Lakeland PBS presents Common Ground, brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Production funding of Common Ground is made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji, continuing their second century of service to the community.

Member FDIC.

Closed captioning is made possible by Bemidji Regional Airport, serving the region with daily flights to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport.

More information available at bemidjiairport.org.

[Music] Welcome to Common Ground.

I'm Producer/Director Scott Knudson.

In this episode, husband and wife master naturalists, Ron and Leann Plinske take us birding in the Brainerd Lakes area.

[Music] Let's see what's on the river today.

Be a good day for shorebirds with all this open shoreline.

Hi, I'm Ron Plinske and my wife and I are bird watchers.

Hi, my name is Leann Plinske.

I am a bird nerd, I'm a birder in the Brainerd Lakes area.

Retired, moved up here in 2013 from the Cities and as birders down in the Twin Cities we expanded our birding opportunities up here in the Brainerd Lakes area.

Birding is an activity that is enjoyed by everyone.

And it doesn't take a lot of equipment.

Doesn't take a lot of travel, something that you can do in your own backyard, lot of ways to start and we're hoping to be able to share some of that exploration and adventure with all of you.

There's many different levels of birding.

You can be a casual birder, just sit on your front stoop, you can be a backyard birder observing birds in your feeder, or in your water feature, or in your yard, or you can travel the world and try to be a super birder and see thousands of birds.

And back much closer is Brainerd's Rotary Park, purchased and developed by the Brainerd Rotarians.

They've done a marvelous job with the development and the cleanup of the park.

We are very fortunate here in the Brainerd Lakes area.

I'm standing here on the shore of the mighty Mississippi.

It doesn't look very mighty now because of its water level, but this is the Mississippi Flyway.

It's one of four bird Flyways in United States.

There's the Atlantic, the Central, the Mississippi, the Mountain and the Pacific Flyways.

These Flyways are used in the spring and the fall as a road map for the birds going back and forth from their breeding territories.

You can't get any closer to the largest birding Flyway than right here on the Mississippi River.

This is a road map for migration, not just for birds that use the water, ducks, geese and swans, but for all birds.

When they're migrating they need a corridor to follow.

Some birds migrate by the stars, but a lot of the birds need a map, something on the ground that kind of shows them where to go.

I.e.

the Mississippi River runs all the way south to the Gulf.

Pretty straight shot.

They don't want to waste a lot of energy and effort.

They're going to follow the Mississippi River, Mississippi Flyway.

It's estimated that millions of birds in the spring, that's every night, there could be up to four million birds flying at night and they're using the Mississippi Flyway towards their breeding grounds.

So birding the Brainerd Lakes area really encompasses many locations.

So we invite you to go out and do some exploring on your own.

Again, because I like to visit different areas, Fritz Loven Park up by Gull Area Lakeshore Area.

The Gull Dam Rec Area has open water.

In the winter you're going to see trumpeter swans all year up there, many more locations than we have been able to cover here.

After the river recedes from the spring floods, it's a great place to walk in the grassy area, again the key being different habitat.

There's a prairie area for prairie birds, the woodland between the prairie and the river, and of course the river itself.

Kiwanis and Rotary Riverside Parks are in the Brainerd Lakes area and offer both turf and paved trails that are accessible to everyone.

They are great for habitat along the river.

Rotary Park is an excellent location to view eagles.

There are some nests of the American Bald Eagle.

Well I got to give Mother Nature credit because I never would have thought they would have been successful in this location.

Because the nest itself wasn't very big either, it was only like a 2 year build.

Yeah with all the people.

The first year they didn't.

Well, you know, first couple months there was minimal traffic because it was winter.

And it was flooded.

That actually helped.

Gave them a jump start.

I use a basic point and shoot camera.

It's easy to carry, it's economical to purchase, but what it gives you over say a cell phone camera is a viewfinder first of all and with birds, having any bit of zoom at all will get you closer to the birds.

Birds will fly.

You can't just walk up to one and say okay wait while I take your picture.

They are wary.

They fly.

So I love the fact that this has a 1200 zoom but yet it is also very easy to carry and again because my eyes are not good for detail, for distance, I like to actually be able to understand and identify what I've been seeing and the photography really helps with that.

The other basic tool that most bird watchers have is a pair of decent binoculars.

The budget for that could be $200 to $300, but you'll find that your ability to see those birds up close and the detail of those birds is greatly enhanced when you spend a little bit more money on a decent pair of binoculars.

Some people will try to get by and scrimp and buy the $30 and then they find no they're going to buy the $100 and then four binoculars down they're buying the $300 binoculars anyway.

So save your money, buy a good pair right off the bat.

Don't do like I did.

