Today (Wednesday) I was making a delivery at a dock in Shakopee when I noticed a couple of swallows flying about. I expected that they would be Barn Swallows, which I often find nesting in the shelter of under utilized docks. But, these were Northern Rough-wings, which are cavity nesters. They were flying up under truck trailers that were parked and left at the dock. I had seen this before, but had dismissed it when I saw House Sparrows also fly up and under. But, I found the swallows were utilizing small shelves built into the undercarriage of the trailers that created cavities. Interestingly, the birds were carrying small pieces of wood. I have since found out that unlike Bank Swallows (also cavity nesters), No. Rough-wings build their nests on a base of twigs.
I ran my frog & toad survey tonight. It was cool and most of the ponds were relatively quiet, but I still found five species of frogs and toads sings. Marsh Wrens were activily calling. I did not find any Whip-poor-wills calling in the area where I always find them. On the way back through Red Wing, I heard Nighthawks downtown. All through the western suburbs I am finding extensive stands of the noxious exotic weed Leafy Spurge along the highways. It is easily recognizable with its greenish yellow flowers. You can get a close up view of it on the median of the Crosstown at about France Avenue. -- Steve Weston On Quigley Lake in Eagan [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
