Yesterday I participated in a cold but rewarding Christmas Bird Count in Redwing.
There is not much more beautiful than a flock of brilliant Bluebirds flying along a snowy roadside. We had eight at that location, but it was a distraction, because we had stopped to look at a large white bird perched on a branch on the top of the hill, almost directly overhead. This snowy white raptor was gorgeous, totally white, except for a few flecks of color across its belly, on its head, and what appeared to be darker wing primaries. Alas, it was not the second Snowy Owl in as many days, but a breath-takingly beautiful lecaustic (sp?) Red-tailed Hawk. This year's count for us had a low species count. Open water on the Mississippi did not have much waterfowl variety and no gulls. We did have a brief look at a Trumpeter Swan. Finches that we usually find, Purple Finch and Pine Siskins were missing. We did find at feeders one White-throated Sparrow and a surprising first count Eastern Towhee (carefully ID'd as Eastern). Steve Weston On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
