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. 

Freeze, thaw

My bike got marooned in my bike locker at work when the sub-zero temps froze the upper Midwest  over a week ago. I put my bike on the bus last night to get it home and happily awoke to a "balmy" temperature of 16 degrees F.  So I went for the bike commute.  It was fantastic.  And I still got words of disbelief from co-workers, "whoa isn't it way too cold?"  "Yeah, but it's over 20 degrees warmer than it was two mornings ago," I replied. 

Here are a few images of the the frozen Mississippi as I crossed it this morning.  What a cool pattern showing the ice chunks from the last thaw all frozen in place.  Compare these photos with the one in the post from two and a half weeks ago. 

Winter Commuting on New Wheels

Today marked my second day of winter bike commuting since the big 11 inch snow fell on the Twin Cities about a month ago. I'm feeling a little out of shape in the legs but loving the cold temperature invigoration and thinking space my bike commute provides. 

This view of the Mississippi River Gorge along my commute route is a far cry from the one taken during the autumn picture below!  Ahh, the joys of experiencing the seasons from the bike lane.

All this has been made possible by my new 16-year old Specialized Hardrock mountain bike that I got off Craig's list.   Its condition is a far cry from my previous 18-year old Specialized mountain bike, I.N.D.Y. (It's Not Dead Yet). With its terribly rusted gears, worn out bearings, and its propensity for large maintenance bills, it now ought to be named, I.I.D.N. (It is Dead Now).  I will strip some parts of I.I.D.N and donate the rest to a great new organization called SPOKES where hopefully its frame will be renewed as the core of a new bike.

Morning Commute: No Eagle Today, Maybe Tomorrow

A Delightful Fall Color Commute

I heard the distinctive crunch of leaves as Theo steered his bike through the crisp fallen ash leaves on the road to school. It brought back memories of past years biking with him in the fall. To kids in the back yard it is the joy of jumping in a pile of leaves. To kids like Theo biking, it is riding through the leaves that get whisked to the side of the road by passing leaf blowers, whoops, I mean cars.

Here are a few pictures from the second leg of my commute, from Theo's school to work.