I had the opportunity to visit the Minneapolis/St. Paul area of Minnesota earlier this month, arriving May 19th and leaving on May 21st. I knew I was going to have some spare time in the afternoon on one day however, as things worked out, I ended up with a full day on the 21st which was a good thing as the weather was dreadful leading up to that day, wind, rain, very dark and overcast conditions all led to nearly impossible photography. But, as the saying goes, it's better to be lucky than good and as luck would have it, a conference that I was to attend on the 21st was canceled and I had a free day, with partly cloudy, spring conditions!
I decided to go to Frontenac State Park, about 60 miles southeast of St. Paul. Frontenac is located along the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River as it winds it's way south from St. Paul. The cliffs are high above the valley below and hardwood forest, riparian woodlands and mixed prairie grasslands dominate the landscape. This is the second time I have been here, the first time the weather was as described above and I had a less than memorable trip with rainy conditions throughout the day. This time was different however and I would have to say, one of the more memorable trips, in terms of birding, that I have ever experienced!
I checked out of my hotel in Minneapolis at 4:30 A.M. and arrived at Frontenac State Park HQ around 6:15 A.M. with the sun starting to peak through some intermittent clouds low on the horizon. I had the park completely to myself other than a smattering of campers in the campground near the entrance to the park. I knew exactly where I wanted to start looking and made my way there. There is a small overlook point at the far end of the park, it's a wooden platform that hangs out over a bluff and overlooks the Mississippi River far below. The platform is along a trail that leads 200 yards further down the bluff to a small wooden bench in a clearing with another spectacular view of the valley. The overlook and the trail are in the middle of a forest with a mixture of Pine, Aspen, Dogwood and many other hardwood species. I stood there overlooking the forest when things started to get going...
American Redstart
I heard an American Redstart calling and soon located him, then another and another joined in, there were several of them darting about and catching whatever insects there were flittering around the canopy.
American Redstart
Female American Redstart
Next up was a Black-and-White Warbler that came in low and was working it's way up the trunk of a pine tree. Several Vireos came in and starting calling, then I heard a couple of American Robins and what turned out to be an Indigo Bunting. Yellow-rumped Warblers started to appear above me, flittering about, chasing off some other yet to be identified warblers. Within minutes the forest went from total silence to a din of birds singing and calling, yelling louder and louder. It was an amazing sound! And it was just starting...
Black-and-White Warbler
I heard an unidentified singer in the crowd and looked up in amazement as a beautiful Blackburnian Warbler in full breeding plumage stopped for a moment within feet of me before continuing on. Several more Blackburnians joined in the group, now flittering here and there with the Yellow-rumped Warblers and the Redstarts. It was hard to track them all, there were seemingly birds on every branch and every tree within eye sight. I was in the middle of a flock of mixed warblers like I had never seen before. Not only warblers but also Vireos, Bunting, Gnatcatcher, Chickadee, Nuthatches and even a Woodpecker or two thrown in for good measure.
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Black-capped Chickadee
The fun continued with a Blackpoll Warbler joining in the mix, staying only long enough for a couple of shots and the only one I was to see the entire day but at least I got off a few good shots of him.
Blackpoll Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Next up was another "lifer" for me (I tallied 6 on this trip) which was a beautiful male Black-throated Green Warbler. Singing away and slowly working it's way along the branches, I was able to get some good pictures of him as he posed for me within 20 feet of my lens.
Black-throated Green Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
A lone, and seemingly out of place, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher seemed to enjoy the din, joining in the early-morning chorus while busily hunting out insects.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
As I mentioned earlier, not only were there warblers everywhere but also Vireos, including many Blue-headed Vireos as the ones pictured here. They seemed to stay lower in the branches than their Warbling Vireo cousins.
Blue-headed Vireo
A stunning Magnolia Warbler caught my view as I was scanning the branches. It was really challenging to try to get it all in. At first I was frantically taking pictures of everything that moved but after I while I was able to calm down and settle in a bit as it was quite evident that A) The warblers had little concern over my presence as long as I was not quick in my movements and B) They seemed to be staying put for the time being anyway. So I took a more tactical approach and was scanning the branches with my binoculars and when I would find something interesting, I'd then bring up my camera and focus on getting that particular bird before moving on. All the while of course keeping my ears open for different sounds.
