To answer a question from the list; about No Trespassing sgns at Lake
Byllesby. I suspect someone got tired of all the people on private property,
sespecially if someomne left any trash behind (one of my pet peeves - if you
can pack it in, yu can pack it back out. If you don't, you may ruin it for not
onoly yourself, but other people as well. And long as you are there, why not
take a plastic bag with you, and pick up amjy trash you see. I hve picked up
two full bags in the last tow days in the park behind Inver Grove Library.
Anyhow, if memory serves me right, private propeprty only exteneds as far as
normal water line on lakes and ponds.Therefore, if you are on a sandy shore,
or in the water, you are on public property. I suppose you could walk through
the cemetery and onto the beach from there.
I actually had a better view of the large flocks of snow and white-ftonted
geese from the Boat Landng on the south side of the lake. And you can see
the mudflats if you walk in along the river on the west side. Obviously you
should always check out the Randolph Industrial Park if you are in that area.
I've seen 3-5 species of praire sparrows, Horned Lark, Bobolink, Dickcissel,
Harrier, B Eagles, RE Hawks, Kildeer, Mallards, several specie of diver ducks
and a Loggerhead Shrike (especially in the ponds near the road and church.
From there if you go south on Hwy 56 to the first gravelroad west, which goes
by the former Maltby Nature Area, which was a great spot to view prairie
wildflowers, and keep going around the first curve south, then park and get
out at the second curve near the Christmas Tree sales lot, and then go
through the entrance on the fence at the corner of the north side of the road,
and up to the top of the hill, you will see Crocus flowers when they bloom
early in the sspring. I've also seen Eastern Meadowlark, Northern Harrier, and
Eastern Bluebirds in the prairie and on the goat hills.
If you go south on Hwy 56 and take a left (east) where you see the sign for
Vang Church, follow the gravel road around the first and second curves going
north, and watch the power lines, you may see Red-headed Woodpecker and
often an abundance of Indigo Buntings and sparrows during migration. Also
check out the bird feeders when you go through the farm (with the house on
one side and the barn on the other side of the road), look for RT Hummingbrd,
Indigo Buintings and Pileated, Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy, Red-headed
woodpeckers at the bird feeders, and possibly a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on
the suet feede.Keep following the gravel road east, to Hwy 14 (tar). If you
check the CRP fields on 14 north of the intersecion you may see Bobolink,
Eastern and Western Meadowlark, Eastern Kingbird and more sparrows. If you
turn around and go south on 14, then go east on Cty 44 (gravel) look for Wild
Turkey, more Buntings, B Eagle, Kestrel, Barred Owl, Eastern Bluebird. RT
Hawk, Scarlet Tanager etc. This makes a great trip for "drive by birding". And
you can head over to Big Woods State Park, which is only about 5 miles
west. Or he Cannon River Nature Area south of Northfield,or Rive Bend Nature
Center in Faribault.Check the prairies across from the Hospital in Northfield,
for
Dickcissel, sparrows and wrens.
Yesterday Saturday March 17, 2012, I heard the first Song Sparrow, Ring-
billed Gulls, Brown Thrasher and Red-winged Blackbirds and Downy and Red-
bellied Woodpecker of the spring in our backyard. I also saw a flock of Dark-
eyed Juncos (probably from Iowa). The Brown Thrasher is a summer regular.
And the woodpeckers are normally here through the winter, but I did not hear
or see them this last winter. Earlier in the week I saw about 8 pair of
Mallards,
only one pair of Canada Geese this year (so far) and one pair of Hooded
Mergansers (don't think they stayed around last year).
Add that to our normal 4-6 Blue Jays, pair of Northern Cardinals, pair of Red-
bellied Woodpeckers, pair of Downy Woodpeckers (no Hairys) dozen or so
Black-capped Chickadees,4-6 Gray squirrels, 2-4 Cottontail Rabbits, 1
Opossum, several White-tailed Deer, family of 2-6 Coyotes (no Raccoons
seen), and you have our normal year round fauna. My wife saw a pair of Bald
Eagles and we saw a Red-tailed Hawk last week. So - we have a backyard
bird count of 12 so far this year.
Although we are right across from Inver Hills College, about 1/4 mile behind
Inver Grove Library and 1/2 mile from Simley HIgh School, I have heard but not
seen any House Finches, and have not seen a single European House Sparrow,
which I consider very strange. I have not heard our Great-horned Owls this
year either. But, we have heard coyote pups trying out their hight pitched
howls behnd the house. I'm hoping to see our Eastern Bluebirds, Eastern
Phoebees, Wood Ducks, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret and Green Heron again
this year, plus the pair of Common Yellowthroats that were here last year
too. .
Migrating Bird Subspecies
As a Natural History Guide I’ve had a lot of questions about those large flocks
of large birds many birders and nature lover are seeing, Here are some notes
form my book Duck and Goose Addict’s Manual that may prove to be
interesting.
