Greetings. I am brand new both to birding and to this list, but my 9-yo son enthusiastically insists we contribute post-haste some of our recent observations along Minnehaha Creek, so I am doing just that without having had much of a chance to ground myself in the netiquette and scope of this community. I'll begin with our sightings and then offer an introduction.
Yesterday (9/14/10) while bicycling the Minnehaha Creek trail, we spotted some herons on a fallen log on the south side of the creek visible from the pedestrian path between 28th Ave S and the bridge over the Lake Hiawatha outlet. There were two Great Blue Herons along with one adult and one juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron. We moved back and forth between the bridges to observe them both in the water and in trees. At the time, we didn't have our guides and had not identified the Night Herons. We were mesmerized by the dark wings of the adult Night Heron, which appeared to us as a shimmery (almost iridescent) emerald green. At first, my son thought it was a green heron, so that's what we were calling it, and he was very excited about its potential rareness. Later that evening, we paddled our canoe from Lynhurst Park to Lake Hiawatha. We observed more Great Blues and adult Night Herons at the beginning of our trip, and then at the end when we spilled into Lake Hiawatha, we saw perhaps the same grouping of Great Blue, adult and juvenile Black-crowned that we'd seen while bicycling earlier in the day. Even though we've now read up on Night Herons and learned that they're common, my son is still very excited about this sighting. We certainly enjoyed watching them (and all the other creek/lake wildlife)! Today, while driving east on 42nd Street, my son swears he saw an osprey fly right over the car at the intersection of 28th Ave (flying toward Lake Hiawatha). I didn't see the bird at all, so I'm not sure, but he really does have a sharp eye and a knack for detail, so I wouldn't be surprised. We are a homeschooling family in South Minneapolis just a couple blocks north of Minnehaha Creek. My son's ornithology career began just a few months ago with the purchase of the National Geographic guide during an extended stay in Duluth. We now have tons of guides and birdsong audiobooks out from the library, he's acquired an I-Flyer and several birding journals, and he picks up bird calls and identifying marks lickety-split. We bike along Minnehaha Creek up to three times per day to check up on a clan of cedar waxwings nesting down by the LRT bridge just west of Longfellow Gardens and to observe the ducks, geese, starlings, kingbirds, peregrine falcons, nighthawks, etc. We were thrilled to run into some folks with binoculars near Nokomis Ave just a couple weeks ago. We learned from them about the warbler migration, and they pointed us toward MOU and this list. (Ben...we'd love to see some of your warbler photography if you have it posted online somewhere. Feel free to get in touch offlist.) I have bookmarked Dan Tallman's blog. I have chuckled at Thomas Maiello's humor and ebullience. I have noted the Hawk Ridge weekend and am considering a last-minute trip up there. I have perused Diana Doyle's warbler observations and discovered we have an avid birder right in our neighborhood. (Diana, feel free to contact me offlist if you'd like to meet up at the creek sometime.) Thank you for this resource. I'm not sure how long this birding bug will stick, but I'm guessing we'll get much more out of this community in the weeks and months to come. In gratitude, ~Heather (and Ethan) -- "You look so beautiful. I wish you could see what I see." ~Paul Hawken, 2006 Bioneers plenary Family, leisure & boatbuidling: http://www.ZamboniDriver.com Learning via living: http://magmacenter.wordpress.com/ Creative expressions: http://ajoyfulgirl.wordpress.com/ Permaculture: http://faithinhal.wordpress.com/ Available stuff: http://provisionermama.blogspot.com/ ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
