home + garden
Jim Williams has been watching birds and writing about their antics since before "Gilligan's Island" went into reruns. Join him for his unique insights, his everyday adventures and an open conversation about the birds in your back yard and beyond.
resize text 
find us on Facebook
subscribe via RSS
Dickcissel for members only
Posted by: Jim Williams under Bird identification Updated: July 23, 2011 - 10:54 AM
A couple of days ago, while watching a grandson play soccer, I heard a Dickcissel calling nearby. We were at Miller Park in Eden Prairie, great place for field games but not the place you'd choose to look for a grassland bird like a Dickcissel. It called every three or four seconds for as long as I cared to listen. It seemed to be tucked down in alfalfa that was growing on an embankment along an access road. I thought this was interesting, worth mentioning if someone who cared about birds was with me. Sitting on either side of me, though, were soccer moms. I was willing to bet they knew little about birds, and might not understand that odd name. So I chose not to say, "Excuse me, but do you hear the Dickcissel calling?" A robin maybe. A Dickcissel, no.
ADVERTISEMENT
recent posts
- Continuing the Attu story
- Can you find the eggs?
- Wounded Sparrow?
- Warblers foraging on ponds
- Oriole jelly feeder -- homemade
- Warbler fallout -- 187+ individuals
- Owls fledging
- Spring ... and then there's that Attu tale
- New field guide to raptors
- Great Horned Owl chicks
- Young owls
- Fighting for nesting rights
- Owls: One cuddling mouse, another on its nest
- Winter Wrens and turkeys
- Snow birds
- A weekend on Attu: Chapter seven
- Whooping Cranes back in Wisconsin
- Robins everywhere on Monday
- Bright spot on snowy day
Post By Category
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Links
- American Birding Assoc.
- Blog: Birding to the edge
- 10,000 Birds: conservation, nature
- Buteo Books
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- eBird
- grrlScientist
- Blog: Laura Erickson
- Blog: Colder by the Lake
- Blog: Minnesota Birdnerd
- MInnesota Ornithologists' Union
- Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
- Blog: Ornitholature
- ARKive
- Better View Desired
- Birdnet
- DNR stewardship tips
- Saint Paul Audubon Society
- Sax-Zim Winter Birding Festival
ADVERTISEMENT
inside the StarTribune
-
425 Portland Av. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55488
(612) 673-4000
- Company
- Subscriber Services
- Website
- Buy Ads
- Store
- Connect with Us
© 2013 StarTribune. All rights reserved.
StarTribune.com is powered by Limelight Networks
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters