Closed on Easter Sunday! The drizzle and clouds couldn't keep me from maximizing my day off... Went fishing/birding/canoeing in the backwaters around Bay City. WI.(directly across the river from Red Wing). It was hard to keep my eye on the bobber, The trees were creeping with Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets. They were everywhere, hundreds! Both species frequently foraged close to the ground. Even in the flooded woods, they checked for insects close to the water line. Bass fishing was pretty good in the shallows, casting to the base of trees with crank baits in the flooded parts. I wondered if Bass & Northern Pike took advantage of spring migration. Do fish ambush warblers and other songbirds as they push through the area in waves? The Latin name for Northern Pike is Esox lucsius, the water wolf! I checked the stomach contents of two Northern & one fine Bass when I got home....all empty.
Bald Eagle on nest, very close view from the canoe Green-winged Teal Wood Duck Blue-winged Teal Northern Shoveler Intimate observations...separate pairs feeding and preening in the flooded woods. Also: Pied-billed Grebe American Coot Canada Geese Wild Turkey - Heard gobbling Hairy, Downy, Red Bellied Woodpecker, Northern Flicker Kelly Larson Red Wing, MN
