A beautiful day for a walk at the MN Valley NWR headquarters. I had my 3 year old son in tow, so I was not expecting to see much, but was pleasantly surprised. Tons of common species around the feeders (n. cardinal, juncos, chickadees, wb nuthatches, woodpeckers). On several occasions you could see hairy, downy, and red-bellied wood peckers at the same time. I'm relatively new to the birding game, so it was nice to see downy and hairy woodpeckers side by side, the size difference is so obvious when they're near each other.
On our hike I was initially going to ignore the odd looking squirrel's nest in the tree, when it suddenly grew eyes! I realize Barred Owls aren't by any means rare, and though I've heard them hundreds of times, this is only the second time I've seen one perched. My son was ecstatic, and we watched it from the trail very quietly for about two minutes, and took advantage of my zoom to get a couple pics from a safe distance. https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hVH_GR_orwF-x_ddKI3bccmpLSXtV-oLqBrrCw-_WhA?feat=directlink I'm not sure if barred owls are as consistent in their perch locations as other owls or if people are, desperate to see one or not. Due to the recent owl-related controversy, I will give more specific directions to anyone who emails me (directly) and promises not to pester the owl! This is about a 5-10 min. hike. Here's to spring! -Seth Hayden Ramsey County, 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
