My wife and I birded between Lake Byllesby and Hastings and came up with several early migrants. The 1000+ geese at Lake Byllesby were still present, but difficult to view down at the west end of the lake. We saw numerous Greater-white fronted and Cackling Geese with the Canadas, but could not spot any Snow Geese, despite thorough scoping. Several common waterfowl species included Ring-necked and Ruddy Duck, Lesser Scaup, Goldeneye, C. Merganser, Gadwall, & Wigeon. Grackles and Robins were see in several spots around the lake, but Horned Larks were probably the most common songbird of the day.
Cruising the farm fields between Lake Byllesby and Hastings was pretty unproductive, except for larks and one flooded field that had Green-winged Teal and Gadwall. Somewhere between Canon Falls and Hastings seemed to be the line where fields became frozen instead of having some open water. Lake Rebecca park in Hastings was very productive (mostly at the aerated pond) where we saw a Great Egret (a bit early?), Great Blue Heron, Pied-billed Grebe, Scaup, Ring-necks, and a flock of Ring-billed Gulls. Scott Loss St Paul ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
