A round trip hike of the pet/horse trails at Murphy-Hanrehan was relatively uneventful, turning up mostly the regulars and a few singles of the migrants. Song, Swamp, Chipping, and Field Sparrows were present, and the sound of White-throated Sparrows and of Eastern Phoebe was heard. An Eastern Towhee teased for attention with its short call, but evaded viewing. Likewise, a house wren uttered a brief call, then fell silent before it could be found. Among the singers, only the bluebirds and tree swallows were cooperative about staying in the spotlight, as dwere the egrets and a few commonwaterfowl.
The exception was 3 Sandhill Cranes in the small wetland just northwest of the horse camp. These birds emitted raucous calls several times while grazing in the grasses at the edge of the water. While the calls sounded like an alarm, the cranes didn't seem nervous otherwise and continued to feed. One of them finally did take off, with a lot of loud calling, but it was not clear what, if anything, had spooked it. Linda Whyte ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
