Parakeets?

Not much new at the park in the last few days. The one strange sighting over my lunch hour today was a couple of parakeets (Budgerigars, I think) hanging out in the trees along the west side of the lake. At first I had assumed that the harsh chirping that I was hearing was just a group of house sparrows until I saw a small long-tailed yellow/white/blue bird fly between the trees. I guess somebody is missing a pet.

I also saw another field sparrow over lunch hour.

Over the weekend, I took a trip down to the Minnesota Valley NWR, and had a really good afternoon of birding. Beautiful weather, a bunch of first-of-the-year sightings (white-throated sparrow, tree swallow, trumpeter swan, cedar waxwing, ruddy duck, lesser scaup, redhead) and a good look at my first red-necked grebe (thanks to a look through a friendly stranger's scope). I also saw a ton of yellow-rumped warblers, some hooded mergansers and killdeer, horned grebes, bald eagles, blue-winged teals, ruby-crowned kinglets, brown-headed cowbirds, etc. etc.

Kinglet invasion

These guys are everywhere right now:



My first sighting of a Blue-winged Teal at Powderhorn park:



The pair of bluebirds I spotted a while ago seem to be sticking around, I even observed them checking out a hole in a tree over the lunch hour. If we're lucky, perhaps they'll nest in the park this year. The Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are still around as well.

Warbler Alert

I spotted my first warbler of the year last night. It was a Yellow-rumped warbler, as you might expect. I have not yet found any more this morning, but it looks like the warbler wave will be starting soon now.

In somewhat less exciting news, this morning I spotted my first Brown-headed Cowbirds of the year.

Sapsuckers and Sparrows

The Northern Shovelers don't seem to be around anymore, but they're being replaced by plenty of other new birds. Migration seems to be heating up again, as I've had a few new-for-the-year sightings (including a couple birds I've never seen before) in the last couple of days. The new arrivals to the park include at least two Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers (which seem to be juveniles since I couldn't see any red on their heads), a lone American Coot, a Chipping Sparrow, and my first-ever sighting of a Field Sparrow:



In addition, I'm still seeing lots of phoebes (several of which are singing their "phoebes" quite loudly and persistently), lots of flickers, occasional hermit thrushes, up to 4 pied-billed grebes at a time, and a ruby-crowned kinglet.

I also took a quick trip over to lake harriet yesterday to see some of the reported horned grebes that showed up after the rain storm. There were reported to be at least 150 of them on the two lakes, but I think most of those were only viewable with a high-powered scope. I did have very nice looks at a small group of four horned grebes, along with a pair of buffleheads, a flock of red-breasted mergansers, and numerous pied-billed grebes and coots.

Shovelers, and a recap of the past week

My first Northern Shoveler sighting at Powderhorn Park:



There were two pairs on the lake over the noon hour today. (Update: they were still there at 7pm in the evening)

Also notable of late: yesterday morning I saw upwards of 10-15 Eastern phoebes, so they're certainly back in numbers. So are the Northern Flickers, of which I saw at least 10 on my walk this morning. Other sightings over the lunch hour include a gorgeous breeding-plumage male Swamp Sparrow (with a bright rufous-red cap), and a solitary hermit thrush skulking in the conifers near the tennis courts.

I've also been seeing double-crested cormorants and pied-billed grebes regularly. I usually see at least one grebe on my walks around the lake, but there have been up to 2 or 3 at a time. The great blue heron has also been around somewhat regularly.

I saw my first mourning doves of the year last week.

Hermit Thrush, Cormorant fly-by

A couple new arrivals sighted in the last couple of days. A hermit thrush was skulking around near the conifers by the tennis courts early Saturday morning. This morning, I saw a flock of 16 cormorants fly over the lake, though they didn't stop. I assume the resident cormorants should be setting up shop on the island in the near future.

Last night I saw a pair of great blue herons at dusk, the first time this year I've seen more than one at Powderhorn. Also, I had another pied-billed Grebe sighting this morning.

Rusty Blackbirds

A new bird for me at Powderhorn Park tonight: a flock of 30+ Rusty Blackbirds landed in the huge tree near the tennis courts at the top of the hill. This morning I saw my first Northern Flickers of the year, as well as a large number of skittish Song Sparrows and at least one more Brown Creeper.