If I could share a little bit with you some of the resources that I use.

I love using field guides and I love using the app on my phone called iBird Pro.

This happens to be one of the field guides that I enjoy, National Geographic Birds of North America.

You can also do regional guides, Eastern, Western.

You can get Birds of Minnesota which would be a little limiting.

I do suggest a comprehensive guide.

Another way to get started would be by using a book like this Birding Essentials, also by National Geographic.

This will give you information about parts of a bird, habitat, just a wide variety of topics to get you to be a better birder.

And another resource we like is by county and written by Kim Eckert, A Birder's Guide to Minnesota.

So it has county maps, little bit of description about each of the wildlife areas that you might be visiting.

Wow what a beautiful specimen, juvenile bald eagle, freshest set of feathers.

The feathers have just filled out, probably working on its flight muscles.

It's going to be in the nest just flapping building up muscles, and it looks so much bigger than the adults, the reason being their first set of feathers are oversized, consider them training feathers like training wheels.

Their first set of feathers is bigger, broader, enables them to get used to flying.

There are some basic observation skills that you can use to help you identify birds.

First is size.

Is it small, medium, or large?

Second would be coloration and pattern.

Is it a male and brightly colored or is it a female with the more dull browns or grays or olive tones?

What is the behavior of the bird?

Is it flitting, hopping, knocking on wood?

Is it poking and shuffling in the grass?

Next would be habitat.

Is it a water bird, is it a shorebird, is it a woodland?

And you'll be able to get better identification skills just from the habitat that you're seeing the birds in.

And also what is the geographic range because it will be different if the bird is in breeding territory, if it is in migration or if it is on wintering grounds.

Oh look.

I'm a fan of Facebook ventures in nature.

I like to post that on my Facebook page.

I'm a member of KAXE and I post on their season watch page.

Phenology is the study of the changes throughout nature.

The season watch page on KAXE has that phenology aspect to it.

So what are you seeing, what time of year, what's the habitat, and so photography helps to capture all of that for me.

Two turkey vultures.

Oh three, four.

There's a lot of turkey vultures here.

There's one, two, three.

There's a thermal, oh yeah.

there.

Yeah look at all of them.

There's a big sand pile over here to the right that you can't see, it's out of view, but the sand pile would generate a thermal lift, the heat from the sun off the sand will create an updraft of hot air so the birds are using that updraft like an elevator so they don't have to flap to go up.

They just go in a spiral in that draft of hot air and it's a free ride up.

There are two ponds that separate the paved trail through Rotary Riverside Park and these are great for the secretive marsh birds like the Sora and the Green Heron.

I've gotten some great pictures of both Sora and Green Heron.

And there are sheltering habitat, there are willows and alder and other low growing trees and bushes so that birds like the Yellow Warbler, the common Yellow Throat Warbler, Hermit Thrush there.

I've seen Fox Sparrows there.

Anytime that you have a thick brushy area you're going to be attracting birds.

They're looking for caterpillars, they're looking for seeds, anything that they can forage on.

And I like to concentrate on the term bird walk instead of bird hike.

Sometimes the word hike just scares people away immediately.

They say I don't hike.

And these are all walks that we are doing, you know, they're very easy, very gentle trails, often on crushed granite, so there's no real hiking involved.

If you can walk on a semi unlevel surface you'll be fine.

We moved here in 2013 and we joined organizations to meet like-minded people and Northland Arboretum was one of the first places that we became members.

Did you hear the ver ver ver ver ver?

Northland Arboretum is actually the sponsor for the Minnesota Master Naturalist Chapter, the Brainerd Lakes area chapter, and have held classes.

The biome courses for students of the master naturalist program students.

The birding is wonderful because in the Monet Pond and Whiskey Creek area you're going to see Hooded Merganser, mallards, herons, both the Great Blue Heron and the Green Heron.

The Northern Arboretum has wetlands, ponds, creeks, prairies, oak savanas.

All those different species will utilize those different habitats and you learn what birds to expect when you're in each individual habitat and even though it's 500 acres it's fairly large.

You can experience a fairly small part of the Arboretum and see the different habitat and within a mile's walk you can go through those various habitats, which in turn are going to bring in the different species that utilize those habitats.

So in this shrubby area by Whiskey Creek I'm hearing a Red-eyed Vireo, possibly an American Redstart which is a warbler, yellow warbler, which sounds like sweet sweet little more sweet, and we've also heard common yellow throat in through here.

They love the shrubby water areas and their call sounds like witchitee witchitee witchitee.

Any type of birding, we often will bird by ear, and we may look for the bird after we've identified it by its call.

So we like to learn the calls and when we hear the bird, if it's specifically interesting or a bird that's not very common to the area, then we can search it out with our binoculars and our cameras.

