There was an osprey stealing a stick from an eagle nest yesterday along CR 5, and heading east with it. Appears it's repairing the nest that's on the platform on Long Pool, north side of CR 9 east of refuge headquarters. There definitely are more sticks than there were last fall. I thought it was early for an osprey, but the Miss. River is completely open, and stretches of the St. Francis are opening too. Hooray!
There are several large flocks of snow buntings in the area. I often see them along CR 9 west of refuge headquarters, and also along CR 3 both east and west of Santiago. There ar ehorned larks in these same areas. There has been a small mixed flock of juncos and tree sparrows near the intersection of CR's 9 and 5, west of refuge headquarters, this week. The song sparrow appears to have overwintered successfully at our HQ feeder, and this morning there were several purple finches and goldfinches there as well. We have 5 bald eagle nests that are active, 4 of them are incubating. Others we can't get to yet because of snow, so don't know status. REMINDER: As of March 1, we are in "sanctuary" time again at the refuge, so the only areas open to visitors are the Blue Hill and Mahnomen Trails. The Prairie's Edge Wildlife Drive should open in late April - depending on road conditions. We'll have to see how the melting goes. Crane Meadows is holding their annual "Habitat Day" tomorrow - Saturday - from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visitors may build either a bluebird or wood duck nest box. There will be a few displays on wildlife topics and food will be available for purchase. www.fws.gov/refuge/crane_meadows/ for more information. Crane Meadows Refuge is SE of Little Falls. Betsy Beneke Sherburne, Crane Meadows and Rice Lake NWRs ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
