, larger bird in particular that Bill reported–the Hudsonian Godwit.

Got it.

Hudsonian Godwit

It was not the more striking male that I was hoping for, but when it comes to Hudwits, beggars can’t be choosers.

Hudsonian Godwit

Hudsonian Godwit

It was pretty sweet to pick up this unexpected life bird, but the fun didn’t stop there.  Bill Marengo was still on the scene and helped me pick out a Sanderling lifer, even letting Evan and I get some good scope views.  I was surprised by how plump they are and close in size to the Dunlin.

Sanderling

SanderlingIf two unplanned lifers weren’t enough, how about a third?!  Several Terns caught my eye right away when we got to the ponds.  Their bills looked excessively reddish and other clues were leading me to the conclusion that I was looking at Common Terns, which aren’t so common in Minnesota compared to the excessively common Forster’s Tern.

Common TernsI spent much time agonizing over this ID after the fact as Common and Forster’s Terns are incredibly similar looking.  Many hours were spent scouring images on Google, studying Sibley, etc.  Common Terns have reddish-orange bills while Forster’s Terns have a straight-up orange color.   The red really popped when I looked at these birds.

Another field mark of the Common Tern are the wings.  The primaries of a Common are gray and flush with the tail while the primaries of the Forster’s are whitish or frosty and shorter than the much longer tail.

Common Terns

Finally, I found evidence of a remnant dark carpal bar which Common Terns have during the winter months before the black bar fades to gray.

Common Tern

Common Tern

The birders among you have already detected some great shorebirds.  American Avocets were plentiful with a dozen birds representing their species.  This elegant bird is always a rare treat during migration in Minnesota.

American Avocet

American Avocet

American Avocet

Black Terns are summer residents here, but it was nice to see one up close and still.

Black TernDunlin were excessively plentiful and quite striking in full breeding plumage.

Dunlin

Dunlin

Stilt Sandpipers are also fun and handsome shorebirds.

Stilt Sandpiper

Another great addition to the shorebird mix were two Ruddy Turnstones, a crazily-patterned shorebird.

Ruddy TurnstonesThere was a lot going on with the shorebirds, both in numbers of birds and numbers of species.  Wilson’s Phalaropes and White-rumped Sandpipers can be seen in my photos, but I didn’t focus any of my photography efforts on them.  I probably could have spent hours photographing all these shorebirds, but I wanted to take another crack at that White-eyed Vireo and the day was already getting long for the non-birders.  It was time to head back to New Ulm and hit the trail one last time.

Evan Marin

Joining us this time were Joel and Amanda Schmidt from back home.  It didn’t take the six of us long to hear the White-eyed Vireo.  Joel and I bushwhacked and tried to get on it, but we just couldn’t get a visual despite a valiant effort. I had to give up for real and make the painful decision to go ahead and count this bird as a lifer despite it being heard-only.  I normally don’t like to do that, but exceptions sometimes need to be made for vagrant visitors of the Vireo variety. Precedence has already been set with my Bell’s Vireo lifer.

As we were about to part company with Joel and Amanda, we heard the soft bee-buzzz of a Blue-winged Warbler!  I may not have been hearing things earlier after all! In no time we got some incredible looks at a Warbler I have only seen twice before.

Blue-winged Warbler

Blue-winged WarblerThe Blue-winged Warbler was another great consolation prize in a day full of consolation goodies.  It felt good to get better photos of this species.Blue-winged Warbler So, we went to see a White-eyed Vireo and failed in that regard.  However, this day was an unimaginable lifer and FOY grab.  Getting four lifers (WEVI, HUGO, SAND, COTE) in a day instate is unheard of at this stage in our birding.  Topping it off with some incredible shorebirds like the Avocets and Turnstones as well as the Blue-winged Warbler really made for an exciting day back on our old stomping grounds.

I’ve announced it before that there’s a lot more coming up, and even after such announcements, more incredible birding keeps happening.  Now in addition to the Colorado birds and more recent lifers near home (one being nocturnal!), wait until you see WHO we went birding with and what we helped him find!  Oh, and pretty soon we will be vacationing in Wisconsin’s Apostle Islands on the south shore of Lake Superior.  We’ll see what comes of that.  All I’ll say is that kayaks may be deployed; an endangered species may be had.

