Wet, Windy and Full of Surprises
April 28, 2024
Hello friends! I’m excited to share one of the most incredible nature experiences I’ve ever had in today’s post! It does have some slightly graphic pictures of nature being nature, predator/prey, so if you prefer my usual posts of calm and beauty and don’t want to see incredible but a little gory, or if you have a strong phobia of snakes, I’d suggest you stop reading when you get to the “subscribe now” button.
It’s been wet and windy and as I write this on Saturday we are hoping the incoming storms stay below severe thresholds and don’t drop too much more rain. A week ago we were very dry, now there are flood watches. This is how Spring goes. Before my nature practice, the storms of spring would make me dread the season. Now those storms are balanced with so much beauty that I’ve grown to love spring again.
The Franklin’s gulls have been passing through in small numbers, often on the most cloudy and windy days. The winds are good for traveling on! This one made a nice flyby on a clear morning, showing off his spring party clothes - the dark red bill (I call that his lipstick) and that lovely pink under his belly and wings. Every birdie gets dressed up in the spring!
One cloudy morning brought the lovely surprise of seven white-faced ibis circling the lake! I’ve only seen ibis at the lake twice before, both times in the fall. As I first saw them, my phone rang (which never happens at 7 AM). It was a call about a technician who was supposed to arrive at my home after 9 AM telling me they were coming early. Picture me trying not to drop the phone, telling them the technician can’t come early because there are ibis and I can’t run back yet AND trying not to miss shots of the ibis as they fly over my head! I can only imagine what my camera shutter sounded like out of context on the phone. Nonetheless, I managed the shot, ended the call, and watched them circle the lake and disappear. One day maybe they will land for me, and maybe on a sunny morning!
There are plenty of the smaller ducks around, including lots of blue-winged teal. The small ducks are very skittish but occasionally they stick around long enough for photos!
Loons continue to appear, mostly out in the middle of the lake. Almost all of them at this time are not in their breeding plumage. I believe this means they are younger loons as I read that they don’t start breeding until six or seven years of age. I’m always so grateful for a loon!
I haven’t yet photographed any migrating warblers, but our winter residents, the yellow-rumped warblers, are putting on a show in their beautiful breeding plumage. I’m putting them side by side here so you can see their spring party clothes compared to their winter plumage.
The Forster’s terns keep passing through as well. I always hope they’ll dive for fish near me but so far I’ve been watching them through binoculars. This one was kind enough to do a flyby for photos!
My biggest surprise this week wasn’t feathered - it was furry! On Wednesday morning, I had been sitting on a rock watching the sunrise and the birds out over the lake. To get to the spot I was in (which is now under water again), I have to climb down some rocks and walk around a corner. On the way back, I always walk slowly because often there are little birds on the rocks. As I very slowly peeked around the corner, I saw a fuzzy, brown head disappear about 10 yards away. It was quick, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a squirrel and now I was curious!
I sat down on a rock, but nothing reappeared. I decided to go back around to the other side, where I found some yellow-rumped warblers and blue-winged teal. I photographed them for about 15 minutes and then I slowly walked back around the corner. Again, I saw a fuzzy, brown head disappear behind a rock! Now I was even more curious so I sat down on the rock hoping to stay long enough to see what that fuzzy, brown head was about.
Two spotted sandpipers flew in and started bopping along in the rocks, as they do, collecting tiny bugs I can’t see. As I was watching the sandpipers, the fuzzy brown creature appeared in my camera lens - it was a mink!
For a moment I was worried that the mink might attack the sandpipers, though they didn’t seem concerned. The mink then went back down off the rocks into the water and appeared to be dragging something. Perhaps this is why she was still there after what was now almost 30 minutes from the first time I saw her?
This time the mink popped up on the rocks dragging what looked like a 5-6 foot long water snake! That snake was at least twice as big as the mink.
The mink proceeded to drag that huge snake up through the rocks, apparently unconcerned with me. The sandpipers kept bopping along through the rocks and other little birds popped out occasionally but I was mesmerized watching the mink. Hauling that big snake up through those rocks was no easy task!
Eventually, the mink disappeared behind the rocks with the snake. When I got home I looked up information about minks. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation website, this is prime breeding season for minks. They are known to make dens in the banks of lakes and rivers, under tree roots, etc. I do wonder if she had a den that she hauled that snake back into. I also read that females have bigger white patches than males, particularly the patch down on their body. This makes me speculate that this was a female and perhaps this snake will feed her litter of young.
I’ve only seen a mink once before and that was in winter, before sunrise when it was still quite dark, climbing around on icy rocks. To see this one in the light like this was such a beautiful surprise! The word I used to describe this encounter multiple times on Wednesday was, “epic.”
With all the rain, I can’t climb down those rocks now. It’s probably very unlikely, but it would be beyond epic to see baby mink appear. I don’t even know what adjective I would use, but I’d like to find out! I woman can dream, right?
Spring never fails to surprise me, even after 11 years of walking in the park. I started to say “walking in the same place” but that isn’t accurate. The place is always changing so it is not the same place it was 11 years ago. Many things look the same but some do not. The spaces continue to shift and change - and the creatures along with them.
May Spring (or fall for my southern hemisphere friends) surprise you in all the most wonderful ways!
How terrific to have our Ace nature photographer on the spot to capture a mink bringing home the bacon ... or huge water snake in this case! Your full narrative is what brings it all home for us! Great work!
This is one of the best ever. The mink and the snake series was amazing. When we lived in Botswana, we had a mongoose family who lived in our backyard under a pile of eucalyptus branches and we watched them every morning from our kitchen. But I had no idea that minks will go after snakes. Was it a bull snake.
I see minks here a couple times a year and river otters playing in the white water, but last week, I had to stop when one ran across the road in front of me. He was a big boy.
Thanks so much for your persistent pursuit of the wild and beautiful.