Thursday afternoon Andrew Krenz and I got out to enjoy th Hey birders, Thursday afternoon Andrew Krenz and I got out to enjoy the 80-degree temperatures and 30-pmh winds...aahh October! Tom Dahlen had reported to me that Perch Lake was a mere mudflat of a lake and that was certainly the case. Probably around 100 mixed teal and shovelers piled into what little water was left in the middle of the lake with some Ring-billed Gulls and 62 Great Egrets plying for space at the perimeter. As would be expected, there were shorebirds. While the bulk consisted of Killdeers, 4 Semipalmated Plovers were mixed in and we were able to find a Pectoral, a flock of Baird's Sandpipers, and a few Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs as well. American Pipits joined the shorebirds on the mudflats. You will need a scope, but you can hike right down to the "lake" edge. Now the bittersweet news: while watching all these magnificent shorebirds, a Peregrine Falcon showed up and they all flew out of there faster than my two-year old on Halloween candy. The habitat is good; birds will be there. The lake is best viewed from Lakewood Drive from the south with a scope.
There were two other shorebird locations worth mentioning. The first can be found by taking CR168 east from Lakewood Drive. There is a small wetland on the north side of the road there (Killdeer). Turn the corner and go north on CR169 and you'll find the other part of that wetland which had some decent shorebird habitat as well (Lesser Yellowlegs, Greater Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper, Killdeer). Perch Lake WPA also has some mudflats. Turn north on 597th Lane from CR4; the mudflats are on the east side of the road (Killdeer, Solitary Sandpiper, American Pipit, Rusty Blackbird). The sparrows were pretty diverse at Perch Lake WPA as well: Fox, Song, Swamp, Savannah, Vesper, White-throated, Harris's, Dark-eyed Junco. We also had hunting Northern Harriers and a Sharp-shinned Hawk here. Happy Birding! Chad Heins Mankato "But ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?" --Job 12:7, 9 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
