It had seemed today's birding would be confined to a trip to Mankato to bring an injured Red-tailed Hawk to the Raptor Center, but fate dictated otherwise. We decided to do our exercise hike at Old Cedar Avenue this evening, in hopes of seeing the Least Bittern reported there. Ultimately we had as little luck with that, as we had in our search for the Yellow-crowned Night Heron at Bass Ponds last week. However, as often happens, when you miss one thing, you may very well get something just as good or better.
Thanks to Bob and Nancy Williams, we finally got our lifer-looks at a Nelson's Sharp- tailed Sparrow. The Williams' shared that they had just seen the Sparrow about 5 minutes prior to our arrival, and it had flown in a circle around and through the grasses by the platform. After awhile, one of the birds showed up in a clump of grasses, and was eventually joined by two more. They gave us perfect looks as they circled around the platform and perched periodically in full view--certainly a most colorful species, with that orange-gold background in its plumage. Life may be "about the journey," but in this case, the destination was equally rewarding. Among others seen seen: a Snipe flushed from the dirt path leading out to the boardwalk; a Barred Owl flushed from a tree next to the path leading west from the parking lot; Common Yellow-throat Warbler and many Sora foraging out from the platform. 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
