Andy's "Green Birding" Big Year

  Wild Turkey watching me as a rode by Yesterday was my 15th anniversary at my job! In honor of that occasion and with hopes of getting a few new birds for my list, I decided to bike into work. Unfortunately, the floodwaters are still too high at the river crossing for my usual route, but there's an alternative one that is more hilly and a little longer that is just fine - and that has a nice spot to stop along the way. I hit the road early with high hopes and cool-ish temperatures.  Check this place out if you're in the Twin Cities - good trails, good birds The ride into work was pleasant and mostly uneventful, although some of those hills felt steeper than I remembered them being, and I definitely broke a sweat biking up them. It's a good thing there's a shower at my office! A less than average night of sleep may have had something to do with the additional challenge, perhaps. The good news is that warblers were everywhere - there seemed to be a flock of chipping bird...

With the continued high water, I wonder if swimming is authorized, too?  As I suspected/feared, my little soybean field "fluddle" dried up this week, and the shorebirds that were there have moved on. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. With that, I decided to head back to Louisville Swamp and see if the floodwaters had receded more. I should have checked the river levels...more on that in a bit. There were other more pleasant surprises waiting for me there though! As I was riding out of my neighborhood, I heard chip notes from the treetops along the road- warbler chip notes! Not what I was really after today, but I was ready to look for them when I arrived. I wasn't disappointed there. A small flock of warblers flitting about in an oak tree was waiting for me shortly after I got on the trail.  Tennessee Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, and American Redstarts were present. A Red-eyed Vireo foraged with the flock and occasionally sang. It was really ...

I've been trying to keep momentum going here over the last week or so since my last post. You may recall from last time that I was lamenting that my main shorebird spot still had high water. Well, I've been watching a low flooded area in a soybean field that is close by on my way to work for some time, and kept thinking I was seeing shorebirds mixed in with the usual Canada Geese. Finally, while going to the gym on Saturday, I decided to bring my binoculars. I'm really glad that I did - a flock of at least 50 shorebirds were there! I burned through my workout and rushed back home, then hopped on my bike to ride back.  Thankfully, there is a decent spot to get off the road a bit there for safety's sake, which is good. There were a pretty good variety of shorebirds there. Small flocks of Least and Pectoral Sandpipers, plus a few Lesser Yellowlegs, Semipalmated Plovers, and of course Killdeer. None of these were new species, but I decided to keep a close eye on this spot a...

  Rain, rain, go away As July came to a close, a large part of me was happy to see it go. It was a hot, rainy, smoky month and the birding was less than stellar. Needless to say, air quality alerts and temperatures in the high 90s don't make for exciting birding, so I didn't get out on my bike at all the entire month. While it was fun to watch bird families around the yard, the end of the month found me excitedly watching swallows flock up, and hints of "zugenruhe" amongst the summer breeding species (look that word up for some fun).  Round after round of storms have brought lots of damage and flooding I've had Friday, August 1 circled on my mental calendar for some time as a good day to take some leave and get back on the bike. A decent forecast for milder temperatures sealed the deal and I decided to make a run over to my favorite green birding location, Louisville Swamp. I was hoping the flooding wouldn't be too bad, and maybe there would be some mudflats w...

Bobolink in a pasture Things have slowed down quite a bit, as expected with the end of spring migration. It's also been hot and rainy - and I've been busy at work. I've still managed to get out a few times though, with varying success.  The weather was decent on the Juneteenth holiday so I decided to do a ride. I had two options - head to the Rapids Lake unit of the nearby National Wildlife Refuge to try for Eastern Meadowlark and Black Tern, or stay closer and try for a Pine Warbler that had been reported at a small park not too far away. My decision was made for me that day as river flooding pretty much eliminated the refuge as a possibility.  The trails at Spring Lake Regional Park It was a pleasant ride over, with the "usual suspects" bird wise. Red-eyed Vireos, Common Yellowthroats, Great Crested Flycatchers, and other common species were singing as I biked through Spring Lake Park. After getting through there, I pulled up to the small park where the Pine War...

  Green Heron getting ready for a day of hunting frogs and such It's been a busy last week or so at the job, and the weather has been hot and hazy with smoke from wildfires up north, so I haven't been birding at all since last weekend. However, the summer doldrums are rapidly approaching - and the weather forecast looked great for Thursday - so I decided to use some leave and do a day of birding back at Murphy Hanrehan. Several species on my needs list there - Cerulean Warbler, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Virginia Rail, and a White-eyed Vireo that someone else found were on my mind. Plus, an Eastern Screech-Owl was reported there during the evening by a researcher doing moth work at night. I figured I'd get up early and try to start the day by getting that bird. The alarm sounded at 03:30 and I crawled out of bed. Not super excited for a 13-mile ride to start for sure. But I made it work. It was a pleasant morning and the ride was easy. However, even though I got there at 05:15, ...

  Last day of May - four Prothonotary Warblers! One of my milestones that I hoped to meet when I started this Big Year thing was to get 200 species by the end of May. As the final weekend of May approached, I was sitting at 198 species. There were (and are still) lots of great birds showing up at Murphy-Hanrehan, where I went last weekend. Cerulean Warbler, both cuckoos, Mourning Warbler, Virginia Rail, and a handful of others that I still need. It's a longer bike ride though and kind of a pain with construction. Plus, Thursday was "leg day" at the gym, so my legs were somewhat gelatinous. I decided to head over to my main (much closer) hotspot, Louisville Swamp. Somebody reported a Cerulean Warbler there also, and I was hoping to snag an Olive-sided Flycatcher as well, with all of the nice structure along the wetland bluff. My bike ride over was rather eventful, in a good way! I didn't leave as early as I wanted because I needed to air up the tires a bit, and I could...