Two days ago, on April 9, about 20 white pelicans showed up on Pig’s Eye Lake. Yesterday, the number grew to about 30. This morning, I counted about 60. Most of them are on the northwest corner of the lake. Along with the pelicans are large numbers of cormorants. Scattered across the lake are hundreds of diving ducks, too far away to identify, but I think they’re mostly scaup. We are fortunate to live on the bluff overlooking the north end of Pig’s Eye. Although the lake is over a quarter-mile away, we have a good view and can identify the larger birds with a scope. We have also been seeing increasing numbers of great blue herons and great egrets flying to and from the rookery. I expect the night herons will be showing up soon.
An e-mail from Kiki Sonnen prompted me to look over my Pig’s Eye Coalition materials from the 1980s. A lot of people worked very hard to preserve and protect this valuable natural area from further development. It’s so wonderful to see that work paying off now. The best public view of Pig’s Eye Lake is from a half-mile section of Point Douglas Road which runs alongside Hwy 61, just south of Lower Afton Rd. To get there, take Hwy 61 south from I-94, or north from I- 494, turn at Lower Afton, then right on Point Douglas. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
