Birding, Birding and More Birding

For a non-birder, I sure have been birding a lot lately! I just learned that the Mississippi River is a migratory flyway for 60% of the continent's bird species! That's kind of incredible. And I'm sure it's part of the reason our birding hikes are so popular! Our first event of the season back in early April was a waterfowl watching event at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Unfortunately it was also unbelievably, ridiculously cold, so I must admit, it wasn't the best first birding experience for me. I was amazed, impressed, and bewildered that we had 30-some people show up that frigid morning - that's how desperate Minnesotans get for spring, and how excited people get about birds!

We recently had a series of birding events, starting off with one right in the city, in the Gorge. We were super fortunate to have The Experts on the birds in this area as guides, Dave Zumeta and Lee Pfanmuller. We had another big group of people. It was pretty early on a Saturday mornng, and I was pretty tired, but I couldn't stop smiling the whole time I was out there! People were having so much fun, learning so much, and getting to know this amazing stretch of river that's right in the middle of the city. We saw so many birds, but the highlight for me was definitely the Red-bellied Woodpecker who just popped out of his nest in a tree! It was also great to hear Dave talk about the impact our volunteers have made through the restoration of the oak savanna and prairie bowl, and how he now sees a greater variety and number of species because of the habitat that has been created!

Next was another even earlier morning outing at a natural area owned by Flint Hills Resources, an oil refinery in Rosemount. They, along with FMR and hundreds of volunteers, have worked to restore this land, which is part pf the Pine Bend Bluffs and happens to be some of the highest quality natural area along the Mississippi that is left in this part of the state. It was exciting just to be on this land, as it has a secured entry and is not normally accessible to the public. Oak savannas are rare enough these days, but a sand gravel prairie overlooking the river? Beautiful. The most exciting bird of this day was the Scarlet Tanager!

Then this week we had an evening outing at Crosby Regional Park. One of the best things about my job, besides getting to be outside, meeting great people, and always learning new things, is that these events keep taking me to new places that I've never been to before, in spite of me having lived here for years and all of these places being so close! Crosby is another great park that is kind of right in the city, yet you don't feel like it at all. There are marshes and lakes, shady woodlands, and of course, the river. It was a little windy, which makes it less than primo for birding, so our guides were a little discouraged. I remembered to bring my plant books and learned a few new plants: wood nettle, littleleaf or aborted buttercup, and celandine. We saw a beautiful Baltimore Oriole, an immature and mature eagle soaring around together, and 3 beavers racing each other across the marsh. The real treat came when we went to peek at the nest of a Barred Owl, and actually found the owl sitting in a tree!

And now, for the real birders out there, here is the list of the birds we saw at Pine Bend (where we saw the greatest number of species):
Tennessee warbler
Common yellow throat warbler
Northern Parula warbler
Yellow rumped Warbler
Palm warbler
Blackburnian warbler
Nashville warbler
Blackpoll warbler
Wild turkey
Brown-headed cowbird
Song sparrow
Chipping sparrow
Lincoln’s sparrow
Clay-colored sparrow
House wren
Great crested flycatcher
Eastern bluebird
Indigo bunting
Eastern wood-pewee
Black-capped chickadee
Red eyed vireo
Blue-grey gnatcatcher (observed 2 pairs building nests)
Red tailed hawk
Scarlet tanager
Blue jay
Red-winged blackbird
Cedar waxwing
Brown thrasher
Eastern kingbird
Rose-breasted grosbeak (observed 1 pair building nest)
Tree swallow
Northern rough-winged swallow
American robin
Field sparrow
Eastern meadowlark
Eastern towhee
Eastern phoebe

Garlic Mustard Wars

I've spent the last two Saturdays locked in a vicious battle with a formidable foe - the dastardly garlic mustard! Ok fine, I hung out in the pretty woods with some great people, hand-pulling lots of little plants, getting fresh air and sunshine, and making a difference that I could immediately see the result of.

Garlic mustard is an exotic shady woodland plant that is highly invasive and posing quite a threat to native plants. We've designed a couple of events to train people in identifying and pulling garlic mustard, with the hopes that they will then return to the sites on their own to pull more. Last Saturday we went to Pine Bend Bluffs Scientific and Natural Area and had more of an "off the beaten path" experience. We focused our energy on one slope that was pretty well covered in garlic mustard, and it was so gratifying to see the difference at the end of the day!

This Saturday we were at the river gorge, which is a truly amazing section of the river right in the middle of the city. After doing a quick orientation and background on garlic mustard, we took people to a slope of the restored oak savanna. This area has had quite a bit of attention and work done in it, so it is teeming with a variety of good natives, like this beautiful bloodroot plant.

After doing a number on the garlic mustard there, we headed over to the river flats, a large section of floodplain that is sadly carpeted with garlic mustard. Once you learn how to identify a bad plant and then walk into a place that is overgrown with it, it's pretty shocking and kind of overwhelming. Then again, you don't have to worry so much about pulling the wrong thing - anything different really stands out!

When our time was up we had pulled bags and bags of garlic mustard, and yet there was still so much there! Hopefully these wonderful volunteers will be able to get back out there and pull some more before it goes to seed in the next few weeks. It would take a lot more time and a lot more people to pull all of it. But at the very least I think we helped keep the garlic mustard from spreading and taking over new areas, and that is significant. That gives a little more hope for the good guys, like this super fun jack-in-the-pulpit!