HI ALL, ON SUNDAY I WAS ON MY WAY HOME FROM HASTINGS,NE. AND PULLED INTO A REST STOP ON RTE 90 IN SW MN BY BLUE MOUNDS. WHEN I GOT BACK INTO THE CAR I CAUGHT A GLIMPSE OF A GRAY BACKED BIRD. 1ST IMPRESSION WAS MOURNING DOVE BUT FLIGHT &BODY SHAPE DIDN'T FIT. I AM NEW TO MN FROM LI,NY SO I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH WINTER RESIDENTS. I GRABBED MY BINOCS AND DROVE TO WHERE I THOUGHT THE BIRD LANDEDE. HE FLUSHED AS I WAS SCANNING FOR HIM AND I WAS ONLY ABLE TO SEE HIM FROM BEHIND. DEFINATELY A FALCON BUT TOO BIG & WRONG COLOR(COMPLETELY GRAY BACK) TO BE A KESTREL. HE ALSO LEFT IN A HURRY. I USED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE HAWK COUNTS ON THE BEACH BACK HOME AND IT WAS EASY TO ID THE MERLINS BY FLIGHT. THEY WERE BULLETS AND THE KESTRELS WOULD MEANDER AMONG THE DUNES AS THEY WERE HEADING WEST. I DID SEE THAT THERE IS A PALE PRAIRIE FORM IN THIS AREA BUT ARE THEY WINTER RESIDENTS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE IT COULD HAVE BEEN. TOO SMALL FOR COOPERS AND FEMALE SHARPIE AND I HAVE SEEN TONS OF SHARPSHINS BACK EAST AND I HONESTLY DON'T THINK IT COULD HAVE BEEN AN ACCIPITER. MERLIN OR ? _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live™ Hotmail®…more than just e-mail. http://windowslive.com/howitworks?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_t2_hm_justgotbetter_howitworks_012009 ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
