 |
What: Flowering tree, unidentified species
Where: Basset's Creek Park
Observer: Abbie
Date/Time: March 20, 2012 at about 5:30 pm
Conditions: Overcast
|
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Flowering Trees
You've probably noticed many trees' branches are not so bare as they were a few weeks ago. Here's just one particularly beautiful example, spotted in a park a few miles from the Walker. If you get a chance, bend a bough close to your eyes and examine what's happening!
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Poking up through the Earth
What: Tiny, firm, green spires poke up through cracking soil. Examining the ground more closely, we spot a few three-petaled white flowers, low-to-the-ground and nodding. Other plants bear tiny clusters of blue-green buds, which I interpret as future hyacinth blooms.
Where: In the Arbor that forms the north border of the Sculpture Garden.
Observers: Rachel and Abbie
Date/Time: March 15, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Conditions: Without snow for a week or more, the weather is pleasant and the skies are clear.
What: A 13-lined ground squirrel, the first I've seen this year.
Where: By the leafless lilac trees that form a backdrop to the Lipchitz, the solitary squirrel stands upright to survey the scene. Then it scurries across the gravel path and disappears into the gaps in the low, granite block wall.
Observers: Rachel and Abbie
Date/Time: March 15, 2012, at 3:45 pm
Conditions: Apparently warm enough to rise from hibernation, emerge from the burrow's depths, and greet again the outside world!
Where: In the Arbor that forms the north border of the Sculpture Garden.
Observers: Rachel and Abbie
Date/Time: March 15, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Conditions: Without snow for a week or more, the weather is pleasant and the skies are clear.
What: A 13-lined ground squirrel, the first I've seen this year.
Where: By the leafless lilac trees that form a backdrop to the Lipchitz, the solitary squirrel stands upright to survey the scene. Then it scurries across the gravel path and disappears into the gaps in the low, granite block wall.
Observers: Rachel and Abbie
Date/Time: March 15, 2012, at 3:45 pm
Conditions: Apparently warm enough to rise from hibernation, emerge from the burrow's depths, and greet again the outside world!
Monday, March 12, 2012
First Killdeer
 |
Photo by Dan Dzurisin, via Flickr
What: A pair of Killdeer, early arrivals.
Where: Bryn Mawr Meadows Park (just west and a little north of the Walker Art Center, on the other side of Highway 394). The grassy field was animated by about 12 American Robins, bobbing about, tugging worms out of the soil. And then these two Killdeer, who moved with the swift, smooth locomotion characteristic of plovers.
Observer: Abbie, biking to work
Date/Time: Monday, March 12, 8:30 am
Conditions: Overcast, a little hazy and cool
|
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Melospiza melodia
What: I'm thrilled to hear the first Song Sparrow (click to listen) of the year!
Where: Duluth Road, Golden Valley
Observer (listener): Abbie
Date/Time: Sunday, March 11, 9:30 am
Conditions: Overcast
Where: Duluth Road, Golden Valley
Observer (listener): Abbie
Date/Time: Sunday, March 11, 9:30 am
Conditions: Overcast
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Flock Clock
What: About 100 American Robins. They are almost entirely silent, making scarcely a peep as the arrive in small flocks. I make a quick count, noticing that any given tree provides perch for10–25 loosely clustered individuals.
Where: The southwest corner of the Sculpture Garden, where linden trees line Vineland Place as it bends north, before becoming Kenwood Parkway. Also in the locust trees that grow in the median.
Observers: Abbie
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 1 at about 5:20 pm
Conditions: Identification was challenging since the light at this hour was barely sufficient. I could faintly descry their reddish robin breasts. By their silhouettes, I knew their tails were too long to be starlings and they didn't have crests like cardinals or waxwings.
In the past several weeks, leaving work has been my opportunity to see flocks of European Starlings, American Crows, Dark-Eyed Juncos, and American Robins. Each flock seems to be characterized by their own pattern, behavior, size, and timing. Which flock is on the move earliest in the day (relative to sunset)? Which flock is most fleeting, most ephemeral and likely to be missed? When do these patterns begin in the winter season, and when will the flocks dissipate as spring approaches? But to really understand this 'flock clock,' I'd need extended observations a few times a week, say, from 4-6:30 pm. Given my narrow aperture of observation, from 5 to 5:30 on weekdays, here's a summary of what I've seen:
Most abundant—easily numbering in the thousands—are the American Crows. Since December, I've seen a stream of them flying high in the sky every evening, usually in an easterly or northeasterly direction. Sometimes I've seen them densely populating the trees in Loring Park.
Next in number are the European Starlings. But I can't get a handle on their timing. I haven't seen them in weeks, but my colleague saw them last night after 6 pm.
When I've seen groups of Dark-Eyed Juncos, they were not in flight, but rather on the ground under the arborvitae. I haven't seen them in over a month, but maybe they're just around when I'm not there to see them.
So far, the most understated of the flock phenomena is the American Robin. Also,this is the newest indicator on the flock clock. I know many stick around through the winter, but I haven't seen them in flocks until late January.
Where: The southwest corner of the Sculpture Garden, where linden trees line Vineland Place as it bends north, before becoming Kenwood Parkway. Also in the locust trees that grow in the median.
Observers: Abbie
Date/Time: Wednesday, February 1 at about 5:20 pm
Conditions: Identification was challenging since the light at this hour was barely sufficient. I could faintly descry their reddish robin breasts. By their silhouettes, I knew their tails were too long to be starlings and they didn't have crests like cardinals or waxwings.
In the past several weeks, leaving work has been my opportunity to see flocks of European Starlings, American Crows, Dark-Eyed Juncos, and American Robins. Each flock seems to be characterized by their own pattern, behavior, size, and timing. Which flock is on the move earliest in the day (relative to sunset)? Which flock is most fleeting, most ephemeral and likely to be missed? When do these patterns begin in the winter season, and when will the flocks dissipate as spring approaches? But to really understand this 'flock clock,' I'd need extended observations a few times a week, say, from 4-6:30 pm. Given my narrow aperture of observation, from 5 to 5:30 on weekdays, here's a summary of what I've seen:
Most abundant—easily numbering in the thousands—are the American Crows. Since December, I've seen a stream of them flying high in the sky every evening, usually in an easterly or northeasterly direction. Sometimes I've seen them densely populating the trees in Loring Park.
Next in number are the European Starlings. But I can't get a handle on their timing. I haven't seen them in weeks, but my colleague saw them last night after 6 pm.
When I've seen groups of Dark-Eyed Juncos, they were not in flight, but rather on the ground under the arborvitae. I haven't seen them in over a month, but maybe they're just around when I'm not there to see them.
So far, the most understated of the flock phenomena is the American Robin. Also,this is the newest indicator on the flock clock. I know many stick around through the winter, but I haven't seen them in flocks until late January.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Wondering about Winter?
The whys and hows of winter are addressed and celebrated on Science Friday: http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201201065
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Foxes on the Field!
 |
| Above: A fox, on the open fields of Saskatchewan, photographed by Glen Munro. When two foxes were spotted on the Walker Open Field, no one had a camera on hand to record them, but in my imagination this image makes a good stand-in. |
Observers: Ashley (first-person account shared via Facebook, above). Corroborated by colleagues in accounting, who have a view of the field from their offices.
Date/Time: Tuesday, January 3, 2012 in the morning, around 10
Conditions: Unseasonably warm and the Field has almost no snow, or I would have ventured out looking for their tracks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)