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Bridge done
The detours are done for getting into Fort Ridgely. The much bigger and more modern bridge is done and will be much better when lots of water flows through the creek in the spring or after a big rainstorm.
The channel going under the bridge is much wider than before and there is lots of large riff raff stone there to keep erosion from happening.
Another bridge along the back way into Fort Ridgely past the Mayflower Golf Course has also been replaced. The detour was along this way too but the place you turn left to go to the Horse Camp was changed and now there is only one bridge and not two. The picture below is of the new bridge. There is no road to the left in the foreground where you used to go on the old 460th Street. Now you turn left up the hill where you see the green sign and cross over the ditch and curve back to the old road.
Fort Ridgely Sunset Walk.
Last Friday my wife and I took a walk at Fort Ridgely and were coming south across the prairie near the museum as the sun was setting. Looking west we saw the sun going down
Looking south toward the museum we saw two deer.
As they ran away two more joined them.
As we walked toward the road we saw at least 2 more deer joining them on the other side of the road. This big group headed east across the meadow
We continued across the road and headed south toward the cemetery. Another deer was in the path as we headed south. It let us get 30 feet from it. I took several pictures as we got closer but the flash went off and these pictures all had reflective creepy looking white eyes on them so I include instead a picture of it going into the weeds toward the sunset.
The sunset got more beautiful as we walk toward our car in the parking lot.
Birds of winter
This time of year is devoid of many of the beauties of nature. In Minnesota flowers, animals, insects and trees either die, hibernate, send nutrients to the roots and lose leaves, put forth seeds, fly south or have many other ingenious ways to survive our cold winters. Many people do not think there is much to see in nature during the late fall and winter. For me there is at least one aspect that is easier to observe during the winter. It is birds that stay around and have ways to feed themselves in the winter. They are much easier to see as the leaves are gone from the trees so it is much harder for them to hide. I can much easier focus my camera on them and get good pictures. I am going to show you a few that I have seen recently and had the privilege of photographing.
The white breasted nuthatch is one of these birds that can be seen all winter. They can be seen climbing up and down on the trunks and branches of hardwood trees at Fort Ridgely and your towns and cities. They sometimes come to feeders and like suet if you put it out. They have large claws on their feet and hold onto the bark of trees better than most other birds. This is why they can not only climb up a branch but also down or even under a branch hanging upside down. I submitted a picture once for the all season nature guide for Fort Ridgely but was asked if the picture was upside down. It wasn't since the nuthatch was hanging from the underside of a branch when I took the picture. The one in the picture below is only angling downward.
Various types of woodpeckers stay all winter. The smaller downy woodpecker is the most common one at Fort Ridgely. The nuthatch is the size of a sparrow but the downy is slightly larger but not as big as a robin or any of the other woodpeckers. I have seen the large (crow sized) pileated woodpecker at Fort Ridgely several times but as yet have never been able to photograph it there. The picture below is of a male downy as it has the red patch of feathers on its head. Females have similar black and white stripes but not the red patch.
A few nights ago my wife and I were walking in the prairie meadow near the stone buildings and water tower near the museum. We heard a different sounding bird in the woods to the side of the meadow (former golf course). We went over to investigate and we found an unusual bird way up in the upper branches of a tree singing away. I had no idea what it was until I got home and sent some pictures to iNaturalist online. It was a northern shrike! It is an uncommon robin sized visitor from farther north in Canada. It is actually carnivorous and feeds on rodents and small birds.
I saw two birds in Fairfax that I was surprised to still see. With several batches of very cold and snowy weather they usually would have flown south by now, The first is a common grackle. It is a larger blackbird with its head colored a dark blue, purple or even green. It has a long beak and yellow eyes.
The second is an eastern bluebird. Fort Ridgely has tried to attract bluebirds during the summer by putting up houses on poles around the park. They are usually put up in pairs as swallows are more aggressive and abundant so usually take over one of the houses. They are very territorial and will not let another swallow take over the other at Fort Ridgely and other places where these houses are put up. I guess swallows are not concerned about bluebirds in their territory. I was surprised to see one in Fairfax and especially this late in the fall.
Scavenger Hunt update
I have kept the GFW robotics team's scavenger hunt available to anyone who wanted to do it. It is a safe way for kids to get out in nature and get exercise. It can still be done even if it is cold or it snows, just dress appropriately. Janet Rieke took her grandkids on the hunt (see them in her picture below). The numbers made it through a 4-6” snow. I actually had to replace a few numbers and duct tape up again a few others. Text me at +15079955635 or e-mail me at bekahjbaker@gmail.com if you want to get our instructions and print them out. If it snows this week or next you will not find a few of the numbers on the ground but most should still be visible the way I placed them. I will take down the numbers sometime in December.
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