Playing Hooky

I think the first really nice day of every spring should be declared a paid holiday in the State of Minnesota. Unfortunately, there is no such legislation pending, so I just had to play hooky today. After getting to work and finding out there were no projects needing my undivided attention, I decided to take a half-day off (for me that means I can leave at 9:30) and spend some time birding--all by myself.

Because I was anxious to see some warblers and other migrating spring birds, I headed down to my favorite birding spot: Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park (sorry, Mom, I didn't have any extra time to stop by for a visit!)

I started over at the Mystery Cave section of the park because there's a nice little stream running right through the park. I sat for a while along the stream bank, but didn't see a huge number of warblers, other than plenty of yellow-rumped. I did however, capture one good photo of a black & white warbler.

I also watched a couple of eastern phoebes flying around (and managed to catch this one sitting still).

The other good sighting I had down at Mystery Cave were several Northern Rough-Winged Swallows. There's an old entrance to the cave that's been closed off, but the rough limestone wall right next to the stream makes it an ideal place for these swallows looking for a nesting spot.

I'll have to check back later in the summer to see if I can find out whether the swallows nested here.

I then drove over the Historic Forestville section of the park. The Root River flows through this heavily wooded park and I've seen oodles of warblers here in some previous spring migrations. I had my lunch packed for work and decided to have a picnic at one of the tables placed conveniently close to the river's edge. The first thing I noticed again was the absence of warblers (except for the yellow-rumped). However, the abundance of Ruby-Crowned Kinglets kept me entertained during this time. I managed to get a picture of this one in some shrubs very close to my table.

Then I was fortunate enough to have this little kinglet land on a branch close to my table. I hope you enjoy his little concert.

What a splendid "dining room." It was so nice to be outside in the sun on such a beautiful day and hear only the sound of birds singing and the river flowing by (no cars, trucks, or planes to drown out the sounds of nature).

As I was picking up some of the trash left by previous visitors, I noticed something floating in the water--kind of a reddish-brown color. I wondered whether it was some old leaves but something didn't look quite right. As I watched, whatever it was floated over to the other bank. I grabbed my camera and binocs and walked a little farther down on my side trying to see what had happened to this object. Finally, there it was--a small Beaver!

Oh man, this was so exciting for me!! (made up for not seeing many warblers) While eating my lunch, I had noticed some signs of beavers along the river's edge (I couldn't remember seeing anything like this on previous visits to the park, so the beavers must be recent arrivals).

I was able to watch the little beaver for quite a long time -- I think he was eating some vegetation (at least that's what it looked like). I was amazed that even right after coming out of the water, his fur never appeared wet.

He didn't seem at all disturbed by my presence, even though he had to be able to see me right across the river from him (a distance of about 14 yards).

I spent so much extra time watching that beaver, that I was running late starting back to Rochester to pick up Mr. Johnson at work. I set the cruise control for 8 miles over the speed limit--because I've always heard the cops don't usually ticket if you're less than 10 miles over the speed limit.......

Oh yeah, I got pulled over! I knew I was busted as soon as I met that Highway Patrol car and watched him turn around in the gas station. I was hoping he had turned in for a fill-up, but when I saw those flashing red lights in the rearview mirror....well, I don't have to tell you what I said. So I just pulled over, rolled down my window and handed the nice officer my driver's license. Fortunately, I have a spotless driving record because I was worrying the whole time how much a fine was going to cut into my birding festival savings! The worst thing was having to call Mr. Johnson and tell him I was going to be late because I got pulled over for speeding!

So except for the State Patrol, it was a pretty fun day and here's my list of birds seen (or heard) during my 3 hours of playing hooky.

Eastern Bluebird
House Wren
Red-Tailed Hawk
Crow
Robin
Barn Swallow
Chipping Sparrow
House Sparrow
Eastern Wild Turkey
Yellow-Rumped Warbler
Goldfinch
Ruby-Crowned Kinglet
Eastern Phoebe
Common Grackle
Canada Goose
Northern Shoveler
Black-Capped Chickadee
Pileated Woodpecker (heard)
Red-Winged Blackbird
Field Sparrow (heard)
Song Sparrow
Bluejay
Eastern Meadowlark
Black & White Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
Northern Cardinal
White-Throated Sparrow
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker (heard)
European Starling