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Hello! I hope you’ve been having a great week! Today I went out for a different type of wandering… along with Mark and our friend Judy, I participated in a Prairie bird survey, or point count. We wandered over a fairly vast area of newly restored prairie, but did not follow any trails. In all, we were out for about 2.5 hours. We tallied 154 birds of 27 species, and even discovered this little Grasshopper Sparrow’s nest.

It was a cool-ish day, in the low 60’s, which made for pleasant walking… although I have to admit it was almost like bushwhacking in a few places!  We had to be very careful of where we placed our feet at every step, since there are many birds that nest on the ground in grassland areas, for obvious reasons.  The nest above was hidden under some thatched dried grasses which had been made into a kind of little cave, and I would never have seen it if the female hadn’t flown off right in front of me, only a single step away!

The prairie was beautifully green and lush, and the grasses swayed gently in the light breeze.  The sky was overcast, which meant the sun wasn’t beating down on us – we were all thankful for that, as there is precious little shade out there, as you can see!

Because we were being so careful about where our feet landed, we noticed a number of things on or near the ground that we might not have noticed otherwise.  We watched a large bumblebee hum from flower to flower, and we narrowly avoided several deep ditches and holes in the ground as well, thankfully!  Mark also spotted these Fall Webworm Moths clinging to a slender blade of grass.  It seemed love was in the air (or the grass) everywhere we looked…

Aside from moths, bees, and birds, the prairie is a popular place and there were others sharing it with us as well this morning… 

Overall it was a lovely walk, and to be able to wander without a path underfoot is very liberating once in a while.  All three of us are very happy with our point count results, as well as the supplemental discoveries we made, small and large, along the way!

(As a side note, we do have authorization to be off-trail in that area. Please don’t wander off provided paths unless you have permission from the park or landowner.)

To begin, I tried to publish this post two days ago, but I’ve been having some technical difficulties with the site.  Please excuse the delay!

Well, the 7 Day Challenge ended yesterday, and I can honestly say that I spent at least a half hour out of every one of those days outside. Due to work and other commitments, I wasn’t able to wander every day, but just getting out in nature was the primary goal. Since getting out in nature is my primary goal as well, it wasn’t too difficult to meet and exceed the half hour a day minimum requirement!

Mark and I spent several days in our own yard, taking care of some overdue spring chores: raking, trimming, weeding, planting, and pond maintenance. In the 26 years I’ve lived in our house, I’ve been diligent about avoiding adding any harmful chemicals to my yard. When Mark and I married, he was just as adamant that we continue that practice, which has extended to the
maintenance of the pond we built in the backyard almost seven years ago. So garden weeds are dealt with strictly by hand pulling and digging. The pond receives beneficial bacteria to help maintain the small ecosystem, and occasional barley in the spring to help keep algae blooms from taking over – nothing else is ever added. The pond community seems happy – these two Green Frog friends are two of eleven we have living there this summer. We turned the bottom of the front yard into a rain garden the same year we put in the pond, and it is thriving now, with little help from us other than some weeding. The annual event that, to me, proves choosing a natural yard was the right decision (not that I really need proof, to be honest), is the June arrival of fireflies. When I bought this house, in the early 1990’s, there were no fireflies (lightning bugs) in the neighborhood. A few years later I noticed a few, maybe a half dozen or so at the edge of the woods. From that point on, every year I’ve counted more and more of these fascinating tiny creatures, and today we have hundreds! They glitter among the trees in the woods, give the rain garden an almost Christmassy look, and seem to play hide and seek among the plants surrounding the pond. Watching them is mesmerizing and magical – and I don’t believe they would be here at all if we hadn’t provided a safe environment for them.

One day during the Challenge week, I did have to work all day. But that didn’t pose too much of a problem, as the day was spent outdoors with groups of young children, teaching them about lake and lakeshore habitats. It was such fun, and I’m quite sure I learned just as much as the children did. Before they arrived, I found a water scorpion in the shallows of the lake, and the kids had a great time looking for it – and were all so excited when they finally spotted it!
Two of the Challenge days I joined with a group of songbird banders I’m associated with, assisting with public banding programs. We don’t ever know for sure what we’ll end up with when banding songbirds, but we were kept very busy during both of these programs. In total we banded 64 birds, including a Black-billed Cuckoo (pictured here), which is a bird many of us had never seen before, and the banders hadn’t encountered at that location in almost 20 years! Quite exciting!

Even though it was a busy week, I did get out to do a little wandering. Mark and I took a walk along the Lake Trail at Carver Park, and spent a bit of time listening to this little House Wren singing away just before we left the park.  It was a lovely ending to a wonderful week spent in the wild outdoors!

I haven’t had a chance to post lately, but I have been walking.  Today I want to write about some wandering Mark and I did at Minnewashta Regional Park on Friday.  It was an overcast day, and a bit cool, but that made for great walking weather!  We took the Woodland Trail, which winds along the lakeshore for a good portion of the way and, as advertised, it’s all woodland.  The path is primarily grassy, which made a nice change from all the paved trails we’ve been walking lately…although there were one or two areas that we had to navigate due to a little mud (see photo)…

Actually, the muddy bits were few and the navigating was pretty easy – even the ruts in the photo weren’t as bad as they look – so don’t let a little mud deter you if you’d like to visit this park!

