Led a bird walk at Purgatory Creek Recreation Area in Eden Prairie last night. Kathy Carter found a yellow-orange-faced sparrow creeping around in the grass near the bridge where P. Creek goes under Technology Drive (NW corner of the park). We're pretty sure it was a LeConte's Sparrow - yellow face, small bill, white crown stripe, stayed very low in the grass and didn't flush even though all 12 of us were looking at it - but we haven't seen one for years. Other interesting birds seen during our walk: a pair of birds flew overhead that we initially identified as Wilson's snipe based on the wing shape - but which we're now thinking were dowitchers because we could see some leg extending beyond the tail. We also saw a small group of buffleheads and a pair of pied-billed grebes on the lake. The more usual suspects seen: female red-winged blackbirds are back, quite a few barn and tree swallows, a hairy woodpecker excavating a nest, several killdeer, song sparrows. It was a lovely evening to be out! Anne Hanley & George Skinner Hennepin County ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
