Snow Plover was there at about 6pm, although all the birds flew as I was leaving & I don't know if it settled back in. Also at the sewerage lagoon was a Canvasback and numerous Black Terns.
I arrived at Blue Hill trail at Sherburne just before a downpour and had to return to my truck for better rain gear. The rain stopped and the birds came out singing. I thought I heard the Chat calling a couple of times. The first bird was singing in a quality of whistle that sounded like a northern Oriole, but I couldn't find the souce. The second bird had the song notes, slightly more nasal in quality, but interspersed with a call note. the pattern was just what I had heard on the tape. And, it was just like what the Catbird that was singing it, must have heard also. I then heard the oriole-like notes and traced it down to bird singing on an exposed dead branch only about 100 yards from the fork in the trail (stay left). Once I found the Chat, I was treated to a long concert with the bird sitting out in easy view. Interestingly, the interspersed calls were much softer that I expected from listening to tapes and did not carry well. When I tired from the concert and stepped out from behind the bush that was screening me, the Chat left and headed into the brush. I did not hear singing as I left the area a little after 8pm. Steve Weston on Quigley Lake in Eagan [email protected]
