Saturday morning I was scheduled to lead a trip at Shaar's Bluff for Dakota County Parks. They decided to cancel the trip, but I went anyway and despite the rain, I was joined by two other hardy birders. Birding was slow and the weather wasn't the best, but the company was good, and between birds we found lots of flowers, including Nodding Trillium. Found about six species of warblers, including Wilsons, Golden-winged, Tennessee, and Blackpoll. Other birds of note included a Blue-headed Vireo..
I then headed down to the Youth Camp part of Spring Lake Park, where I led a larger goup of Boy Scouts on a nature walk. Just as I pulled up a small bird flew by the boys and crashed into the window. I went over and picked up a warm, dead Ovenbird with a broken neck. Bummer! The nature walk went well. The most impressive bird to many was the Brown Trasher, to others it was the Eastern Bluebird. For me, the most exciting bird was the Wood Thrush that was heard singing. Other birds of note at the youth camp included Eastern Towhee (heard), Least Flycatcher, and Magnolia Warbler. Along the way we found morels and after the walk, I went out and collected a small handful. The most interesting thing I found was some Lobster Mushrooms. this is a mushroom held in high regard, that is actually a mushroom that is infected with fungus or mold that turns the mushroom into a striking bright red. Sometimes, while the host mushroom is not edible, the infected mushroom is. Because, this was not not a normal host, I do not intend to eat it. Today (Sunday) I spent the day working around the house. I did check the wood duck houses and found a wood duck hen on a nest with eighteen eggs. She was easily flushed and as a result I will limit my time in the backyard. another box had eight eggs. I suspect that these are Hooded Merganser eggs. We had a Wood Duck perched on top of the box with three Hooded Mergansers looking as if they wanted to enter the box. We have been seeing the Hoodies regularly entering that box. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN [email protected]
