Today we hiked at two SNAs along the St. Croix River. We haven't been to Falls Creek in many years, and had never been to Crystal Spring, which is relatively new.
Falls Creek is rather changed from what we remember. The creek was always somewhat ephemeral in its upper reaches, but dependable in the lower sections. Today it was totally dry, and we wonder if its flow has been stanched by the relatively recent sand and gravel operation upstream, across the highway. There were still Scarlet Tanager, Ovenbird, Pine Warbler, and Acadian Flycatcher to be heard, but no sound from the Wood Thrush, nor the Louisiana Waterthrush. Hopefully the scarcity of song was due to our lunch hour start there. Certainly, we found the original trail system much altered, whether an act of nature or simple disuse. Fortunately, we had devoted our late-start morning to Crystal Spring, which was every bit as rich as Falls Creek had been in the past. The two areas are almost adjacent, and identical in habitat, but Crystal Spring flows nicely from the rock formations. The entrance trail that gives access to the head of the spring and its creek, was lively with "edge" birds, like Indigo Bunting. Once in the woods, full of mixed deciduous and old-growth pine, there were Yellow-throated Vireo, Ovenbirds, Scarlet Tanager, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Swainson's Thrush, Veery, and more. By the time we approached the spring itself, the Acadian Flycatcher's call was unmistakable. We never got a look at it, beyond shadows in flight, though we followed the sound as it moved up and down the creek. Further downstream, toward the railroad track we may have seen the Louisiana Waterthrush, but never got a good view of the suspect, nor did we hear it call. Instead, we identified a pair of Eastern Phoebes that may be nesting on a rock ledge above a shallow pool. As we started to head back, we had a surprise encounter with a female Hummingbird. She seemed to be aiming for bits of red on our attire! It gave us pause long enough for another surprise--- a very vocal Cerulean Warbler was calling vigorously from directly overhead. This was near an 8-foot tall stump, riddled with holes, just a few yards off the trail. The canopy was high there, with some open understory, a landscape Ceruleans seem to favor. This SNA is a gem, and leaves me wanting to see it again, especially in future migrations. Linda Whyte ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
