Trout and bird lovers unite

Love trout? Birds? How about ice cream?

This Saturday, September 16, 10am-1pm, Brown’s Creek Watershed District and Bird City Stillwater (a workgroup of Sustainable Stillwater MN) will co-host a free, fun, family-friendly nature event designed to celebrate all things fin, feathers, and fur. The community celebration and bird festival will be held at Brown’s Creek Park and will include a variety of activities, including live music, an opportunity to meet some of the reptiles that live in the watershed, a birds-of-prey raptor show from 11am-noon, and free ice cream.

Each fall, an estimated 4.7 billion birds fly south from the United States to warmer climates. They leave not to avoid the cold, but to find food once the lakes and rivers freeze over and insects die-off for the winter. In fact, of the roughly 240 species of birds that nest in Minnesota, only 20 do not migrate.

In the Midwest, the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers both serve as major migration corridors, with birds also flocking to wetlands, lakes, and streams in our region throughout September and October. Some of the crowd favorites people can see passing through at this time of year include sandhill cranes in the prairies and fields, Baltimore orioles in open woods and groves, trumpeter swans on the St. Croix River and local lakes, and red-tailed hawks, perched on roadside poles or sailing over fields and woods.

One action Bird City Stillwater hopes to promote locally is the Audubon “Lights Out” program. This program encourages businesses and residents to turn off their lights between midnight and dawn during the fall migration season, Aug. 15 – Oct. 31. Most birds migrate at night and many are killed in collisions with buildings or pulled of course by lights in developed areas. Lights Out programs encourage people to turn off exterior decorative lighting, dim their lobby and atrium lights, and turn off interior lights after midnight – especially on upper floors, to better protect migrating birds.

Another key action local residents can take is to plant native trees and shrubs to provide food and shelter for birds and other wildlife. Some of the many species recommended for birds include oaks, maples, black cherry, white pine, and hackberry (larger trees), as well as choke cherry, wild plum, hawthorn, hazelnut, service berry, dogwoods, and nannyberry (smaller trees and shrubs).

As is often is the case with nature, the native species listed above also offer numerous other ecological benefits. Native trees and shrubs create shade and stabilize shorelines along lakes and streams, and their spring flowers also provide an early source of nectar for pollinating insects. A recent survey of ten lakes in northeastern Washington County, conducted by the Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed District, found that many lakeshore landowners are doing a good job of maintaining native flowers and grasses but could benefit from planting additional trees and shrubs to improve the woodland canopy and ensure better habitat connectivity for songbirds and other wildlife. The Brown’s Creek Watershed District has also found that replanting native trees and shrubs along Brown’s Creek is a critical strategy needed to maintain cool water conditions for trout and the insects they eat.

During Saturday’s Community Celebration and Bird Festival, people of all ages are invited to walk, bike, roll, or drive to Brown’s Creek Park (8312 Neal Ave N, Stillwater) to participate in fun nature-themed activities and learn more about the birds, fish, and wildlife in our watershed. The park is located along the Brown’s Creek State Trail and is a short distance west of the historic stone arch bridge and scenic Brown’s Creek gorge.