Today, 7-11-07 at 4:30PM I found an adult Tricolored Heron SW of Madison in Lac Qui Parle County. From the junction of Hwy75 and Hwy40 in Madison go 1.5miles west on Hwy 40 then turn left on 211th Ave and go approx 1.4 miles south. The heron was west of the road in the weeds of the flooded area to the south of the creek that runs northwest.
The bird was sleeping most of the time and I first thought it was a Little Blue Heron but its more purple plumage and very long slender beak seemed odd. Once it started preening I could see the white stripe all the way down the foreneck and the white plumes on the back of the head. Even though it was standing in tall vegetation and facing away from me the white belly could occasionally be seen when it lifted its wing to preen. At least one (probably two) juvenile/1st-summer Yellow-crowned Night-Heron has been seen sporadically since the 6th of July at the north end of Lac Qui Parle Lake where Hwy119 crosses. It was seen again today flying over the boat landing on the south side of the crossing. The water levels here have dropped nearly two feet in the past 2 weeks exposing some mud and tree stumps that the night-heron has been seen on. Also today I had two Cattle Egrets at the Big Stone NWR and another flying near Griffin Lake in Swift County. The post-breeding dispersal of herons/egrets seems well underway and very impressive so far. Also of note was a Greater White-fronted Goose at the Lubenow Waterfowl Production Area (section 3, Shible Twp.) in Swift County. The goose has molted most of its primaries so it isn't going anywhere very soon. Bill Unzen Lac Qui Parle County. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20070712/fdca7e4c/attachment.html
