Beware of the roads at Carlos Avery WMA (Anoka and north Washington counties.) Recent heavy rains have created wash-outs, giant puddles, and in some cases, water flowing across the road from one pond to another. The woods are flooded, the flowages are overflowing, and the water levels are the highest they've been in years. (If the predicted heavy rains come this weekend, some roads may be closed.)
However, if you stay on Headquarters Road and the roads by Pools 9 & 10, you'll see plenty of birds: great blue herons, egrets, swans, sandhill cranes (and chicks), common yellowthroats, yellow warblers, mourning doves, robins, kingbirds, kingfishers, blue-winged teals, wood ducks, red-eyed vireo, flicker, American golden plovers, tree swallows, ring-necked pheasant, song sparrows, harriers, Canada geese (with many goslings) and plentiful red-winged blackbirds, including the water-lily leaf-dancing ones. We heard but did not see loons (multiple calls), whip-poor-wills, and a barred owl. Mammals: white-tailed deer, muskrat (walking across the road and another in the water), chipmunk, beaver. Reptiles: Blanding's turtle, garter snake (sunning itself disguised as a straight stick), and constant frog choruses. It was also a day of a dozen different kinds of butterflies and plentiful wildflowers. (Bonus insects: wood ticks, deer ticks, and mosquitoes.) Allegra & Allan ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
