The Townsend Solitaire was still present at Carpenter Nature Center, S. St. Croix Trail, Hastings, at noon today, along the Prairie bluff trail. It was in the vicinity of the first bench south of the overlook. As soon as the sun broke through, it flew to the top of a tall, deciduous tree halfway down the bluff hill, and began singing. After preening a bit, it shifted to the top of a similar tree nearby and continued singing. Its next perch-shift put in right on the pathside, in the sapling just north of the bench---right at eye height, where it sang some more. There were great views of its eye-ring and the buffy section of its wings. The last shift took it to some trees, oak and cedar mix, just downhill from the bench, where the singing commenced again. This is the third time I've seen it tee up to sing with the appearance of the mid-day sun; maybe it's the avian equivalent of a phototropic plant. Linda Whyte PS If you go looking for it today, you might also listen/look for the Brown Creeper that was flitting around the parking lot trees. Good birding!
---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
