Spring is here! We have a pair of Trumpeters hanging around on our lake. Hopefully they will raise a family here. I think they represent a new yard bird. (I already have Tundra Swans & Ross's Goose). The Hooded Mergansers have been courting and hanging around by the Wood Duck house. I had a male Wood Duck perched in a tree by another house. Watched a pair of Hairy WP's copulating. They almost fell out of the tree.
I was out right after dawn in a light rain walking 190th Street on the south edge of U-More Park in Empire Township for the annual crane count. I would have preferred to drive, but the road was not yet open. I found one Sand Hill Crane. I do not think it had a mate. It was quiet. The road was not, despite the lack of human noise. I had Turkeys calling. Snipe winnowing, tons of Red-winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows, and Chorus Frogs filling the soundscape. Other birds included Eastern Meadowlarks and Northern Harrier. I then went over to Randolph Industrial Park and Lake Byllesby, where I encountered several friends. Randolph had both Meadowlarks singing, FOY Vesper Sparrows, a flock of 16 Snipe, and a Least Sandpiper. For the day I had 19 species of waterfowl and 6 shorebirds. First of the Year birds included Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, both Kinglets, and an Osprey. 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