Right now, through here, I can hear Red-eyed Vireo.

The Red-eyed Vireo has a two and three note phrase.

Look up in the tree over here where are you Vireo.

That's like, that's called a pneumonic and that helps me to learn bird song and recognize who I'm seeing out there.

Birding was an opportunity throughout Northland Arboretum because of the wonderful habitat they have: woodlands, wetlands, prairie areas.

And they have a birding checklist that you can use as a little guide and keep your own tally of birds that you might see.

The Master Naturalist Program is put on by the University of Minnesota Extension.

It covers one of the four biomes in Minnesota.

I took the Northwoods Great Lake biome because that's where I live.

We're kind of right on the edge of that and it dives into all of the nature within that biome, from the geology to the plants to the animals and everything that makes up the nature in that.

It gives you a taste of all of those various things that make up the Northwoods Great Lake region.

So from there, once you've taken that class, you can dive in fully into another area and it's really interesting to see the different individuals and in the different directions they take it.

We are also part of the Brainerd Lakes Area Master Naturalist Club.

We meet at the Northland Arboretum.

Many of us have taken classes throughout the different programs or the different biomes and we all bring something a little bit different to the group.

So we really have some fun discussions, some great meetings with presentations on all aspects of the outdoors, whether it be flora, fauna, or just anything that the individual member or speaker is interested in.

Yeah so this is officially the Monet Pond and we did a master naturalist workday here last year.

We helped open up the pond area.

We took out some invasive honeysuckle species and since then we've had more growth of the Jack in the Pulpit, the marsh marigolds, and now the American Whitewater Lilies are starting to bloom out there.

We have Northern Blue Flag iris on this side, so it's a very pretty, very scenic area when you get nice reflections.

This is where I saw the merganser family last week.

So now we're out into the prairie of the Northland Arboretum.

And we talk about habitats and the different species that use those habitats.

So we're away from the pond, we're away from the water, we're probably not going to see the birds that we saw this morning near the pond.

Now we're going to see the grassland species.

One of them that's probably well-known to people are the eastern bluebirds that so many people love.

So there's, we have a program out here, Judd Brink the president of Bee-Nay-She, monitors these bluebird boxes.

As a master naturalist we feel compelled to help the environment and help the habitats that we visit.

For us we do bluebird nest box monitoring.

So we build the nest boxes and we install them in the appropriate habitat and then during the nesting season, which would be late May into July, we will monitor nest boxes on a weekly basis.

As a citizen scientist we can provide that data to organizations like Cornell University and they will put that information into a database that helps monitor the bluebird population or any of the birds that we're reporting.

So we feel responsible to help organizations and to help the birds by providing that information that professionals cannot do alone.

They rely so much on the volunteer aspects and we fit into that as far as citizen scientists.

The nest box is taking the place of a cavity in a tree.

Along with development and people owning property, nobody wants a dead tree on their property, but the best thing you can do for birds is if you have a dead tree, and it's safe to do so, leave it up because that dead tree becomes a nesting cavity.

For it may become a nesting condominium for species of birds.

So the nest boxes are taking the places of trees that have been removed, and it gives them a place to raise their young.

Whereas the Northland Arboretum is pretty much an urban park, suburban park.

There are hardscapes around it, there's a mall around it, there are roads around the Northland Arboretum, but it's also very accessible for walkers, local residents.

It's a great community.

Northland Arboretum provides a great location for all the folks of the Brainerd Lakes area, not just the naturalist and the bird watchers.

We see families enjoying the trails.

There are trails in the winter for skiing and there's great education along the trails, flora and fauna educators as you go.

So it's just a great, great location in town for all of us to utilize.

So Broad-winged Hawks, or are they Redwings, maybe Broad-wings.

Beautiful Red-tail and it may be a fledgling, maybe the fledgling's first flight for a Red-tail Hawk, you know.

Where'd they go?

There behind the trees.

Oh to be a hawk for one day.

Birds in flight are so hard to photograph, it's always a great challenge for me.

Looks like a bit of rain and some gully washers.

The St Mathias Heritage Walking Trail is 11 miles south of Brainerd in the town of St Mathias, in the St Mathias Park system.

We were introduced to the St Mathias Heritage Walking Trail and Robert Morgan in 2018 as part of our Minnesota master naturalist class.

We went on site, met with Robert, and he introduced us to a project he built in 2016, which is a little over a mile of crushed gravel surface through the forest, through the prairie and onto the shores in the Nokasippi River.

We fell in love with the park.

Okay it looks like point of interest marker C. White pines on knolls and ridges.

Look southwest.

A bald eagle nest is about 65 ft up in a white pine.

