We visited the Terry Trueblood Trail and relaxed. The temperature was in the 60s, just a little on the breezy side. Everything seemed to move slower, except for the lady bugs which tried to keep warm by landing on us everywhere they could. I thought they would get into my rolled up blue jean cuffs, but amazingly they did not.
There was a small, brave patch of asters hanging on for dear life, literally. We both loved the red tree and you can tell which one it is in the video. I should know what kind of tree it is, but for now I guess just seeing it was good enough.
The cedar waxwings were flitting around maniacally and sometimes that means they’re getting smashed on fermented berries. But I didn’t see that there was enough on the branches for a party.
A pelican lazily swam across the lake in a way that suggested that it’s OK to just relax. What’s the hurry?
We might have seen one of the last northern shovelers (a dabbling duck) still hanging around. It’s like it was saying, “There’s still plenty of time.”
Whether that’s true or not, slowing down doesn’t hurt at all.
Yesterday we took our usual walk on the Terry Trueblood Trail. It’s customary as the seasons evolve for us to make sure everything is progressing as it should. It helps to make believe we’re in charge.
It’s still spring and flowers are still blooming and birds are still nesting and nurturing new life. There are lots of plants we don’t know much about except they make the land more beautiful.
A couple of days ago we made our usual spring trip out to the Terry Trueblood trail. The phlox and grasses waved in the breeze and we saw quite a few birds.
There was also a swarm of killer midges or gnats that attacked us. They ambushed us when we got close to the trees on the western side of the trail.
We couldn’t really see them so much as feel them dive-bombing our eyes and ears, marching through our hair and looking for blood vessels.
What did we expect? We were walking around Sand Lake close to the trees and that’s where the gnats are. I couldn’t hold a camera still long enough to film anything because I was too busy flailing at the bug swarm. Swatting at gnats is a tricky business if you wear eyeglasses—you’re liable to slap them off your head on to the cement trail. I’ve done that.
We retreated in abject defeat in full rout away from the trees and were ready to surrender, head back to the car and leave. But the further away we fled, the gnats dissipated. We took a new direction, the opposite of the one we usually take around the trail.
This led to an adventure that we might not have otherwise had. We would not have encountered the family of killdeer with their stilt-legged babies crisscrossing the parking lot and other wonders. It reminded me of the Out of the Woods song (“Optimistic Voices”) in The Wizard of Oz:
You’re out of the woods
You’re out of the dark
Away from the flies
Step into the sun
Escaping the gnats dive-bombing your eyes
Keep straight ahead for the least buggiest place
Off your face the crap from swarming flies
Hold onto to your breath
Hold onto your nose
Hold onto your ears
Stop breathing in gnats and run like crazy…
And then the action picked up along the less wooded section of the trail. People were fishing along the lake’s edge, although I don’t understand how they tolerated the bugs unless they bathed in Deet before arriving.
We never got so many video clips; in fact, we ran the camera battery nearly empty. If we hadn’t taken a different path, we’d have missed the show.
The first picture I took was something Sena thought was interesting far out on Sand Lake. I thought it was a rock, but after we got home and looked at the clip closely, it was a group of three turtles jostling for room on top of a small rock. They could have been fighting or mating; it was hard to tell. There’s a moral in there somewhere.
I think some birds like orioles and redwing blackbirds like the sensation of being blown back in the wind while they perch on slender tree branches. They don’t get motion sickness.
There were several birds on a utility wire which were difficult to identify because of the angle of the sun. It would probably remind some of Leonard Cohen’s song “Bird on The Wire.”
One brief highlight was the aerial “dogfight” between two male goldfinches, probably about territory or females. They were little more than a yellow blur on video whaling away on each other in the air.
The comedy act of the day was the killdeer family farting around the parking lot, crossing and recrossing the streets. We made video of it that you can see in a different post.
The tree swallows were doing their usual aerial acrobat routines and there were probably babies in the nest boxes. A brilliant tree swallow appeared. I’m pretty sure it was a male because of the beautiful blue-green feathers. I think I caught a clip of a female as well. The color of the feathers were more muted.
We hit the Terry Trueblood trail yesterday and caught pictures of several birds including a hilarious family of killdeer herding babies around the parking lot. At first, we weren’t sure how many chicks there were because they were difficult to see in the grass.
