I took the "scenic route" between Zimmerman and the Sherburne Refuge office today, between 12:30 and 2 pm, and found one of the RED-SHOULDERED HAWKS at the south end of Little Elk Lake along CR 1; there have been 2 birds there since December.
There were two COMMON RAVENS soaring over CR 4, about 1.5 miles east of Orrock. About 1/2 mile east of Orrock several AMERICAN CROWS crows were feasting on a roadkill deer that was on the north side of the road. There was also one brave little chickadee with them. The highlight of my trip was seeing and hearing (don't you all drive around with your windows open in winter too?) a dozen PINE GROSBEAKS that flew over my car as I drove along CR 4. They came from refuge land on the north side of the road, and flew right down the Sand Dunes State Forest Road (which is 2 miles east of Orrock on CR 4) landing in a tree on the east side of the road at a driveway marked with Fire # 25821. This would be .2 or .3 of a mile south of CR 4. I watched them for several minutes, and took a few photos, until the mail man came zooming up and stopped at the mail boxes right next to the tree. The birds flushed across the road and into the pine forest. I drove the loop around the forest and came back 15 minutes later, and sure enough, the birds were back, but 3 of the pine grosbeaks had morphed into common redpolls! I took a few more photos and then they flew off to the east and were gone. So...I went back to work. Nice break from computer and paperwork! I posted a red-shouldered hawk photo and a grosbeak photo on the Friends of Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Facebook page. Betsy Beneke Sherburne NWR ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
