Canada Goose Bald Eagle Rough-legged Hawk Northern Harrier Sharp-tailed Grouse A. Crow C. Raven Black-billed Magpie Horned Lark
I took a break from chicken duties yesterday and headed to Glacial Ridge in Polk County. A pair of Bald Eagles was at the nest sight on the north side of US Hwy 2, just west of Erskine near mile marker 96. A female Northern Harrier was hunting over fields west of McIntosh. Two more N. Harriers were found in the Glacial Ridge area. A male was hunting just north of the headquarters and another female was seen from Cty 45 near the Cty 44 intersection. Horned Larks were the bird of the day. I stopped counting at 50. After three days of 45+ degrees there are plenty of open patches in the fields for them to forage at. Could not find a Lapland Longspur though I checked almost every LBB I saw. Crows and Ravens were very active and 3 Magpies were calling and moving through the shelter belts near the viewing area near Us 2 on Cty 44. A lone Bald Eagle teed up in a Cottonwood tree a quarter mile south of Cty 45. I watched a pair of Coyotes slink through the scant brush along this stretch and disappear into a break. I'll bet the Eagle was watching them. One Rough-Legged Hawk spooked from a post as I drove up over the tracks on a min. maintenance road (12th Street, Tilden Junction) running north of Cty 45. I managed to find a few Sharp-tailed Grouse, though not on leks. Several were feeding under pines in a farmyard on the east side of Cty 44, not far south of the viewing area. Other individuals where seen along Cty 45 at the few shorebird areas that pool up in the Spring near Tilden Junction. There was just the slightest bit of standing water on the ice. I was desperately hoping for an early Killdeer, Kestrel, Sandhill Crane or Red-winged Blackbird. I'll have to be satisfied with the sight and sounds of the two small flocks of C. Geese that flew over. Kelly Larson Bagley/Bemidji Minnesota Eschew Obfuscation! The middle of Nowhere is Somewhere!