There's the nest.

St Mathias Park and Trail System is open to the public, developed by people on their board.

Robert Morgan is really their best steward who has done so much to develop trails and plant trees and other wild flowers.

Two years ago there was two fledglings.

This year, the last year they skipped, this year there's one fledgling.

So as you're walking the Heritage Trail you'll see the points of interest signs and you could have your map handy with you so that you know where you're going.

And you'll first walk through a little wooded area, this is going to have the various tree species from hazelnut to ironwood to maples, oaks, birches and then it'll open into or open out rather into the prairie area that has many wild flowers like the sundial lupin, the grey-headed cone flower, the wild bergamont, many, many others.

As we were introduced to Robert and the great work that he did, we fell in love with the Heritage Walking Trail, the simplicity of the short walk and the various habitats that you could experience and the solitude.

It's 11 miles south of the thriving metropolis of Brainerd.

So while it's not very noisy here in general, there is some road noise, but when you get down to St Mathias you're far away from most development, so it's quite a bit quieter, much more peaceful and definitely helps in this solitude if you want to take a nice solitary walk.

But we have put 14 bluebird nest boxes.

For the most part they're paired up to attract bluebirds.

Of course they get quite a few American Tree Swallows will take the nest box as well.

And that's a good species too because they all eat mosquitoes.

So I'm going to open up this nest box.

This is box number one.

In the offseason, in the winter, I work in my wood shop and I'll build bluebird boxes or maybe repair last year's bluebird boxes and then come spring we'll either clean last year's bluebird boxes, maybe move them based on the success rate from last year, install new ones.

So this year currently we have 14 bluebird nest boxes.

This clipboard monitors our visits to the box every week or even more currently.

So we'll keep track of the first time we see the bird's nest, what activity in the box, what species and when they fledge.

And then we'll clean out the box and prepare it because birds may come and attempt a second brood if there's a good forage base, they're successful.

They can have a second brood of chicks, and it happens pretty often and with our blue birds they really had a tough winter two years ago.

Down in Texas there was an ice storm and really annihilated quite a big population of blue birds.

So these are the same birds that have been down south, they're making a comeback.

Last year we only had one successful nest box but they did fledge four birds twice, so there was eight successful fledglings.

Five is bluebirds and there were five young in there last time.

And then from the prairie area you can walk a little further to the overlook of the Nokasippi River.

One of our favorite places to stop and really take it all in is right here at the wildlife observation deck overlooking the Nokasippi River.

If you come here once a week you can see the changes in not only the bird activity, which we're here for, but just the activity in nature, the difference in the flowering plants, the difference in the water level from week to week whether we're in a drought or... Quite a bit of rain yesterday so the river's actually up a little higher than it has been.

Lots of bird calls for the end of June.

I hear common yellow throat.

Red-winged blackbird.

nuthatch.

Nuthatches are sweet, a little more sweet yellow warbler.

The nutties are going faster, faster.

So people think midsummer is so quiet for birding, but here we are, it's almost July 1st, and we've got birds.

Middle of the day.

Middle of the day, worst time to go birding, middle of summer worst time to go birding.

There's no worst time to go birding.

Exactly, that's my point.

People ask what's the best time to go birding.

You go birding when you can.

When you can.

Sure first light and last light is good, just like fishing, but go when you can.

Be attentive and even if you're just birding by ear just sit and listen.

The dragonflies down low on the water.

Yeah.

Picking up all those gnats.

Ron and I are not experts in this field, we don't have credentials behind us.

We are enthusiasts and we hope that we can show you that anyone can become a birder.

You can become a better birder, but you can become any type of birder, whether it is from your own backyard, whether it is walking the local trails or whether it is traveling to Costa Rica or New Zealand or Colombia which has a lot of birds.

And there are resources way beyond what we have been able to offer you here, but we're hoping that we have been able to relay what a fun sport this is.

It can be as active or as adventurous as you would like.

Oh, I heard the clay colored sparrow.

Oh yeah.

I always confuse it.

Doesn't a Grasshopper Sparrow do similar?

I don't know.

Join us again on Common Ground.

If you have an idea for Common Ground in north central Minnesota, email us at legacy@lptv.org or call 218-333-3014.

To watch Common Ground online visit lptv.org and click local shows.

[Music] To order episodes or segments of Common Ground call 218-333-3020.

Production funding of Common Ground is made possible in part by First National Bank Bemidji, continuing their second century of service to the community.

Member FDIC.

Closed captioning is made possible by Bemidji Regional Airport, serving the region with daily flights to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport.

More information available at bemidjiairport.org.

Common Ground is brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008.

If you watch Common Ground online consider becoming a member or making a donation at lptv.org