Snowy Trails and An Owl

 

The weather was good today - warm for January, and with a big cold snap coming which will shut things down for a while, I decided to do a ride. My plan was to hit the nearby R.T. Anderson Conservation Area, which is a great spot for owls, and then run over to Blue Lake and try for Redpoll which was reported there recently. 

The bike ride over was quite pleasant to start, although the trails were a bit snowy in places which made it more difficult - I had to be careful and go slow, which was fine, needed to pace myself with a 35 mile ride on tap. About 2 miles in, I realized that I'd forgotten my wallet - ugh, I was looking forward to stopping for a warm drink halfway. Oh well, I had plenty of water so would be ok. 

A fun area, with a natural spring and some great bluff and woodland habitat

Other than that, the ride over was easy, although the snowy bridge across the Minnesota River was a sign of things to come. I had forgotten that there is a spring there with a fountain that locals will come to to get water to drink - quite a popular thing actually. That was good, I'd refill my bottles after a hike up and down the bluffs trying for my target species - Long-eared Owl. This enigmatic species is tough to find, but has been reported here in the past (I actually saw one here years ago). I locked up my bike and started on the trail. 

Shortly after starting, I was greeted with a "Trail Closed" sign - on the trail that I wanted to go on. Bummer. Looks like they are doing some major maintenance on it - which is good because there are erosion problems, etc. on it. I was a little frustrated, but there were other good conifer stands there and I pressed on. 

Looking for owls in thick conifer stands is a bit of a slog - you have to go SLOW. They hide very, very well. Other than listening for angry chickadees or Blue Jays (who were silent today) the best way to find them is to look for "whitewash" and pellets at the bottom of a conifer, and if you see it, look up. Then go through branch by branch, really deliberately. 

Stand after stand revealed nothing. No whitewash, no mobbing chickadees - nothing. I did hear a Northern Flicker calling which was a new year bird, and a handful of other expected species, but no Long-ears. I decided to walk to another part of the park. 

On my back down the hill I happened to look across the open woodland and noticed a gray shape - Barred Owl! My first "green" owl species of the year. A common species that loves woods and wetlands, and can often be heard loudly making it's "Who-cooks-for-you" call, even during the daytime. That was something! I took out the camera and snapped a few shots, and got some of the better ones that I've got yet. Learning this photography thing, slowly but surely!

Sleepytime - shhh

Back to the walk. There was lots of open, flowing water throughout the park thanks to the spring - great place to find a skulking rarity. I made a mental note of some good looking spots for later. Today though, the best birds I saw around the water were more lingering American Robins. 

I found an another area that looked really good - open with some nice wooly conifers along the edge. As I was walking through looking for that whitewash, a scolding chickadee call caught my ear. I hoofed it over to the sound, hoping for a sleeping owl. Sadly, just chickadees being fussy for no particular reason, but I again marked this spot for later - really good potential for a Long-eared, or maybe even a Northern Saw-whet Owl, later. 

Good owl roosting habitat

After walking up and down the bluff trails and conifer stands a little more with no luck, I decided it was time to go. I really enjoyed the hike in this nice park, and will definitely return. But Redpolls were on my mind, so I grabbed some spring water from the fountain (it really was great water!), and got back on the bike. 

Things started slowing down fast after I crossed the river again. The trail to Blue Lake was a mess. Snow covered and slick. It was tough to get through with my gravel bike. I paused along the way at Shakopee Mill Pond and pondered whether I should go any further, while looking through the waterfowl there. Nothing new there. It didn't take me long to decide that another eight miles through crummy trails wasn't going to happen today. If I had a fat tire bike, no problem, but my bike just couldn't hack it. Frustrating as I was relatively close.

A little too snowy/icy for my bike

I started the ride home and was quickly glad that I didn't try to push any more. The trek back wasn't as nicely groomed and the shoulders were covered with snow. Other than a few flyby Red-tailed Hawks and American Crows, the birds were silent. OK, I thought, I'll just treat this as a "conditioning" ride. I pushed home hard. By the time I made it back to the house, my legs were on fire. Consolation prize was a small flock of European Starlings which I didn't have yet for the year. Yay? 

Still, it was fun, and I logged 20 hard miles on the bike and 2.25 miles of hiking at the park. Got my green species total for the year up to 51 as well, not bad! It will likely just be feeder watching the next few days through this cold snap, and maybe some more camera practice in the yard. Some frosty stuff coming, maybe that will drive something new to the feeder. 

Thanks for reading!