Birdlife has been abundant over the past week as migrants move through, and that includes Minnewashta Park.  Warblers made up many of the species we spotted, such as Black and White Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, a Mourning Warbler, American Redstarts, Yellow-rumped Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Blackpoll Warblers, and especially Yellow Warblers, such as the one pictured here.

For those interested in birds, we did see other species as well…  several species of sparrow, Red-winged Blackbirds, a Caspian Tern soaring and diving over the lake, a Great-crested Flycatcher, and this handsome Gray-cheeked Thrush.

The woods were quiet (aside from the section which borders Highway 41), and we only saw a couple of other people along the way.  Of course, we were there on a weekday, which might explain some of the quiet!

This ramble was largely focused on birds, since there were so many around us.  But the trail is beautiful even without so much birdsong and bird activity, and the woods serene.  It wasn’t a long walk, but we spent a couple of hours lingering along the lakeshore and all through the forest.  I certainly recommend this park to anyone who would like a short, peaceful break.

I’d also like to mention that tomorrow begins an initiative called the Rewild Your Life 7 Day Challenge.  The challenge is to spend at least 30 minutes out in nature every day for seven days, and the idea is to help you relax, begin to improve your health, and to connect with nature.  I will be taking the challenge, and encourage you to do the same.  If you’re interested, you can check it out in more detail on the inspiring We Are Wildness Facebook page. There you will find a guidebook that can be downloaded at no charge.  The book contains recommendations for your time in nature, inspirational content, space to write your own thoughts or sketch what you find on your walks, and even a nature scavenger hunt.  If you take the challenge, I’d love to hear about your adventures and insights – and I will certainly be sharing mine with you!

Until then… a little Common Blue Violet from me to you… 

The legend of lumberjack Paul Bunyan is shared by many states, but the Paul Bunyan Trail in central Minnesota is where we headed this week, and where I learned more of the legend than I ever remember learning before.  I won’t go very far into the folk tale here, other than to mention that it is, apparently, due to Paul’s companion, Babe the Blue Ox, that we owe the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota:  Babe’s huge, deep footprints filled with water, giving us the many lakes we enjoy today.  By the way… for the record, there are actually 11,842 lakes in Minnesota (bodies of water encompassing 10 acres or more), so evidently Babe really got around!  The trail stretches from Baxter/Brainerd to Bemidji, and has rich historical significance as well as a wealth of natural scenery, including boreal forests and over 20 of Babe’s lakes.  The trail itself follows an old railroad corridor originally built in 1893, and is currently the longest rail-trail in the country.  The town of Nisswa, where we walked, has an old pioneer town and rail cars that are open to those who are interested in visiting and learning more.

However, although my husband is an avid railway buff, on this blog we are more interested in the surrounding countryside.

The entire 123 miles of the Paul Bunyan Trail is paved, so it is easy going.  Most of the three miles we walked were bordered by conifers, making the path shady and relatively quiet.  Our walk was an early evening amble, and although we met a few local human residents along the trail, we didn’t encounter many other species, at least on the way north.  At the point where we decided to turn around to head back, we were greeted by an Eastern Phoebe, pictured here, but it was a short greeting and we were left alone again quite quickly.  The point we chose to turn back was at the channel between Nisswa Lake and Lower Cullen Lake, and from this spot there is a view of both lakes.  Lower Cullen Lake is close by and the perspective from the trail is serene, one can see much of the lakeshore through the trees.  Nisswa Lake is on the opposite side of Highway 371, so there is some traffic noise, but the many trees do a good job of muffling those sounds, and the lake can be glimpsed beyond the highway.  We lingered here, enjoying the sounds of the rushing water in the channel, as well as the warmth of the sun as it neared the western horizon.  It’s a lovely spot, along a very beautiful trail.

The way back was almost as quiet, but as we neared the town of Nisswa we were serenaded by a cacophony of Sparrows. We identified White-throated, Clay-colored, and Chipping Sparrows, with a couple of American Robins joining in.  They were all busily foraging for their last meals of the day, as the sun was beginning to set by then.  We wandered slowly past them.  It had been a busy day and Mark and I were both tired, but it was such a peaceful walk we didn’t want it to end.  I would like to take in more of the Paul Bunyan Trail at some point – my guess is that most of the trail is just as lovely as the small portion we experienced this week!

This gorgeous warm spring weather has been so long in coming…I just can’t get enough of it!  Between the sun’s pleasant rays, 81 degree temps, and a light breeze to keep us from getting overly hot, how could we possibly stay indoors? So yesterday Mark and I took another walk in Carver Park Reserve.  This time we tried Maple Trail, which is a trail we took once before in late winter.  I was hoping to see some Sandhill Cranes, as they’ve been seen flying that direction fairly frequently lately, but no luck there.

