Started the morning at sunrise at Purgatory Creek. 9 waterfowl species with
the first pair of Great Egret from the blind.
Carver Park provided my first American Woodcock of the season. He looked a
bit sick. He was staggering in the middle of a dirt road and allowed my car to
come to a complete stop before walking off to the brush on the side of the
road. It's great for picture taking, but I really hope he was just cold in the
early morning. The lakes at Carver Park have not even begun to thaw but a few
of the ponds have. Hooded Merganser, American Wigeon, Wood Duck, Mallard, and
Canada Geese were in the ponds. Two pair of Trumpeter Swans were trumpeting
about the park. Flybys turned up Tundra Swans and Common Mergansers. Still
limited sparrow numbers. There has been a definite increase in Song
Sparrows, and small numbers of Fox Sparrow were in a few areas but no
significant numbers. I noticed more Tree Sparrows this morning, as well. The
first Eastern Meadowlark was singing in the fields to the west of the nature
center and a few more Eastern Phoebe and Bluebirds are showing up.
Next stop was a wetland area near the Chevalle neighborhood along Gr. Chevalle
Pkwy in Chaska off of Bavaria Rd.. I believe this is the same area that the
Sandhill Crane were seen last week. It turned up many Coot, Lesser Scaup and
Ring-necked Duck. There were a few Bufflehead and a single male Ruddy Duck.
Along Hwy 212 between Chaska and Eden Prairie there were several hundred Tundra
Swans with some Coot in the shallow lakes between the hwy and the Minnesota
River. Most were at the end closer to Hwy 101. There was an adult Bald Eagle
feasting away on what looked like a duck on the ice near that group of swans.
2 immature eagles flew in, but the adult wasn't sharing. Further east along
Hwy 212(at the second dirt pulloff if you are heading east), there was a
smaller group of Tundra Swans with some Canvasback, Northern Shoveler, Am.
Wigeon, and more Coot. Happy birding.
John
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