Sid Stivland came yesterday (Saturday) and got me out of the house birding. I had been collecting bugs and leeches and other macroinvertebrates in the morning, and would have still been cleaning up, if he hadn't rescued me. the two interesting finds from that morning were the density of mosquito larva in one small wetland, dry until the recent rains. The drought probably killed off all the mosquito predators. I am glad I am not living nearby when they fly. A trap in another pond had four Haemopis gradis leeches about six inches long. One of volunteers on our team, a high school girl volunteered to hold the leeches in her hand while we took a picture.
Sid and I birded down through Dakota County, ending up at McKnight Prairie, a little south of Randolph. We checked out a prairie site south of Dakota Tech College on 155th St in Rosemount, which had some ten to twelve singing Dickcissels. a little further down on Akron Road we found a pair of Lark Sparrows. I have seen more of them this year, than ever before, turning up in the usual locations and a host of new sites. we drove south through the U More lands of Empire Township finding nothing much of interest. With few birds to entertain us, I stared into a puddle on the road and found a couple of butterflies: an eastern tailed blue and a crescent (pearl or northern). 190th Street east of Biscayne was also pretty quiet, but we did find a number of Bobolinks flying around the wet grassland there. Bobolink numbers are definitely down in Dakota County. Randolph Industrial Park's (just north of Randolph off of Hwy 56) grassland birds did not disappoint. We conservatively counted 15 singing Dickcissels and even spied a couple of females. These guys are not at all wary and we walked as close as 20 feet without disrupting their song. We found and had great looks at numerous Grasshopper Sparrows. There were also large numbers of western Meadowlarks, Savannah Sparrows, and Cowbirds. the highlight of the day was the call of a Bobwhite from the area by the railroad tracks. we finally pulled out Sid's I-pod and tried to call him out of the cover. After a few minutes out came not one, but two small quail: a pair of Gray Partridge. We are not certain if they spoke or just understood Bobwhite, but the I-pod easily coaxed them from their cover, when they drifted back into the weeds. The Bobwhite, assumming he called, either drifted away or ceased his calling. I had seen Huns (the Gray Partridge) at this same location last year. McKnight prairie, a prairie remenat owned by Carleton College is defitely worthy of a stop to see the wildflowers, some quite rare. We had Dickcissels, Bobolink, Lark Sparrows and Eastern Meadowlarks. This year Eastern Meadowlarks are hard to find, and not on previously occupied territories. I am not sure that I have seen more than one or two in Dakota County. We also found at McKnight, fresh sign of Pocket Gophers and Badger. To get to McKnight prairie, go past Randolph on Highway 56. Take the first right turn after crossing the Vermillion into Goodhue County. Turn left at the first road and park when the road turns. The prairie is up the hill past the faded sign admonishing you to stay on the path. Today at Quiggley Lake, I saw a Hooded Merganser with young and another entering (and staying) in one of our Wood Duck houses. We also had an Eastern Phoebe saying things I never heard from them before. 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
