David Adair and I went to the 180th St. Marsh this morning, as well as Randolph Industrial Park and Lake Byllesby (all in Dakota County) At 180th, we found several RUSTY BLACKBIRDS and at least two BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS, along with a EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVE, many WILSON'S SNIPE, and 14 waterfowl species including continuing GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and a hybrid BLACK DUCK X MALLARD.
At Randolph we found both EASTERN and WESTERN MEADOWLARK and several more Wilson's Snipe. Byllesby has extensive mudflats (west entrance), but there were no shorebirds except a few Killdeer. We also checked the southern entrance from Goodhue County, but came up dry there as well. Upon returning to my place in Cottage Grove (Washington County), we found a very cooperative WINTER WREN that I had seen earlier this morning. Also present were some amazingly tame BROWN CREEPERS, GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS, and a RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. My first Robin flock arrived in the yard on April 4, and the next day I had a flock of FOY PURPLE FINCHES and a smaller flock of FOY CEDAR WAXWINGS. eBird list for 180th St. Marsh is here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22755734 Peter Nichols Cottage Grove Washington 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