Eventually we counted 3 chicks. It was a comical show as the parents, aided by other adult birds trying to be helpful, attempted to round up the youngsters.
Crossing and recrossing depended a lot on the traffic flow and other factors including us. We made them nervous following them around with a camera!
I think most drivers got the hint that we were out filming the killdeer in the parking lot as the adults tried to round up the stilt-legged chicks, who would scatter in different directions. Their only guidance were the calls of adult birds—which we couldn’t reconcile into anything sounding like “killdeer” despite what the books say.
Well, the forecast was for a very windy day, more windy than we’d like. On the other hand, it was bearable on the Terry Trueblood Trail. However, the forecast is for high winds and hail and we’re not looking forward to that.
The highlight was seeing a leucistic Canadian Goose for the first time. They’re rare. It’s a color variation. The one we saw had a brownish head and white feathers on its body.
We got out today on the Terry Trueblood Trail because it was sunny and 60 degrees. It felt like early spring, although Punxsutawney Phil put the kibosh on that.
The ice was giving way on Sand Lake. The birds were waking up and hungry. And I can’t remember the last time we saw bluebirds at all, let alone the many we saw out in the open grassland today.
It was the kind of day you forget what’s in the news and just celebrate the coming of spring. Just watch the bluebirds fly.
It was fifty degrees in Iowa City yesterday so we went for a walk on the Terry Trueblood trail yesterday. Other people got the same idea. One guy was jogging in shorts! Yeah, it’s fifty degrees, but there’s still snow on the ground (in places) and there’s ice on Sand Lake.
About that ice on Sand Lake. It looked thin in places and we could see cracks in it everywhere. But that didn’t stop ice fisherman and others from going out on the lake.
We even saw an American Kestrel! That’s the first time in over 4 years. In 2020, we were out on the Trueblood trail and another walker pointed out an American Kestrel. I couldn’t get a clear shot of it then, but I did this time. I think it’s a female because of the black bands on the tail.
The balmy weather won’t last. We’ll be in the deep freeze next week.
The other day we walked the Terry Trueblood Trail (when do we not do that?) and saw interesting sights. I finally got a video clip of a goldfinch! And a male northern cardinal either sang to us or cussed us out. It was hard to tell.
It was a scorcher out there. We started out looking for a walking trail a guy gave us directions to a week or so ago. It’s a great place for birding. We found it, but here was no parking anywhere close. He told us that we could park in a farmer’s field, but we saw the farmer out there and decided not to chance it.
While we were out doing that, we drove by a cornfield, which really impressed Sena because we could drive right up close to it. She’s never detasseled corn. I have and I don’t think she missed anything. I walked the rows with fellow detasselers and we yanked them. We were in rows right next to each other. We could hear each other collapse from time to time from exhaustion. When you pulled the tassels out, they sort of squeaked. You could hear us: Squeak, squeak, squeak, thud.
On the other hand, we had a pretty good day birding out at Trueblood. I got a better video clip of a dickcissel. We saw a couple of geese scare a turtle off a rock in Sand Lake. We didn’t notice it at the time, but saw it on the video clip after we got home (which is still the hotel, by the way).
We saw several dickcissels. We still don’t think they sound like they’re singing “dick, dick, dick.” I think that’s a load of squeak, squeak, squeak. They are pretty birds, though.
We walked the Terry Trueblood Trail the other day and ran into a couple of other bird watchers. They said they’ve seen many birds called dickcissels on the trail.
I couldn’t remember ever seeing or hearing a dickcissel. We have enough trouble catching a clear sight of goldfinches. Both birders said the name comes from the bird’s song. They said it sounds like the bird is saying “Dick, Dick, Dick.”
I’m not so sure. As it happened, I think we saw a few dickcissels that day. We think the bird doesn’t sound like it’s saying “Dick, Dick, Dick.” I think it’s more like “chirp, chirp, chirp.”
Anyway, I think I got a video of three dickcissels, along with a few other birds. Do you agree or disagree? And what do you think of the name “dickcissel” for a bird? I read one article written by someone who had a low opinion of how the bird got its name.
What are those things in the water? I think they’re fish.
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