Magnolia Warbler
As mentioned earlier, there was a trail that led down the slope about 200 yards to another lookout point. After a while it was evident that I had pretty much identified all of the members of this particular flock so I decided to walk down the trail to see what else was about. I was amazed as I walked along the trail to realize that there were birds everywhere! It was a HUGE flock, in fact, I was never without company the entire 200 yards down the trail and when I arrived at the other lookout area, there were just as many birds present there as well. The flock seemed to be taking up the entire side of the mountain! I saw something I was familiar with while scanning the trees, a Nashville Warbler was busily hunting out breakfast and I was able to get a shot.
Nashville Warbler
There were also birds along the ground, including an occasional Hermit Thrush and the Palm Warbler that allowed close approach in a little clearing along the side of the trail.
Palm Warbler
The next bird was another nice find for me, only the second one I have ever seen, a very shy Canada Warbler. I heard him or I would never of even gotten off one shot but he peeped a few times and I zeroed in on what I thought was another Magnolia Warbler at first until I saw the eye rings. He wanted nothing to do with me and I was only able to squeeze off four shots before he disappeared into denser cover not to be seen again.
Canada Warbler
This one had me fooled for a while, I kept seeing these strangely colored warblers in the background, they were shyer than some of the others and I thought that they were Blackburnian Warblers at first but something told me to keep looking until I could get a positive ID. Finally, one showed itself long enough for me to focus and squeeze the button... Cape May Warbler!
Cape May Warbler
Cape May Warbler
I think my favorite warbler of the day was the Chestnut-sided Warblers. While not in nearly the numbers as the Yellow-rumped and Blackburnian, they were with me all morning, and loud singers at that! They also seemed to me to be highly energetic, even for a warbler and were very difficult to capture as they seemed to be in constant motion. It took a few hundred pictures to get a few decent shots but well worth it!
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
The highlight of the day for me however, as species go, was when I heard this Buzz-buzz-buzz call coming from a small tree and saw these two tiny-tiny birds flittering around in the leaves. I thought that they were Kinglets at first, same size, moving very quickly. It wasn't until I was able to focus on one that I realized that I had Golden-winged Warblers in my presence! Unfortunately, they didn't like my picture taking and were gone as quickly as they had come... And yet the warblers kept coming!
Golden-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Mixed in with the Warbling Vireos were a number of Tennessee Warblers, probably the second most commonly encountered warbler next to the Yellow-rumped that I saw. One or two dozen of them were in trees just above the lookout mentioned earlier.
Tennessee Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
A well-recognized species was also occasionally seen, the good-old Wilson's Warbler that is quite common back home was present in the lower bushes and shrubs.
Wilson's Warbler
Yellow Warblers were also numerous, more often heard than seen with their beautiful song mixing in nicely with the din of Blackburnian's, Chestnut-sided and Vireos...
Yellow Warbler
And last but not least... The ever present "butter-butt" - the ubiquitous Yellow-rumped Warbler that always kept you on your toes with their flashes of color and never ending energy not to mention their relentless chipping...
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Quite a morning! When the dust had settled and the smoke had cleared, I had tallied 17 different Warbler species! - American Redstart, Black-and-white Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Canada Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Golden-winged Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Nashville Warbler, Palm Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler.
It was over as quickly as it had started and by 10:00 or so, three hours later, the forest had quieted back down. Not that it was lifeless by any means and I continued to see interesting species throughout the day but nothing like I experienced this morning. I believe the flock was stretched out over at least 300 yards and probably across 50 or more yards up and down the slope. I tried to measure the scope with my binoculars and see how many birds were in the trees up and down slope from my position. They seemed to be all concentrated in a narrow swath across the side of the mountain which was a great thing for me!
Here are some additional species that I encountered throughout the day. I was done and out of the park at 1:00 PM and made my 5:45 flight back to San Diego however this was a day that I shall not soon forget!
