This evening Don Scheese and I went canoeing on Swan Lake and enjoyed
a gorgeous outing on the water. Putting the canoe in the water on the
northeast side of the lake at the public boat access, we almost
immediately heard the vocalizations of a Common Gallinule (formerly
Common Moorhen) on the east side of the channel.
Out on the lake, we observed no less than ten Least Bitterns, 6 of
which we saw and 4 more that we heard; most of the ones we saw were
observed in "islands" of sparse cattails in the middle of the water
(separated from the contiguous denser marshland on the periphery of
the lake).
Upon our return to the boat launch, a Common Gallinule was actually
visible for a short period of time on the east side of the channel as
we approached. Within a minute, the vocalizations of a Common
Gallinule were heard again but farther to the south of us, leading me
to believe there at least two birds present. It might be possible to
see or hear these birds from the public boat launch without getting
into the water.
There was also a Yellow-billed Cuckoo calling from somewhere on one of
the large wooded islands in the northeast part of the lake south of
the boat launch, and many Western, Red-necked, and Eared Grebes
scattered across the open water.
Bob Dunlap, Nicollet County
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