 

Avian and Animal Adventures at Afton State Park

Afton State Park patchAnyone who read our blog last summer may recall that we have a special fondness for state parks, especially those that hold new and exciting birds.  One of the bonuses of visiting a new state park is that Evan gets the park’s signature patch for his birding rucksack.  We are not indiscriminate in which parks we visit.  There has to be a compelling reason to go to a certain park.  Afton State Park had been on my radar since last year when Pete Nichols, the moderator of the Minnesota Birding Facebook Group, discovered a Hooded Warbler there.  Hooded Warblers are rare but regular in Minnesota, and they are a bird I’ve been wanting to see.  This year Pete rediscovered not one, but three of these birds at Afton!  Additionally, there were many other birds popping up at Afton that we’d never seen.  The most prominent that I would consider equals with the Hooded Warbler is the Prothonotary Warbler.  There were also Henslow’s Sparrows (many), Blue-winged Warblers, Black-billed Cuckoos, Eastern Towhees, Tufted Titmice, Summer Tanagers, and Bell’s Vireos.  The Hooded Warbler alone would have brought me to the park which is east of St. Paul and on the St. Croix River that runs between Minnesota and Wisconsin.  But this buffet of potential life birds made it a must-visit spot right now.  In fact, I even pulled Evan out of a couple days of school to make the trip.  Let’s face it, if we didn’t have all the snow days this past year, he’d be out of school by now anyway.

One complication with Afton is that you can’t pull a camper there.  That wouldn’t be a problem as we can tent it, but the tent sites are back-pack sites which means a significant hike – not a task I wanted to do with two kids. The park’s saving grace is that it has camper cabins for rent at a very reasonable rate. So that’s what the kids and I did.

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They were pretty enthralled with the accomodations.  Seeing how nice the cabins were and how cheap they are to rent, I started to question why I bought a camper.  Oh well, variety is the spice of camping.

Camper Cabin at Afton State Park

Camper Cabin at Afton State Park

The cabin was nice and all, but I was itching to find one of the nearly ten potential life birds that could be had in this park.  So after we unpacked, we headed for the car to drive to our hiking destination.  But I jumped back when I discovered this 4-foot Fox Snake between me and my car!

Fox Snake

Fox Snake

What a sighting!  I’ve never seen anything like it in Minnesota.  The kids and I were within just a few feet of it checking it out.  I couldn’t resist touching it.  In my younger days I would have caught the thing, but I wasn’t up for that.  He shot off like a rocket the instant he felt my touch.  Then it disappeared in the weeds, gone for good. Or so we thought.

And how do we know it was a Fox Snake?  Marin discovered it on a poster at the Visitor’s Center (and it was confirmed by Randy).  She was quite proud that she found it.

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The kids and I finally made it to the area where we needed to hike for the Hooded Warbler.  Our path would go down a large hill to the St. Croix River where we could walk the river bottoms trail and look/listen for this warbler.  The hike down was full of stops and starts as one kid or the other had some emergency or another, mostly bug or heat related.  Finally we gave up and went back to the car.  No Hooded.

As we drove through the parking lot a meadowlark with a lot of white in its tail flushed up and landed in the tree next to us.  I was confident it was our Eastern Meadowlark lifer because the Westerns are rare visitors to the park and the Easterns are classified as common.  I was waiting for it to vocalize, the surest indication of what species of meadowlark it was.

Eastern Meadowlark

Eastern Meadowlark

As we spent more time in the park, we saw and heard many Eastern Meadowlarks. Though its simple song is far inferior to our melodic Western, it was fun to hear and be able to gain confidence in distinguishing the two species.  Because it is nearly identical to the Western Meadowlark, it wasn’t an exciting life bird, just a tick on the life list.

When we got back to cabin, we had another visitor – the Wild Turkey.  This tom (he’s shy about showing his beard) didn’t really care that he was blocking our way.

Wild Turkey

Wild Turkey

After some lunch, a nap, and some bunk-bed antics, it was time to go out for another walk.  This time we were going to hit the north prairie loop to look for Henslow’s Sparrows, Black-billed Cuckoos, and Blue-winged Warblers.

North Prairie Loop - Afton State Park

North Prairie Loop – Afton State Park

We walked in the hot sun and didn’t come up with anything.  I didn’t hear a Henslow’s, and I certainly didn’t see a Cuckoo in the nearby woods.  We did end up seeing our Blue-winged Warbler lifer in flight.  It was a dull yellow with bluish wings, and it was in an area where they had been seen.  We saw it fly into a pine.  I watched for it to show itself, but then an American Goldfinch popped out.  I asked Evan if that’s what we had seen.  His answer confirmed my own thoughts when he said the one we saw wasn’t as yellow and had blue wings. Finally our bird popped out again, flying away and not landing in sight.  Bummer.  It’s not the way I’d like to get a lifer.  A good solid view is a must followed by a good photo.

