Today (Tuesday) I stopped by 140th Street Marsh (a block east of Hwy 52) in Dakota County. I was surprised. The marsh looks the best I have seen in the last 10 years, wet! It doesn't have the deep water marsh of before the construction sucked it dry. There are lots of Sora and I saw a couple of pairs of Blue-winged Teal. Hopefully they will stay around and nest. Last week I saw several Snipe. It is good habitat for them. The cedars nearby had Field and Clay-colored Sparrows singing.
On Monday I was able to swing by 180th, which continues to have a good assortment of waterfowl, although the numbers are definitely down from the week before. I also saw a couple of L. Yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpipers. Families of Canada Geese are everywhere and I saw a Mallard hen disrupting traffic as she led her brood to water. I am beginning to see Rough-winged and Barn Swallows joining the Tree Swallows that are already in the boxes. I saw Rough-wings flying around a dock area, reminding me of my documenting them a couple of years ago nesting under truck trailers. Sandhill Cranes have been recorded in several locations in Dakota County. 1) Lake Rebecca in Hastings: I saw a crane apparently on nest in the marsh about 75 yards east of the dike in the wetland closest to the dam. 2) SE of Hastings: 3 cranes were documented calling in the marshes around Mud (or Bull Frog) Pond by Ravena Trail. 3) A Sandhill Crane was heard calling east of Annette Avenue SE of Whitetail Woods. 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
