A long, winding walk on the trails at Blowers Park in Waseca County did not result in the Willow Flycatcher I was looking for. However I discovered a Bell's Vireo and also discovered that you could nearly drive right up to it instead of walking the 1/2 mile that I did. Take CR4 northeast from the town of Waseca. Blower's Park will be on your right in 2 miles or so. However do not turn into the park. Continue past it for 1/4 mile and watch for the little blue sign with fire # 16256. Turn right onto the dirt road and follow it for 0.2 miles. (Prius owners use caution!) Watch for a mowed area on your right that has a County Park sign that has been shot up and also a Ducks Unlimited sign. Follow the trail that starts there towards the bluebird house on the right side of the trail. You should hear the Bell's Vireo on your left before you get to the bluebird house. It was in the cedar/alder mix, which seemed like an unlikely place for it to be, but that is positively what it was.
Also the Loggerhead Shrike that Peter Mattson reported on the Dodge/Mower county line on June 9 was still present. Obligingly, it flew from the wires on the Dodge side of the road to the road edge on the Mower side for me. This is about 3/4 mile east of Mower CR7 (which is also Dodge CR13). Herb Dingmann ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
