The Wood Stork was still present in Washington County (<10 miles east of Hugo) when I left at 8:40pm. Here are details that some may find helpful:
The entire time I was there (7:55-8:40pm), the stork was foraging in the cattle pond on the west side of Manning Trail/County Road 15 that is just north of the mailbox that reads 15710 Grogan. It is 0.4 miles north of 155th Avenue, making this a different location than where it was originally found by Erik Collins (but the same one where Linda Sparling observed it). Birders who arrived at 7:00pm did not observe it until it flew into the pond around 7:30/7:45pm. There are a lot of wetlands in the area, and the stork probably uses more than the two cattle ponds it has been observed at so far. So if it's not seen at first, look around at the other wetlands. Some birders have already pointed out that Manning Trail/County Road 15 is quite busy, so caution is advised when pulling over and walking along the side of the road. About eight of us delightedly watched as this 2nd year bird prodded with its bill and feet for frogs (and successfully ate some!), raised its wings to scare up prey, and flew a few times. As I mentioned before, the bird was very active and appeared quite healthy. Photos were obtained by several birders. Other birds in the area included Black Tern (1-2) and Sandhill Crane (2). Good birding! Alyssa DeRubeis Golden Valley (Hennepin Co.) ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
