Today (Saturday) about a dozen of us went on the MRVAC sponsored the Cannon River Bottoms field trip. The trip represented a leap in faith, as we were not sure what we would find when we ventured into the wake of the recent flooding along the Cannon. The trail was not wet, but we only got half way down the trail before the mud got deep and we turned back. Dry streams on the hill side that might be an easy leap under normal wet conditions were the center of flattened vegetation that showed the remains of deluges up to fifty feet across.
The mosquitos were thick, but the birds were cooperative. We ended up with with 57 species along two trails in the woods in Goodhue County across the backwater behind Prairie Island. We found Cerulean Warblers at four locations, Acadian Flycatchers at three locations, heard Wood Thrushes at one or two locations, heard Ovenbirds at several locations, and got killer looks at a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. We had three pairs of Lark Sparrows. The biggest surprise was finding Black & White Warblers at three locations including at least one pair. I believe this is the first record of Black & White Warblers in Goodhue County in the summer. Tracks in the mud indicated the presence of deer with fawn, raccons, opossum, coyote, cat (or bobcat). Black raspberries were just beginning to offer their rewards. Butterflies were plentiful and included question mark, two different commas, silvery blue, hackberry emperor, red admiral, red-spotted purple, and northern crescent -- 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
