BY JOHN KARRIGAN
I might have more travel adventures to write about this month. Or I might not.
The world-renowned Powder-horn Lake actually receded enough that the concrete walls around some of the lake were again visible after being underwater for most of the summer. The water has again come back up to a small degree.
Black-crowned Night Herons were still on the lake at various times, but I might have seen the last one on Oct. 19.
A Bald Eagle landed at the very top of one of the very tall pine trees on Oct. 10, after trying another nearby pine top that would not quite hold him (or her). And a Bald Eagle came by to check on the new driveway being installed in the back yard on Oct. 22. The Bald Eagles will probably continue in the park and over the neighborhood until the lake freezes.
A Hermit Thrush was west of the lake early in the month and White-throated Sparrows, Fox Sparrows and Song Sparrows were also around early in the month. A few of the Song Sparrows sometimes stay all winter.
Dark-eyed Juncos (which belong to the sparrow family) have arrived in the park and in back yards. They will stay for a long time because they come down from way up north and consider this a warm place for winter. The Downy Woodpeckers will probably also stay all winter. And the remaining regular water birds—Canada Geese, Mallard Ducks, Wood Ducks and Ring-billed Gulls—will probably stay around a while longer.
This time of year I keep looking for new arrivals of land birds or water birds, and this year I did not do too well on land birds. But yesterday (Oct. 26), I found a Pied-billed Grebe on the lake. The Grebe was trying to fool me by being in its complete winter colors. But it couldn’t fool me! I looked it up in five bird books and when I found it in the first (autographed to me) “Stokes” field guide, I was sure it was a Pied-billed Grebe. A number of Pied-billed Grebes show up in Powderhorn every spring and some stay for several weeks in the spring. I will continue to look for late travelers of any kind. I expect I will see some more water birds. I have seen both Horned Grebes and Eared Grebes in Powderhorn but only in the spring. Every now and then I do see unusual ducks or geese at Powderhorn in late fall or early winter, and of course the winter and all other weather seems to keep getting stranger.
The back yard is doing well lately. Besides the overhead Eagle visit, there are many Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals, American Goldfinches, English Sparrows, and fairly regularly, White-breasted Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers.
After a short break from wrinting
I just made an almost sunset walk to the park. As I walked down Karrigan Way, the diagonal walk from 35th Street and 15th Avenue down to the lake, I found about 150 to 200 Canada Geese in the grass on both sides of the path and on the walk itself. I quietly and slowly walked through the whole group and they (the Canada Geese) accepted me as the great writer and walker that I am. I guess I might be getting ahead of myself. The Park Board has not yet named the sidewalk after me, and the Canada Geese might have just been ignoring me as they usually do.
Anyway, while down by the lake, with very careful watching, I was again able to find the Pied-billed Grebe. It spends a lot of its time under water and partially and quickly surfaces to grab some fresh air.
Maybe I will find various water or other birds before winter strikes.
Going back to last month’s column and describing our animal-viewing experiences in Colorado, I should explain that I was not writing about those cute little black-capped birds. When writing about Chickarees, that was not a typographical error. Chickarees are small-ish squirrels that spend more time on the ground than in trees. One of their distinguishing marks is the white eye-ring. We watched one of these feisty little characters chase Juncos and Least Chipmunks from the food we put out on the patio.
Comments and observations are always welcome. Send them to me, in care of Southside Pride. Thank you.