Most of Maple Trail winds through deciduous woodland, but one section cuts through a marshy area adjacent to the west end of Lake Zumbra, utilizing floating boardwalks to cross the wetland area.  While in the woods, we spent most of our time peering up into the treetops, as Barred Owls are known to spend time in that area.  Luckily Mark was looking at the trail ahead at one point, and spotted what looked like a brilliant spark of flame in the branches of a fallen tree.  It turned out to be a male Baltimore Oriole, the first we’d seen so far this year.  He was very intent on foraging among the branches of the tree, and paid no attention to us whatsoever.  His vivid breast blazed alternately a deep orange and a radiant gold. Quite a striking bird, wouldn’t you agree?

As far as birds went, we didn’t see too much overall, but what we did see was memorable. Besides the Oriole, we watched a Bald Eagle soaring overhead while we were crossing the boardwalk, and heard the cackling call of another eagle to the west of us at the same time. Just as we were about to step onto the boardwalk, though, we realized that the way ahead of us was blocked by a Canada Goose, standing right in the middle of the walkway, preening.  We moved slowly toward the goose, trying our best to appear non-threatening.  Although it glanced our direction now and then, it largely paid us no heed.  We spent some time watching dragonflies darting about, but finally, after a good 10 minutes, we got close enough and the goose slipped into the water so we could pass.  Once we were out of the way, it immediately popped back up onto the same spot on the boardwalk and continued preening.  What a courteous goose!

A bit further down the trail, we met two Hairy Woodpeckers (pictured here) having a rambunctious disagreement as we passed by.  It was very interesting to watch.

Aside from bird song, and the occasional bird sighting, we were serenaded along much of the trail by frogs, mostly Chorus Frogs, I believe (although I’m not very good at identifying frog and toad calls yet).  Even though we looked for them, most remained invisible to us, which was pretty much expected.  However, I did get some glimpses of a couple of Green Frogs, such as the one I photographed here.

As exciting as all these encounters were, this walk was largely uneventful and very relaxing.  We walked slowly and took our time, just enjoying the weather and the serenity of the woods.  It’s amazing to me how many interesting and wonderful patterns and textures you can find, just by looking at trees.  I thought these two trees in particular were fascinating… one looks to me like a group of dancers, all pointing slipper-clad toes in a close, graceful group.  The other is a scar, with an arresting design where the tree healed.

If it weren’t for the fact that we were starting to get hungry, we didn’t want this walk to end!  But we eventually did make our way back to the parking area.  The last thing to catch our eyes before we left the trail was the upheaval pictured below – the signs of a fresh, barely underground tunnel left by an industrious mole!

…Or more precisely, Full Moon Walk.  As I mentioned Saturday, I had a couple of short walks planned for yesterday.  The first was with a raptor on my arm, so I didn’t get any photos taken then (I should learn the art of one-handed photography!).  The Red-tailed Hawk and I wandered down to the lake and watched the Trumpeter Swans and sunning Painted Turtles before heading back.  It was really an uneventful walk, but the weather was beautiful and I like to get the birds out for a saunter when I can.

Later that day, shortly before sunset, I met with the group scheduled to take a short hike under the light of the full moon in Carver Park.  The sky was clear, except for a few clouds here and there, so we knew we’d have plenty of light once the moon was up.  However, we did meet a little early and headed out just as the sun was setting. This gave us plenty of time to walk in well-lit conditions before the darkness set in.

We walked to the lake first, to take in the stunning sunset, pictured here.  From there we wandered past a couple of marshy areas to do a little testing of our frog and toad call identification skills.  The Chorus Frogs were in fine tune!

From there we headed to one of the more heavily wooded trails in Carver Park, Oak Trail.  On our way we passed the Sledding Hill, over which the moon was just beginning to rise (pictured here).  Behind us, Venus was preparing to set behind the western shore of the lake.

Once we reached the forest, we spread out and spent a little time just listening.  We heard a number of frog species and a couple of Canada Geese, and saw several Sandhill Cranes fly by overhead.  But we were all elated when we spotted two Bald Eagles skimming the treetops directly above us.  One of them landed in a tree just to the east, then called – the other soared to the south of us.  It was still light enough for us to see them above the trees, and we were able to track them until they disappeared beyond the woods.

I had taken the resident Barred Owl out with us, since night is her favorite time of day. It’s always fascinating to watch her become more and more alert and interested as the daylight fades to night.  She saw the eagles too, but in true owl fashion, stayed calm and motionless, just watching the two larger birds fly off.  Once we were back at the nature center, another Barred Owl started to call from the woodland we had just been walking in…and that got all our attention, especially our owl!

Before leaving the park, I stopped by the Dragonfly Pond to catch a quick photo of the moonlight reflecting on water, to round out my moon walk photos.  There was a light breeze, but it was still fairly warm.  I could have stayed out there for hours!

When I was young and living in northwestern Wyoming, we used to ski from the top of Teton Pass to the road at the bottom, all by the light of a full moon.  I remember those nights of shifting shadows and blue-white luminosity, snow sparkling in moonlight, the wind through my hair, and the crisp freshness of the mountain air.  Night is a wonderful time to get out in nature no matter what time of the year, as long as you know the area you are in and are safe (let someone know where you will be, or have others with you)…I highly recommend it!