Sorry I'm a bit late on this since this is from yesterday afternoon, but I went birding at Hyland Park Reserve for about an hour yesterday afternoon.
The biggest highlight was finding a Field Sparrow that flushed out of the grass on the southwest edge of Hyland Lake. I didn't think much of it other than it being a bit late until eBird flagged it as a rarity in the month of November and sure enough looking at the MOU database there seems to be only a few records of Field Sparrows in November and December. Although I did not have my camera, I have no doubt it was a Field Sparrow, as it had a very distinct white eye-ring and an obviously pink beak along with other regular features of a Field Sparrow. It was flushed up along with one or two Song Sparrows. There was also a ton of waterfowl on Hyland Lake, although I could not identify it all since I didn't have my spotting scope. They included: Northern Shovelers - At least 80 all in a very tight circle dabbling together Gadwall Ring-necked Duck - A few Ruddy Duck - 3 Lastly, I couldn't confirm but I am pretty sure there are still Rusty Blackbirds foraging on the south side of the lake on the western half, fairly visible from the northern and western sides of Hyland Lake. I have seen Rusty Blackbirds there once last week (or two weeks ago) as well, so it seems they are frequenting the lake. Ben Harste Bloomington, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
