Little time for birding…..

With work being what it is (budget time) I have a limited time to bird.  And often it is just in the back yard or park out back.  In Pamela Park yesterday I was fortunate to find a Winter Wren which is the first one I have been able to find there.  Really nothing else of note other than the usual Hermit Thrushes, Juncos, White Throated Sparrows, and one Harris Sparrow (which is also a first for the park).  Woodpeckers a plenty as well!  Below are pictures from out back that I digiscoped in the past week.

I was able to bird Grey Cloud Dunes last weekend for a couple hours and the sparrows were numerous.  Le Contes was the highlight of the birding there as well as a lone Snow Goose flyover.  This Song Sparrow was the only sparrow to cooperate.

Lastly, we went to Lake Harriet yesterday evening to attempt to find the Lesser Black Backed Gull.  After some scanning and waiting for the gulls to file in we were able to spot it.  You need a scope and I needed 50x to really ID it.  Just scan and have some patience because it blends in quite well with all the Ring Billed Gulls when facing you.  The bright yellow bill will help when facing you but the profile shot sure made it easy.  I did not attempt to digiscope due to the very low light as well as the zoom.  It would have been a very poor picture but useful for ID purposes.

As it look like rain all week here I may have post some photography ramblings.  Especially since winter is on the way, there are already Northern Hawk Owl and Great Grey Owl sightings up north, and I am sure the mouse inventory at the pet stores will be on the decline…..if you get my drift.