With little open water here in Otter Tail County, there is a nice hot spot north of the town of Ottertail (along Hwy 78) where the Otter Tail River emerges from Rush Lake into McGowan Lake (or Mud Lake). First spotted by Jeff Schultz yesterday, we (& Jeff) checked it again today.
In McGowan Lake: 85+ Loons, many Pelicans, Horned Grebes, Cormorants, Lesser Scaup, etc., and Jeff also first spotted a single Western Grebe. Across the road in Rush Lake: more Loons, Horned Grebes, Red-breasted and Common Mergansers, Herring and Bonaparte's Gulls, Forster's Tern, and a fly-by Cliff Swallow and Eastern Phoebe. Also of interest is where the river empties next -- into the extreme northeast corner of Otter Tail Lake (locally called Pleasure Park), along County Rd 1: more loons, many coots, cormorants, scaup, etc., and Pied-billed Grebe. East and south of the town of Ottertail (along County Rd 61), we saw a nesting Bald Eagle and across the road where the creek feeds Portage Lake, we saw our first Great Egrets (4) of the year, and Great Blue Heron. Dan and Sandy Thimgan Otter Tail County Battle Lake MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
