I was only a mile or two west of the Mississippi River Sun. afternoon, but it
felt like I was 300 miles west of the river, as an impressive congregation of
waterfowl in a flooded cornstubble field gave me a prairie pothole feel.
LOCATION:
Along S County Road 24, just east of it's intersection with 160th ave (shows up
as T-66 on Google Maps). This is just east of Hwy 61, between Wabasha and
Kellogg. If you don't find everything along CR 24, try heading north on 160th
Ave, which is gravel, and has a little less traffic.
Numbers of waterfowl were extremely hard to estimate given the stubble,
treelines, large species diversity and oft-flying flocks of birds, but here is
a feeble attempt:
CANADA GOOSE: low 1000's
CACKLING GOOSE: Only saw 2, but many more could have been lurking
GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE: 5 in one flock, possibly others
SNOW GOOSE: 6 in one flock - one seemed slightly smaller, quite possibly a
hybrid
ROSS'S GOOSE: 1 - feeding with ducks and Canada Geese towards eastern edge of
flock
SANDHILL CRANE: 30
TUNDRA SWAN: 500
MALLARD: 500
CANVASBACK: 50
REDHEAD: 25
RING-NECKED DUCK: 25
COMMON PINTAIL: 100
GADWALL: 25
AMERICAN WIGEON: 50
WOOD DUCK: 5
RING-BILLED GULL: 50
Dedrick Benz
Winona, MN
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