At least this Eastern Bluebird posed for a photo even though they are quite common wherever there is prairie.  Though I wish a Black-billed Cuckoo were sitting in his place, I couldn’t pass up a chance to photograph a bluebird.

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Bluebird

After our prairie hike it was back to the cabin for more food and rest (me) and more horseplay (the kids).  I told the kids we’d go on one last hike in the early evening and then come home to make a fire and cook supper.  This time I was determined to get us down to that river bottoms trail to adequately search for that Hooded Warbler.

We drove a little ways down the road and look who was sunning himself!  I’m not sure this is the same snake as before or even the same species.  But two mega snake sightings in one day was incredible!

IMG_9185After this experience we finally made it to the trailhead.  This time things went a lot smoother with a lot less complaining.  The hike down the large hill was the most challenging as the sign shows, though Marin was convinced the sign meant it was a snake trail.  Given our day, who could blame her?  Here you can see Evan contemplating her observation.IMG_9190The river bottoms trail was flat and easy as it took us right next to the St. Croix and right along the base of an oak-wooded hillside where the Hooded Warblers were known to be. I knew the song well as its been my phone’s ring tone for some time, but I just wasn’t hearing it.  Argh.  Later on, though, as we passed by some flooded timber along the edge of the river, I heard the distinctive call of the Prothonotary Warbler! Not the main target, but good enough!  After a little while we got to lay our eyes on it.  What a thrill it was to see it for the first time!

Prothonotary Warbler

Prothonotary Warbler

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If there would be no Hooded Warbler, it didn’t matter so much anymore with this bird.  It was quite a sight.  We never did see the Hooded that day; it would have to wait until the next day.  The kids were tired, so we headed back to the cabin for supper and bed even though there was a good hour or so of daylight left.  We pulled in to find yet some more visitors in the campsite – three deer!

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As I had made a trip out to the car after getting the kids in their pajamas, I heard the distinctive “Drink your teaaaaa!” song of the Eastern Towhee!  This would be a life bird, and its song was coming from across the prairie to the south of our cabin.  Quickly I had the kids throw their shoes on, and we followed this bird’s song.  I was able to locate it at the top of a dead tree belting out his tune for everyone to hear.  And he did not care that we were watching him from down below.  Nor did he care that Marin sang his song with him.  I’ve been looking forward to seeing this bird for a long time, so it felt pretty good to get this one on the trip.

Eastern Towhee

Eastern Towhee

"Drink your teaaaaa!"

“Drink your teaaaaa!”

When we got back to the campsite this time, a fox scampered out of our campfire area. What a magnet for wildlife this little spot was.  It would be fun to see what the next day would bring.

That next day I decided we would do the river bottoms trail one last time and the prairie loop one last time.  If we didn’t get our main target or some other lifers then so be it.  All the river bottoms trail yielded was another look at the Prothonotary Warbler which never gets old.  The prairie loop trail didn’t provide the Henslow’s Sparrow we were looking for or give any better looks at that Blue-winged Warbler.  It was fun to see a Field Sparrow, which is a fairly uncommon bird.

Field Sparrow

Field Sparrow

It was also a treat to see a male Orchard Oriole, even if he was a long ways from the road.

Orchard Oriole

Orchard Oriole

It was finally time to go.  I had a couple more birding moves to make, though.  The night before someone reported a pair of Tufted Titmice at the Hidden Valley Park in Savage.  I decided we’d swing by and check it out.  There were plenty of birders there, but there were no binoculars or cameras pointing to the trees – not a good sign.  Turns out that no one had been seeing them all day.  The kids had fun at this cool, well-named park that had a small river running through it.  The big draw for them was looking for tiny shells.

Looking for shells at Hidden Valley Park in Savage, Minnesota

Looking for shells at Hidden Valley Park in Savage, Minnesota

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No Titmice and a handful of shells.  At least some of us were happy with this place.  I did see two male Indigo Buntings, a much more colorful bird than the drab Tufted Titmouse. Ironically, because of its commonality, it is a lot more boring than a Titmouse.

Indigo Bunting

Indigo Bunting

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We gave up on the Tufted Titmice and made one quick stop at Murphy-Hanrehan Park for another reported Hooded Warbler.  The walk was short, and so was the birding.  This Hooded Warbler wasn’t singing or showing either.  I guess I can’t complain.  Four life birds and some other cool wildlife sightings made for a memorable trip.  Plus, we still have a warbler to hunt (the list hasn’t gotten quite short!).