We were inspired by Craig's report from the Bass Ponds and headed out this morning. Arrived about 9:30am and spent about 2 1/2 hours. We spotted the following:
Canada Goose Wood Duck Mallard Blue Winged Teal Green Winged Teal Northern Shoveler Lesser Scaup Hooded Merganser Pied-billed Grebe Great Blue Heron Bald Eagle Northern Harrier Red Tailed Hawk American Coot Ring-billed gull Barred Owl (pointed out to us by someone, thanks!) Belted Kingfisher Red Bellied Woodpecker Yellow-bellied sapsucker Downy woodpecker Eastern Phoebe Crow Tree Swallow Black capped chickadee White breasted nuthatch Golden-crowned kinglet Ruby-crowned kinglet Wood Thrush American Robin American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Field Sparrow Fox Sparrow Song Sparrow Dark-eyed junco Northern Cardinal Red winged black bird American Goldfinch House Sparrow The gravel trail just after the lower parking lot area was thick with both kinglets. They were not shy and would come down for close inspection. There were also some shorebirds out in the mudflats, but they were backlit and quite a ways off so we were not sure, but could have been the yellow legs reported yesterday. jonathan and elizabeth beck On Sat, Apr 9, 2016 at 12:28 PM, CRAIG MANDEL <[email protected]> wrote: > 4/9/16 > > Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge > Bass Ponds > Bird Walk Summary > > Despite the 20 degree start to our walk, we enjoyed a number of spring > migrants this morning at the Bass Ponds. There were Fox Sparrows, both > Kinglets and Hermit Thrushes on the hill going down to the ponds. A nice > mix of Ducks on the Hog Back Marsh pond and a large flock of Greater and > Lesser Yellowlegs on Long Meadow Lake. There are some good mud flats there > again this year, so Shorebirds may be good there again this year. > > Here are some of the species we observed: > Pied-billed Grebe > Great Blue Heron > Northern Harrier > Killdeer > Greater Yellowlegs > Lesser Yellowlegs > Belted Kingfisher > Eastern Phoebe > Tree Swallow > Brown Creeper > Golden-crowned Kinglet > Ruby-crowned Kinglet > Hermit Thrush > Yellow-rumped Warbler > Fox Sparrow > > Upcoming walks at the Refuge are on the following dates: > April 11 - Monday - Rapids Lake Visitor Center > May 7 - Saturday - Bloomington Visitor Center > May 9 - Monday - Rapids Lake Visitor Center > All walks begin at 8:00 am and are open to the public. There are no > entrance fees or cost for these walks. > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
