Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
Click on Mark Twain to jump to Troutbirders book review blog

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Rookie Birder


From left to right - Ruthie (Nature Knitter), Lance, Alice and Chris (Johns brother)
The rookie birder (me) got an invitation to join the Zumbro Valley Audobon Society's outing to Forestville State Park. Top Minnesota birder John Hockema led the tour. It was definitely an eye opener. Here is how it went.

We met at the Dairy Queen, where John introduced me to everyone. Then he asked the group what bird they most wanted to look for today. Henslow sparrow, Louisiana Waterthrush, Cerulean Warbler etc. were mentioned. Ok, I had never heard of any of them before. The best I could come up with was, "er, well, there are so many, I hardly know where to begin." The group smiled in a friendly manner and nodded knowingly. I guess they knew where I stood. At least no one offered that we would probably run across a robin or two.

Our destination was Canfield Creek. In Bluff Country there are many disappearing rivers, sinkholes, caves and springs. The origin of Canfield is a beautiful cave set at the base of a high bluff. The stream is inhabited by many wild (not stocked) trout. That I could vouch for. Birds, well, I knew there were some. What kind.... I didn't have a clue.

The first thing I noticed, as we began the hike down the trail into the valley below, was that none of the group had their handy Peterson Field Guides like I did. Thinking that rather odd, it was a minute before it dawned on me.... oh oh, THEY DON'T NEED ONE!

That's John in the red shirt. We had hardly walked for a minute, when he paused looked up briefly and said, " I hear a....." and quickly rattled off about 4 names, to which a member of the group added another. This set the pattern for the next couple of hours. At least fifty birds were identified by sound. With the aid of this kind and very supportive group, I was able to actually see about half of them. And yes, I had forgotten my hearing aids. Who coulda known?
The old fishing path along the stream, on which I had spent many many hours accessing my brown trout hotspots, had been upgraded to accomodate the horsey people. It definitely made walking a lot easier!


The stream itself, as you can see, is gorgeous. It must be, at least partially, the reason why there were so many birds along its woodsy corridor.

So where are the pictures of all the birds? Well , to tell the truth, both the photographer and the camera were inadequate to catch the little rascals flitting amongst all the heavy cover. Maybe next time! Canfield Creek, in Forestville Park - a great place to visit regardless of what your looking for!

14 comments:

  1. As a birder "still on his training wheels" I know just how you feel! The local birders I go with are very sharp and just as tolerant of folks like myself. Ya gotta start somewhere :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the walk. Very relaxing and pretty. I would need the book too. Sometimes use it for birds in my backyard even. I guess that is part of being a novice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi TB, I am a rookie also--even moreso than you. I'm still learning the sounds of the VERY common birds!!! ha

    Beautiful place to hike though--even if you can only hear and not see the birds.

    Hope you and your family have a fabulous 4th.
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a beautiful creek,... If I were a bird I'd hang out there too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. How fun! I'd have been right there with you... my head in my field guide...lol!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Bluff Country is now on our "must see" list! What a beautiful walk! Haven't birded that part of the country we'd need a bird guide.too! :)
    Thank you for your comment on our blog, glad you are enjoying our travels, we love to share it!
    Kathy Webb
    Birdingrvers.com
    PS And yes, those rascals are so hard to photograph! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  7. Troutbirder, what a wonderful day you had - and what a great lot of patient people!! That's exactly the sort of people I'd need to be with. Will they invite you again? This park is beautiful - I love the last photograph!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. The best thing about experienced birders who really know their stuff is how nice they are to those of us who are novices. Looks like a great place to visit, birds or not.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Doesn't look like anyone brought a camera, just binocs. Going out with a group of birders sounds like fun. I've never done that. My 'thing' is seeing how many birds I can lure to my farm. Still, a walk in the woods with interesting people sounds nice.
    Marnie

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love joining the walks that have such experienced birders..they are always so patient to stop and share what they know or to put one onto the correct tree the bird is actually in..lol instead of the tree..next to the said bird..which is where I usually am looking!! Listening to them is just as exciting, sometimes, as listening to the birds..so much to learn and so little time to learn it. ;-0

    ReplyDelete
  11. Not sure if it's still true, but in the preface to early editions Peterson recommended NOT bringing the book along birding--the idea was to train your eye to mark (and remember) key distinguishing features. Much better to go with experienced birders!

    Say, though no birder, I can add "Atlantic Puffin" and "Arctic Tern" to my non-existent life list!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think it's fun being the novice in the group. It helps the experienced (and usually shy) ones to speak up and share what they love and know so well. It's been our experience that Audubon Society people are great teachers, probably because they're eager to learn too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Even though there are no birds, enjoyed the beautiful pictures!

    ReplyDelete