People all over the state have been seeing flocks of unexpected geese this
spring, probably due to the fact that it has been so dry, that there is very
little water on the ground or in lakes rivers and ponds out west, that many
waterfowl species that normally migrate through the Dakotas, have had to
move east, therefore migrarting through our great state with its over 10,000
lakes, and many more ponds and marshes - or sloughs as waterfowlers are apt
to call them.
The Canads Goose (Branta canadensis) subspecies we see all year long is the
of the Giant Canada Goose (B. c. maxima) which is the resident goose of
Minnesota. Basically speaking, if it was hatched in Minnesota, it is probably a
Giant Canada. The Giant Canada subspecies was deemed extinct until 1947,
when Harold C. Hanson, a biologist of the Illinois Natural History Survey, re-
discovered them on Silver Lake n downtown Rochester, MN. They breed from
central Manitoba to the western edge of the Central Plains, south to Kansas,
they often winter in the same areas, some migrating up to 600 miles south in
one day, but still wintering within the normal subspecies range. The parvipes
(Lesser) subspecies may also be seen in Minnesota, It breeds in the Canadian
forest from central Alaska to the northwestern edge of Hudson Bay, and
winters in Washington and Oregon. The interior subspecies may be seen in
Minnesota on migration. It breeds from Ungava Bay to Hudson Bay to northern
Manitoba to southern Baffin Island and southwestern Greenland, wintering in
the Eastern United States
The Cackling Goose (Branta hutchinsii) subspecies we are most likely to see on
migration here in Minnesota, is the Richardsons’ Goose (B.C. hutchinsii)
subspecies, which breeds from the Mckenzie Delta, NWT, east to western
Baffin Island, south to Southhampon Island and the McConnell River, Hudson
Bay and winters from New Mexico and Texas into the northern highlands of
Mexico and coastal Texas to Louisiana south to Northern Vera Cruz, Mexico.
The subspecies of the Snow Goose (Chen caerulescens) we are most likely to
see on migration here in Minnesota is the Lesser Snow goose (Chen
Caerulescens cerulescens ).
The White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) (known as speckle bellies to
hunters) we are most likely to see here in Minnesota on migration, is the
large,
pale, gambelli, which breeds from northern Alaska and northwestern Canada,
and winters in Mexico and Texas. As I may hve mentiond before thw way to
distinguish them form other geese in flight is they fly high, hve dark bchestsm
and if you do not see any wite goose in the floock, they are not snow geese,
because you willnot see any flocks of snow geese made up completely of blud
phase geese,l the rwill almost alwalys be some white colored geese inteh
flock. And instead of a single high pitched cow as a "social contact" call,
whitefronts use a high pitched cow cow cow ... cow cow cow; Canadas often
use a low-pitched, two-syllable herr-onk, or a honk; while Cackling Geese use
a higher pitched honk.
We also see two species of swans - our resident Trumpeter Swans, which
breed in the Midwest and central Canada, many of which winter on the
Mississippi river in Monticello, Minnesota. Trumpeters Swans were basically
exterminated from Minnesota prior to the early 1980's until the U of M and
other organizations began to re-introduce them through transplants and the
hatching of eggs from the Yellowstone ecosystem and Alaska.
Tundra Swans migrate through the state in the spring and fall, with many
as 20,000 stopping off on migration on the Mississippi south of Redwing in the
fall, before continuing on east to the wintering ground on the central east
Atlantic coast. Many of them breed in Alaska, central Canada and
southwestern Hudson’s Bay. One way to distinguish them in flight is if there
are more than ten birds in a flock, they are probably Tundra Swans, because
Trumpeter swans often fly in pair and family relate flocks, not in huge
migratory flocks of several dozen to hundreds of birds.
In addition we may see families and flocks of Sandhill Cranes. The subspecies
we are most likely to see are the resident Greater Sandhill Crane (Grus
canadensis tabida) of which there may be 65,000 – 75,000 and the Canadian
Sandhill Crane (G.c.rowani), with an estimated populatin of 450,000. We may
also see the extremely rare white Whooping Crane (Grus americana) , which is
now being transplanted and also recently naturally breeding in central
Wisconsin. Last year two young Whooping Cranes were seen nar Dennison,
Minnesota few miles east of Highway 52 south of the Twin Cities.
We may also see white American Pelicans (Pelicanus erythrorhynos), and their
relative the Double-Crested Cormorant (Phalocrocorqx auritus).Cormorants
nest all over the state, and often nest in old dead, large trees over water.
Large populations of Pelicans may be seen on northwestern Minnesota in the
summer. But, they often breed on western and Canadian waters.
I don't expect the waterfowl migration to last much longer, so get out there
and enjoy it while you can. Shorebired ae up next, along with warblers.
We'lll be taking Nature /Photography Tours to Crex Meadows in west central
Wiconsin in the next few weeks, looking for Sandhills, Trumpeters, Eagles,
Hawks, warblers, waterfowl, shorebirds, wiading birds etc.
T.R.
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