Between 9:45 and 10:15 this morning I observed a Northern Mockingbird in the Bruce Vento Nature Sanctuary in St. Paul. It was hanging around in the rows of young oaks in the center of the sanctuary, sometimes feeding on the ground, then it flew to the nearby cottonwoods on the east side of the main path. It repeatedly shook its head, as if trying to free itself from a thread or something (which I could not see) around its neck.
The sanctuary is between Mounds Park and downtown St. Paul’s Lowertown. Enter “Commercial St & E 4th St, St Paul, MN” to Google Maps. The entrance is from a small parking lot at that intersection. To get there you have to take Commercial Street from Mounds Blvd (E 4th street is blocked due to construction). I’ve been going to BVNS this spring to check for activity at the kestrel nest box that St. Paul Audubon placed there in the winter of 2012. Last spring a pair of kestrels fledged five young. This year, I think the box is empty. Julian St. Paul ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
