BY JOHN KARRIGAN
I am still having trouble finding song birds/small birds at the park itself, but spring is maybe really here. Wood Ducks, Mallards and Canada Geese were regular for the first two weeks of March (and still are, of course), with ice totally out by the 14th, and a good rain adding 6 inches to the lake (on the 15th). Ring-billed Gulls also returned early in the month and are on the lake (in numbers from four to 20 or so) every day. A flock of about 20 American Robins arrived at their favorite tree (the big tree just south of the park building), along with a Woodpecker, on March 19. I’m pretty sure it was a Red-bellied Woodpecker, which I have never seen in the park before, or since. But I do find them (Red-bellies) at various metro nature areas. I also found Juncos in the park that day. Juncos were often in the park early in the winter, but not much since then. They, Juncos, are still in the back yard today (March 29) along with Robins, House Finches, Cardinals, Downy Woodpeckers, Goldfinches (the males now finally turning gold), Chickadees and English Sparrows. Any day now I expect the Juncos to head far up north, as far as Alaska, for the coniferous forest where they will spend the summer.
A good park staff person saw a Bald Eagle in a southside park tree in mid-month and I think I saw one over the park on Easter Sunday (March 27).
Now for things I am sure I saw at the park: On Monday, March 28, I went to the park to look for birds and things an hour before the important Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board CAC (Community Advisory Committee) meeting that was to be held either from 5 to 8 p.m., 5 to 9 p.m., or 6 to 8 p.m., depending on what you had read or been told. Anyway, before the meeting I found my first-of-the-year pair of Hooded Merganser ducks (they were still on the lake today, March 29) and my first turtle of the year, a female Painted Turtle.
The meeting was a whole other story. The first park to be dealt with was East Phillips (which I actually know somewhat), Powderhorn was supposed to be second, and then three more parks were on the agenda. There were a lot of good Powderhorn people in attendance, as the meeting was held in Powderhorn Park. East Phillips was the only one discussed and that was nowhere near complete. They had fancy plans for the five “South Service Area Master Plan” parks and various other things for other areas. No one knows what will really happen or when, and various people occasionally pointed out that they did not have money for any of them. Oh, well, back to the present Powderhorn Park.
I mentioned that the Mergansers were still on the lake today, usually in the northwest part of the lake. Also, the first Great Egret of the year was spotted today in a tree on the island and then hunting from the shore, also in the northwest part of the lake. The first Fox Sparrow of the year was in and about trees near the west lake shore.
On Wednesday afternoon (March 23), I drove back to Powderhorn from U of M’s West Bank in blizzard-like (poor visibility) conditions. Then I changed to warmer clothes and took a walk in the park, finding it to be stunningly beautiful. All deciduous and evergreen trees had somewhat less than one inch of wet snow clinging to their branches, and all litter and brown grass was blanketed in white, covering the dreariness of March. The last, hopefully, snowfall of the season produced a beautiful sight.
To make the park beautiful for the spring and summer seasons, the annual spring park cleanup will be held on Saturday, April 23, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. No preregistration is required. Participants are encouraged to bring their own gloves.
The 2015 Powderhorn365 book is now available and it’s a beauty. Of course, my favorites are the photos of birds and waterfowl. Oh, and the animals, both wild and domestic (pets). And the children. I guess they’re all my favorites. To view the photos, go to www.powderhorn365.com. Copies of 2015 (as well as previous years) are available ($25) at PPNA (612-722-4817) or online through www.ppna.org, then select PPNA in Action, then Powderhorn365 and scroll down to Order Online.
Back to the beginning of the month and not much to do with Powderhorn but nevertheless about birds: The Sandhill Crane migration along and near the Platte River in the middle of Nebraska. I have talked with at least a couple of people in the park who have asked me if I had ever seen the cranes in Nebraska as they had, and I never had until this month. Usually I travel through that area every fall and think about the cranes but don’t see any. The most Sandhill Cranes I have ever seen at once is about 20 and that was in the Crex Meadows Wildlife Area in Wisconsin. This year, in and around the city of Grand Island, there was a record 213,600 cranes on February 29. We were there on March 5. It was kind of difficult to count them but we saw at least several fields with thousands in a field, feeding on leftover corn stubble, and flocks in the sky in every direction with thousands more. A nice gentleman at the Audubon Sandhill Crane Rowe Sanctuary on the river tried to get us to stay overnight for the fantastic evening and morning spent in special crane blinds to watch and listen to them as they come and go. We could not do it this time, but maybe sometime!
Comments and observations are always welcome. Send them to me, in care of Southside Pride. Thank you.
