There was a lone Common Loon Friday afternoon behind the Winona Airport. The loon was swimming in the first large body of water off Bartlett Lake Rd., across from the small plane hangers.
Also today, I found an Eastern Phoebe near the entrance of the Minnesota City Boat Club Prairie Island Rd. A lot of the waterfowl have moved out of the area along Prairie Island, though there are still quite a few ducks in the area. Most of the divers have moved upriver, and there are large rafts north of lock and dam 5 on the Mississippi. Mostly Canvasback, with Scaup, Redhead, Common Goldeneye and Common Merganser mixed in. In the Whitewater Wildlife Management Area, the Canada Goose Pond area along Highway 74 offered the best viewing. Six Tundra Swans were the highlight, along with a pair of Sandhill Cranes, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, Green Winged Teal, American Wigeon, Gadwall, Northern Shoveller, Canada Geese and Mallards. A pair of Belted Kingfisher provided plenty of sound accompaniment. Farther north on 74 were more of the usual suspects plus good numbers of Wood Ducks. Careful...the road farther north toward Weaver grows pretty sloppy and soft, and any amount of rain could make it difficult or impossible to get through. Good Birding! Dave Williams Winona ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
