On Saturday, about noon, being in Lakeville, I went to check out the prairie near Soberg WMA southwest of CR70 and I-35. I had visited this spot about a week ago, and had thought I heard the Henslows singing intermittently a couple of times, but found it hard to separate the song out from the background activity of the Sedge Wrens. This time a Henslows was singing consistently and the song was unmistakable, east of the intersection and south of the road, although I never did see the bird.
If you haven't gotten your fix of Bobolinks for the year, they were in my face most of the time, perching on the fence and scolding me. This time the males only approached me, with the females in the background scurrying for food. I suspect that the nest near the road that last week I was too close to, has fledged. Last week I found Dickcissels, food in bill, on the fence. This week they seemed less intent on scrounging, and were actually singing on the wire. Other birds there included a brown Thrasher, noisy, but concealed Sedge Wrens all over, and a Marsh Wren. Also found an Eyed Brown Butterfly. I talked with one of the locals and found out that the owners do not hay these fields. In another marsh in Lakeville I found a Spotted Sandpiper that I suspect was trying to draw me away from its nest. Around the yard on Quiggley Lake the Barred Owls have fledged three, who are every night begging right outside our window. The sound is closest to the scream of Red-tailed Hawk. Last night they were practicing adult calls. The Baltimore Orioles are scarfing down the grape jelly. Yesterday we had four females/immatures and Cherie tells me that there are two males. Hairy and Downies with young are visiting the suet and the chickadees with their darker young ones are constantly parading through the sunflower feeder. We have one Woody female that hangs around the yard, but I hope she is not the one that led between eleven and fourteen little ones out of one of our boxes. Our lake is historically quite inhospitable to your Woodies, although I have never figured out why they fare so much more poorly than the Mallards. I hope Cherie's list is not so long that I can't get out. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN [email protected]
