I got out a couple times this weekend to bird southern Dakota County. Most of the birding was for the Breeding Bird Atlas. At North Creek park (tucked away on the northern edge of Farmington east of Pilot Knob), I found a Green-winged Teal hanging around, lots of Willow Flycatchers, and the highest density of Spotted Sandpipers on territory that I have found. Another birder photographed a nest that appears to be that of a Spotted Sandpiper.
Randolf Industrial Park (off of Hwy56) had good grassland birds including a female Bobolink (where were the males), Dickcissels, and Grasshopper Sparrows. Lake Byllesby still has exposed sand flats as the drought has interfered with filling the lake to recreational summer levels. I found a flock of shorebirds sitting on a log and counted 11 Dunlin and one light colored smaller shorebird, perhaps a Sanderling in winter plumage or a White-rumped washed out in the late afternoon lighting. Quiglley Lake has a low water line and a high audio volume mixed primarily with the drone of American Toads and the harsh trill of Copes Gray Treefrogs. The fancy orchis in my yard is fading away, but a Columbine showed up for my enjoyment. Spiderworts are in their glory, but Cherie wants me to pull them out of the garden in the front and transplant them into the natural environment of the backyard. I am not sure what her problem is with them, but she considers them a weed. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
