We had a fairly productive drive/walk through Lake Vadnais this afternoon. In addition to seeing a pair of loons, we saw a couple of double-crested cormorants. We were surprised not to find more migrant waterfowl--we even missed the red-breasted merganser Gail found--but things were livelier in the wooded areas. Within the first stand of pines along the causeway there were pine siskins in abundance, as well as red-breasted nuthatches. In the mix of sound there seemed to be redpoll voices, though we didn't spot those---unlike the gabby chickadees, which we could hardly miss. Also in that stand were golden-crowned kinglets, of whom one was cooperative enough to pose by the road. Song sparrows could be heard regularly, and tree swallows were very busy on the wing, too. On the north end, in the John Allison forest, there were large numbers of cedar waxwings, along with the usual robins and cardinals. The downy and hairy woodpeckers were present, joined by a male sapsucker calling from high in an aspen. A few more warm days will probably liven things up lots more. At Snail Lake there wasn't much on the water, either, but we saw a painted turtle basking and heard frogs in a couple of places. Best birds were the great blue heron, the bald eagle, the Cooper's hawk, two red-tails, and more cedar-waxwings. Linda & Rob Whyte
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