Hi Birders, The White-faced Ibis were still present in Upper Roadside Pool as of 3:20 this afternoon. We observed them from the shoulder of County Road 16 east of the culvert. They were foraging in a strip of bright green grass just in front of a row of shrubs. We were able to see only three of the birds.
In case you lost Betsy's directions--take CR 16 west two miles from CR 5 (CR 16 starts about 1/4 Mile south of the wildlife drive entrance). Continue north on CR 16 for about 1 1/2 miles to the large curve in the road. Upper Roadside Pool is on the right. As Betsy mentioned, the shoulder is narrow and the traffic is fast. At the west end of the curve there is an old short piece of road on the south side of CR 16. It is a safe place to park but you may have to walk a block or two to get to the birds. We took the wildlife drive and were able to see the pair of Common Gallinules in Big Bluestem Pool in the open water north of the culvert. We also saw a large mink running along the canal that's down the hill from the marsh observation turnout. On April 30 a pair of Broad-winged Hawks started hanging around our property. The other day, we saw one fly into a nest that's about 75 yards from our house. We live on a stream called Tibbits brook--about 1/4 to 1/2 miles upstream from where it runs into the Elk River. The nest is just a few yards from the brook. We think they may have nested here last year as well. We never saw a nest but had them soaring and calling well into June. Good Birding, Paul and JoAnn Gunderson Big Lake Township Sherburne County ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
