Last Thursday - FOY Belted Kingfisher in Blaine along 109th. Sunday - I got out to Lake Byllesby. I found only four species of shorebirds with another at Randolph Industrial Park. The best was a couple of Dunlin with black bellies. Mud flats are extensive and worthy of monitoring. I saw a pair of Sand Hill Cranes flying and wouldn't be surprised if they will be nesting in the reeds. I was surprised to hear that Pelicans nested last year there. I also had three Northern Harriers at Randolph.
Yellow-rumps are everywhere in good numbers. They were the most common birds when I stopped at the boat lunch in Prairie Island just into Goodhue County. The second most common bird was YB Sapsuckers. You can ID them easily from their drumming. Unlike the Downy and Hairy, the other two who drum down here, the Sapsuckers slow their drumming down at the end, petering off with a last hit or two. Today we had a mature Bald Eagle make a couple of dives at ducks on our lake. As usual when I approach the window, I scared off a couple of Wood Ducks in the trees. We also have Hooded Mergansers. We also have a pair of Blue-winged Teal. Perhaps they will stick around and nest. We also had a Hermit Thrush in our yard. I have yet to see any other thrushs. I have checked other shorebird loctions. Purgatory Creek is high with no mud to attract shorebirds. Jirik Sod farms in Empire Township in Dakota county has some good puddles worthy of checking, but I found nothing. my Showy Orchis orchids growing wild in my yard are just about flowering. Lilacs are in flower. You know what that means - morel season. I stumbled on a couple of morel harvesters, who were surprised that I was that far down the trail. They were having modest success. While the weather has been right for them, I think we may just be seeing the begging of their production. After helping them find a few and trading mushroom recipes, I headed back to my car with my head down rather than up and found nothing. Steve Weston on Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
