Spring has sprung. Things were awful quite yesterday afternoon - almost no geese. There were some birds around, better numbers and variety this afternoon. Between yesterday and today, more streams have started to flow and almost all the snow and ice that was lingering in the ditches is gone. There are now some small openings on lakes near where streams inflow. Brome is just starting to grow on south facing slopes. Seen at Talcot or nearby today:
Tree Swallow (1), Great Blue Heron (1), Dowitcher (~3), Greater Yellowlegs (~6), several Bluebirds, Redwinged Blackbirds in modest numbers. Eagles moving through and residents appear to be incubating. Also modest numbers of snow geese (hundreds to low thousands). Greater numbers of White-fronts (1,000s), but not nearly as many as I would expect given the conditions. I am unsure if the geese are past us, going around us, or yet to come. I expect numbers will build. . The geese moved in ~17:00 and were scared up twice by different eagles between 17:30 and 19:00. Hooded Merg, Common Merg, Wood Duck ,Widgeon, Redhead, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Gadwall, Mallard, Pintail, Goldeneye, and other species I am likely omitting all present. Green-winged teal and Scaup were the most conspicuous on the stretch of the Des Moines River where I sat today Not Seen: Very few grackles (none noticed today), no flickers no coots, or Phoebes seen yet. Happy Easter, Brad Bolduan Windom ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
