On Saturday Kevin Smith and I participated in the Wabasha CBC. We took our walk across the Mississippi on the dike to the dam at Alma early while the temperature was a balmy 24 degrees. But, the steady strong wind out of the north across the exposed dike, left us chilled and exposed skin cold and wind-whipped. Last year under much milder and more comfortable, though colder condition we found more open water, but fewer ducks, although one was a Harlequin. This year we had about two hundred ducks, geese and swans. Ninety percent of the waterfowl were Mallards, but we did find ten divers, including both Scaup, a Ring-neck, and a Ruddy Duck.
Later we found a juvenile or female Harrier on the river and a single Lapland Longspur on the open Zumbrota flatlands. But, the highlight was a streaming flock of Robins that flew past for fifteen or twenty minutes. We counted over 1500 birds, but wondered what we missed. How much earlier did the flight begin? We could only see an area one hundred yards on both sides of the road. How wide was the flock? And, was it thicker at another location? 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
