Nature Walks and thoughts

A few poems and revisit to North Mississippi Park

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 20:06:37 GMT

Hello Nature lovers!! This morning we got up early and went back to North Mississippi Regional park. Whenever I see the majesty of nature shouting out with glory I feel a bit of poetry welling up inside so i'm going to share a couple of well known poems here that convey better than my words and perhaps even better than my pictures what it was like on our walk.
"The summer morn is bright and fresh, the birds are darting by As if they loved to breast the breeze that sweeps the cool clear sky."
- William C. Bryant
"Colored scents that fill the air as drowsy insects hum around in the meadow is the place of secret magic where nature alone renews itself."
-   Kate Bergquist

"The dandelions and buttercups gild all the lawn: the drowsy bee stumbles among the clover tops,
and summer sweetens all to me."
-   James Russell Lowell

We walked nearly four miles this morning along the river and back. The weather was warm but not hot. There were places to sit down for a break out of the sun drink a little water from a fountain and catch our breath and see a few bikers and fellow hikers along the trail. We saw quite a few birds including a redstart and an Eastern Kingbird. We noticed that there was quite a mess near the picnic tables from last nights and yesterdays fourth of July celebration. It's too bad people don't like to clean up after themselves. All in all it was a joyous walk.

"Along the river's summer walk,
The withered tufts of asters nod;
And trembles on its arid stalk
the hoar plum of the golden-rod."
-   John Greenleaf Whittier

Enjoy your weekend everyone.
Ron

Tags: Summer poetry, birds, wildflowers, Mississippi River

North Mississippi Regional Park

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:58:12 GMT

Hello Nature lovers!!
Carolyn and I headed a bit south this morning to the North Mississippi Regional Park. It is on the same river that we always hike on but about ten miles south. We stopped in at the nature center and met some very nice people. We have been here before but this is the first time this year. The woman at the desk answered some questions but when we mentioned that we were looking for a scarlet tanager and we saw in their phenology book that one was spotted near Olsen's island we were stumped because we had not heard of that island name. One of their naturalists a man named Jim was called for and between us we figured out that Olsen's island is where the Heron rookery is. We knew where that was. We talked a bit and found out that we knew some of the same birders like Paul and Oscar and Bob. He was very helpful and I gave him my journal link and we went our way. The trail is well kept up and much of it is paved but of course we strayed off quite a bit choosing unpaved paths whenever possible. We saw several dragonflies but my eye was always out for the scarlet tanager. At one point we stopped by a little bridge and I heard an American Redstart. They do not stay put long and the only photos i could get were grainy and poorly focused but at least we saw one. The wild flowers in this park are gorgeous. I only have a few photos here but I think you will catch my drift.
There is a wild sunflower there that really took my eye.
On our way back we saw a veritable prairie of fox tail and other wild flowers. We also saw an indigo bunting and a northern ficker. We stopped in at the nature center once again to help identify what we had seen and to buy a few books. We got one on wild flowers so hopefully in the future we can give you better id's on these flowers.
We look forward to coming back to this lovely park and hopefully seeing at last that Scarlet Tanger. By the way we did spot one at thispark about three years ago.
Thanks for reading.
Ron

An Osprey Chic to see

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:31:53 GMT

Hello bird lovers!! It's been nearly two years since we've seen an osprey chick at the Coon Rapids Dam. Last year nothing hatched and there was only one the year before. Oscar reported seeing this chick for the first time nine or ten days ago and other observers have said similar things. I saw him first about three days ago and got my first picture on Saturday and then a few more yesterday. It is estimated that he is three weeks old and will fly in the next four to five weeks. Probably , the consensus seems to be, that it will not be banded because this tower is simply too high for the cherry picker truck to reach.

We had a friendly time at the Dam yesterday. Paul was there with his telescope and Oscar with his spotting scope. Both were allowing visitors to look through and see the birds. Carolyn and I sat between them. Oscar told birding stories like the time he approached a pileated Woodpecker at a farm to observe it eating from a feeder and the farmer approached him with a pitchfork in his hand. Fortunately Oscar had his grandson with him and the farmer realized he was harmless.
Paul was sharing his info about osprey with several families who were duly impressed at what they were witnessing. That's Paul on the left and Oscar partly cut off on the right. Carolyn in the center.

We walked about a half an hour during which we saw a woodchuck and a very small butterfly that we have yet to identify. Take a look in the box above and let me know if you know what it is. I will update this later when I find out.
The weather is great out. We are painting today some of our car port.
Ron

What is so rare as a day in June?

