Today I had two highlights: -3 Cackling Geese: Feeding and resting on land. They were easily distinguishable from the nearby Canada Geese, and also had great size comparison with nearby Mallards. They were at the Honeywell Pond at the intersection of Duluth Street and Douglas Drive, which is about a mile west of the Duluth St/Highway 100 interchange. I viewed them from the southeast corner of the pond. Many flocks of Canadas were continuously coming in, so maybe there will be more Cacklings later on.
-W-W Crossbills: A noisy flock of <10 birds briefly feeding low on planted spruces across the street from where I was viewing the geese. Then I saw them fly to a tall spruce on a neighborhood street just south of me. Other birds seen include 1 Common Grackle (FOY), 1 Great-horned Owl, 1 partial-albino Mallard, and numerous Pine Siskins and Common Redpolls. 4 Red-winged Blackbirds and the same over-wintering Fox Sparrow were seen at the MVNWR VC feeders in Bloomington on Thursday. Keepin' it local, Alyssa DeRubeis Golden Valley, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
