Birthday Butter-Butts in the Bike Lane

The snowy Minnesota Capital Grounds scene along my commute.

A major perk of my early May birthday is its concurrence with the migration of warblers and other songbirds from their tropical wintering grounds to their northern breeding grounds. I try to make the most of this timing and get out for a little birthday birding.  This year it turned out to be by bike the day before my birthday.

Despite a morning commute snowstorm, I chose to bike to work today and take the 12 mile route home along the Mississippi River. There were a few dedicated bike commuters in St. Paul's Summit Avenue bike lane this morning. By the looks we were giving each other, we all seemed surprised that our commute included a full-fledged, cheek-biting snowstorm.  But along my Mississippi River route home, I had the bike trails and bike lanes to myself...and the "butter-butts", the colloquial name for the Yellow-rumped Warbler.

Yellow-rumped Warbler, aka "Butter-butt" (credit: www.science.smith.edu)

I was mostly excited to do my favorite Mississippi River route home for the first time since late fall. I actually didn't prepare for birding in that I didn't bring my binoculars. But in St. Paul's Lilydale Regional Park I spotted the first "butter-butt",  It was hopping and foraging on the ground along the bike trail.  Then I spotted a Palm Warbler on the ground a few feet from me.  With these birds, no binoculars were necessary. 

"Butter-butt Bike Lane" - the birds were too quick to catch in a pic!

But these sitings in Lilydale Park paled in comparison to the profusion of butter-butts I flushed from the bike lane along Minnehaha Avenue.  It was really incredible as I flushed 5-8 at a time. In fact I was surprised that I didn't run one over. I really wanted to get a picture to show you, but like any warbler, they move fast. 

I wasn't the only one noting the profusion of Yellow-rumped Warblers in the neighborhood.  I got home and Henry said, "Dad, we saw this really cool bird right next to the Roo near my school".  Theo had also spotted them and had looked them up with Hillary to identify them.  But they had not heard the nickname "butter-butts". For two young boys, that nickname produced giggles and made these birds all the more cool, and memorable.