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:05:45 GMT

Hello Friends and Nature lovers!! Since I'm naming this what is so rare as a day in June i thought I'd give you the source of that poem. He was James Russel Lowell and he lived from 1819-1891. He was one of the fireside poets like Longfellow and Whittier.
Here is a longer quote from the poem

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays:

The last few days have been quite lovely in Coon Rapids though the nights have had some rain. Yesterday we watched our friend Danielle's son Tallen. Readers of this blog have seen him before. Brooklyn agreed to come to the dam with us in the afternoon after we took Tallen to see Kung Fu Panda. It's mostly a kids movie but Carolyn and I mostly enjoyed it. It was getting warm as we walked but Brook and Tallen ran and really seemed to enjoy playing with each other. While we were down there and the two of them were playing sword fighting with little sticks Carolyn and I closely observed a mother Wood duck with her three chicks. I wish these pictures were better but at least you can clearly distinguish them.
After that we cooled down and went home.
This morning Carolyn and I were up bright and early and down to the dam to observe the osprey. Well we did not get a picture of any chicks but I'm pretty sure I saw one two days ago. I really liked this cloud formation this morning. So I thought I'd share it with you Back on the Coon Rapids side we headed north for a change. We saw lots of dragon flies and a couple possibly mating. (See the photo box above.) We also so a hooded merganser with chicks and many other ducks with chicks. Wandering through the long grass and prairie flowers in the balmy morning was a healing experience for me and unless you have some allergies I highly recommend it. This is the pond where we saw the Mergansers.
Not many wonderful June days left to enjoy. I hope you can get out.
Ron

Carolyn's Flowers

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:09:12 GMT

Hello Flower Lovers
I used to do gardening but because of my back and knees the last few years the job has been taken over by Carolyn. She loves her flowers and I do too so I thought I'd share them with you. Here are a few late entries. We had about fifty square feet of these Lily of the Valley's.

This is called a soprano lilac spoon.
This is a yellow iris

Lastly this is a purple iris.

We have several other species of flowers but these are my favorites on this blog today.
Summer is here.
Ron

Bee

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:03:59 GMT

Hi
Just a short entry. Had to add this Bee that I got a shot of this morning.
Ron

A surprise guided walk

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:25:31 GMT

Hi Everyone!! Well it's nearly the longest day of the year. Yesterday morning we stopped in at the YMCA and did some stretching. I had just gotten off from a stretch of working nights and expected to have a short walk and then go home and take a nap. On the way out of the Y we saw our friend Jim just coming in.
    He often sends us pictures of nature that are sometimes quite spectacular. We told him we were heading to the dam and he said "sounds like you'll have a fun time!" Turns out we was right.
    When we arrived we stopped in at the Anoka County building to see what has been spotted lately. We found the naturalist Gary working that day and a woman asked him what she should look for when she went hiking. He said he was going out on his morning phenology* hike and would take her along if she wanted to go, we of course wanted to go too so now we're out seeing things that we might have missed. One thing that we shared was that we knew where an Indigo Bunting has been hanging out and we brought the woman and Gary right to him. I hope you don't mind but I have more pictures of him. I just love this bird. After this we started down along the east side of Lake Cinaiko observing dragonflies and other birds.   At one point I ,without my glasses,
walked to the side of the road and got within two feet of what I thought was a wild yellow rose of some kind only to see that it was a gold finch instead with his head facing the other way. I quickly got a picture before he flew off. The woman was herself quite knowledgeable about birds and wildlife and it was fun for Carolyn and I to compare notes with her and Gary. Her regret was that she had forgotten her camera andonly had her binoculars. Gary asked me to take pictures of a couple of dragonflies which he identified but several of which I forgot. I have them in my photo box above.
   We came back last evening near sunset and observed the osprey. We saw one of them sitting high atop a dead tree near the rive while the other sat in the nest. I'm hoping that it won't be long before we see some chics.
Thanks for reading.
Ron

*phenology |fiˈnäləjē|
noun
the study of cyclic and seasonal natural phenomena, esp. in relation to climate and plant and animal life
Tags: IndigoBunting, American Goldfinch, Dragonfly

