I first checked 180th Marsh today, and had some great looks at 3 Virginia Rails, with David Moser, another birder. The rails were calling often, and came out numerous times. David saw a Sora briefly. Larry Sirvio and Greg had seen them earlier, and we saw shorebirds that were flying and landing periodically.
Larry Sirvio called a short time later and told us he and Kevin Smith had shorebirds at 140th Marsh: Pectoral, Lesser Yellowlegs and Solitary. Late this afternoon, I checked Lake Byllesby, west end, and found at least 120-140 shorebirds, more than I've seen on the lake this year, plus over 200 hundred ducks. 4 Wilson's Phalaropes are still there, and I saw 2 dowatcher sp. with Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Solitary and Pectoral Sandpipers. There were a few L. Yellowlegs at the ponds at the Great Western Industrial Park and some ducks. Most of the scaup and Ring-billed Ducks were gone. Also heard and saw Western Meadowlarks, but no Eastern this time. We are supposed to have a rain/snow mix tomorrow, but hopefully an increased variety and number of shorebirds will stop. The mud flats are more extensive than they have been during the past few weeks. I also saw today: FOY Brown Thrasher, Lark Sparrow, and Eastern Towhee in and near Spring Lake Park Preserve, archery unit, and had a female Rose-breated Grosbeak at my feeders. Laura Coble Cannon Falls ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
