A big "thank you" goes out from here, to all who organize and work for the Salt Lake Birding weekend: the residents of the Marietta and Madison area, volunteer guides, and especially Ken Larson and Mary Lou Frank for hosting many of us so graciously at Prairie Marsh Farm. Thanks to all of you, we not only enjoyed great birding, but also feel much more confident about finding our way to bird around there. Last but not least, the shared bird knowledge was very helpful, and the company was fantastic fun!
At home, things continue to show up. On Bob Premo's lead, yesterday's exercise went to Old Cedar Bluff Trail (Bloomington), from the old bridge west, the length of Long Meadow Lake, to the power lines. As he noted, the mudflats along the north shore are developing rapidly. While there was no sign of the Wilson's Phalaropes he had found earlier, there were still Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs. Best of all for me was the FOYs:scolding Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and the calling Alder Flycatcher, on the west side of the trail. There were several "whistling" American Wigeon on the water too, along with the many Blue-winged Teal. Elsewhere on the trail (just west of the last boardwalk) there was also a full repertoire serenade by at least 3 Barred Owl voices. (The one caution to offer for the future there, is that boardwalks have fallen out of favor as a safety risk, along the bluff trail. The first (high-rise) one is removed and a short detour goes around it. If the remaining ones get removed without some alternate trail build-up, hiking might require mud-tolerant footgear.) >From the Old Cedar observation platform there were good looks at both G and L Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper, and Semi-palmated Sandpiper. There are still a number of Green-winged Teal in the area, too, along with the Blue-winged. Good birding Linda Whyte ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
