Not nine and fifty, but still a lot of swans

[pameladean]

On Tuesday, Raphael and I went to Elm Creek Park Reserve. After a generally lovely hiking season, we'd missed three weeks in a row: one because it was too hot, one because of a dental appointment and Cats Laughing concert, one for reasons I can't recall, but that probably included inertia

Comments

[pameladean]

We were very glad that we went out. We got a late start because things kept interfering, but it was worth it.

I'm glad the entry worked to convey the flavor of things. We've had many hikes as lovely or better, and I would come home with the phrases forming in my head but just never write the entry.

We have two night herons in Minnesota, but I've only seen the black-crowned ones. I've never seen one flying. Kingfishers, until the last few years, I have only seen flying away very rapidly, making annoyed squawks. But in mating season they ignore human intrusions and do amazing dives and displays for one another.

I love your capsule description of the black oak savanna. Oak savanna is one of my favorite environments.

P.

[pameladean]

I too have seen many black-crowned night herons, not flying, and no yellow-crowned ones.

The black-crowned, at least, is often referred to as a "sedentary heron," and Wikipedia, I think, said that night herons were widespread but their main evolutionary difficulty is to lapse into flightlessness. There are days when I feel just like that.

They all look somewhat sulky to me because of the way they hunch up their necks. It's probably just a resting posture.

Ooo, some places within the city do controlled burns, but I have only seen the aftermath. That sounds amazing.

There are quite a lot of red-bellied woodpeckers in parks on the outskirts of Minneapols, and also at Eloise Butler, so I guess we are doing all right. I really love their call.

P.

[vgqn]

Oh, I feel like I've just gone on a hike with you! Swans, flowers, mosquitoes, and all. Although I don't remember ever seeing swans in the wild while I lived in Minnesota (I remember in my 30s being so amazed to see black swans, in the flesh, or feather as it were, in London parks).

"chickadees explained things to one another"
*chortle* Yes, that's it! They don't yell like jays, just explain, in reasonable tones. So very Minnesotan.

[pameladean]

Three Rivers has been making a concerted effort to bring back trumpeter swans. Carver, Hyland, Lake Rebecca, Elm Creek, Crowe-Hassan, Murphy-Hanrahan: they all have trumpeter swans. Some of these parks are newish and may have been opened after you left. Eight cygnets is really impressive, though. The first swans I ever saw were at Stratford-on-Avon, but they weren't black ones.

I gather from my reading that chickadees are very social and like to keep one another apprised of their presence and anything that might be happening. Some of that is warnings, but not all. And yes, very Minnesotan indeed.

P.

[rolypolypony]

How lovely!!

[pameladean]

It was; thank you!

P.

[thinkum]

It sounds like a completely wonderful day! And reading about it gave me a lovely relaxing interlude in a frenetic morning -- thank you. :-)

[pameladean]

I'm very glad. I wish I'd been posting our hikes all along, though I think we had our hiatus when things were getting most frenetic for you guys.

P.

[sartorias]

Oh, that sounds so lovely!

[pameladean]

I thought of you and wished I'd taken a photo of the pond and the flowers. It wasn't really too windy for that, except that I'm a bit clumsy and if anybody's camera was going to end up in the pond, it was definitely mine.

P.