Dragonflies, hummingbirds, osprey, and aquatic creatures

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:31:52 GMT

Hello nature lovers!!
Well last Saturday was a most interesting hike. Carolyn and I decided to hike on the Hennepin county side of the dam but first we spotted one of our nesting osprey catching a fish on the Anoka side of the dam by the channel.   This is him diving. I showed it to someone later and he said he had no idea that they got so much immersed.   Well neither did I.This is his catch. It looks to be a catfish to me. He was back less than five minutes later without the fish and we concluded that he did not find the fish to his liking and let it go but who knows?
We then crossed the dam and went to the Three rivers park office and i talked to a woman, I think her name was Becky but I could be wrong, in any case after we talked I went out side and spotted a dragonfly immediately and while i was taking pictures she ran out and said"is that a dragonfly?" I said "yes" and she got her camera and took pictures of it. Here it is. Later we looked it up in her book and she concluded that it was a widow skimmer probably immature male or female. She said that the center was asking her to keep a count of dragonflies. Next we headed south on the trail. We saw a cardinal and a hummingbirdand while we were at the wetlands area Carolyn and i spotted a large fish and maybe a few smaller ones causing quite a stir in the water. The fish looked to be five feet or more in length and was jumping out of the water and circling in about a fifty foot circle,mostly on top of the water. Of course the water there is quite shallow so you wouldn't expect to see many fish in it though there are egrets and other fish eating birds often in the area. I did not get a full picture of it's body but this might give you some idea.It is our version of the loch ness monster, I think. We saw and i took pictures of several dragonflies in the area, I have more of them in the box above and we saw at least three young deer who were not afraid to get close.We also spotted a tree swallow coming out of her nest box.   After checking out the osprey platform we returned to see Becky and I showed her some dragonfly photos from the previous two hours. She gave me a phone number and suggested I contact the dragonfly surveyist which i have yet to do and become a volunteer for it.
    Well that's all for now. I wish you all a great June afternoon.
Ron

Tags: Dragonfly, hummingbird, osprey, treeswallow, eastern kingbird

Colorful Friday the 13th

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:32:46 GMT

Hello Nature Lovers!!
    Well it was an absolutely gorgeous day as we started our walk around Cinaiko lake in the C.R. dam park on the Anoka side. We parked by the lake and walked no more than five minutes when I spotted the Indigo Bunting shown here.Whenever Carolyn and I see one of these beautiful birds we feel like some angel in heaven has smiled upon us. We stayed quite a while and followed him around and i took numerous pictures and videos.   It was very breezy and on one perch his branch was blowing him fifteen or twenty feet in various directions while I'm trying to get a video.   Finally he was out of sight and we began a circular hike around Cinaiko lake. There weren't many fishermen out and one that I stopped and talked to said that even though they stock the lake with trout in the fall that all he was getting were carp.
Our next colorful bird was a rose-breasted gross beak .Here he is eating some seed.   There were many wildflowers out and though I used to know many of them this flowering tree I can't seem to place but I liked it. Perhaps a plum blossom. As we headed towards the south side of the lake we saw a Monarch butterfly and a couple of bluebirds. I looked for the Kestral but saw no signs of him or his kin on the pole or nearby it where they used to nest.   There were many barn swallows dive bombing in the area and flying low above the river. We decided to go to the Anoka park center and used the facilities.   The woman on duty there showed us some pretty lilac bell shaped flowersthat one of the staff had brought in. None of us knew what they were but they sure were lovely. If anyone has a name for these please let me know. After this we headed across the dam to see how the osprey were doing.
    A few of us osprey watchers believe that the chics have hatched and that there is likely more than one. I hoped to see the adults feeding the chics but instead I found one of the adults hoarding his catch on a nearby tree.
By this time we had been out hiking for nearly two hours. It was time to head home. Not long after we got home we were saddened to hear that Tim Russert had died.   Anyone interested in the politics of Washington knows who he is. He has been my favorite reporter for several years now and I will miss seeing him on the news and on the Sunday morning Meet the Press.   He would grill his guests like a lawyer in cross examination and a tribute to him last night pointed that out. His shoes will be big ones to fill to keep them honest in Washington.
Well that's all for now. Thanks for Reading
Ron
Ps here's a butterfly thrown in for no extra charge

Eloise Butler and Wings Air Show

Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:25:14 GMT

Hello my friends!! Well today we didn't see many birds. We had heard that there were to be Showy Lady Slippers down at Eloise Butler wildflower garden in Mpls. We drove down there bright and early this morning only to find that none of them had bloomed yet due to the cool weather. It was the 2nd annual Showy Lady slipper day and there were none. It's like you hold a banquet for someone and they didn't show up. Nevertheless we did see some Yellow Lady slippers and a few other wildflowers. I'm sorry that we couldn't identify that many of them. It was beautiful down there however and worth the trip. There was also this dragonfly.We spoke to one of the volunteers and she told us that the showy lady slippers haven't bloomed anywhere in this area to her knowledge. We also had planned to go to an air show in st. Paul.
My friend Monica who I used to work for was doing air marshaling chores at the old Holman air field. The show was called Wings and they offered a pancake breakfast. We saw Monica at the entry point all dressed in her army fatigues. She is a Lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol. She told us that they will be on duty later in the summer for the Republican national Convention and that they also often fly out to disasters to help. She was very proud to be a part of it. That's her on the left with her captain on the right. After we got in we saw another woman I know, Denise who also used to work for me. She was friendly and guided us to the air show. We took pictures of the planes and turned down the pancake breakfast for lemonade, which was great, and ice cream for carolyn that she loved too. We stayed about an hour. We went into an old army helicopter and watched a number of vintage air planes take off and land then we headed back home after stopping and talking to Monica for a few more minutes. It was a nice day.
Thanks for reading and I hope to have some more birds soon.
Ron