I've been birding Bassett Creek about every other day for the past two weeks. I typically follow the creek from Bassett's Creek Playground, just north of W. Chestnut, up to the pond north of Wirth Lake and Hwy 55 in Golden Valley, at roughly the same latitude as Oak Park Ave (I'll call this the "Hwy 55 Pond"; it doesn't seem to have an official name).
More and more species are arriving. Up till mid-March, strictly mallards and Canada geese. Here are some of the species that have been arriving, with their approximate dates of arrival: - wood duck (3/30) - just one; disappeared and didn't see again till yesterday (4/12); only on the lower part of the creek, by Bassett's Creek Playground. (FOY) - hooded mergansers (3/30) - four breeding pairs (or dating, anyway) consistently at BCP since 3/30; increasing in number from about two to five or six breeding pairs on the Hwy 55 pond over that time. - common mergansers (3/30) - one breeding pair consistently on the lower part of the creek there since 3/30; about 10 -15 breeding pairs on the pond near Hwy 55, increasing in number over that time. - red-winged blackbirds (3/30) - disappeared on the lower part of the creek until yesterday (4/12) but are abundant on the pond near Hwy 55 - common grackle (3/30) - three individuals; also disappeared but showed up again yesterday (4/12)--not necessarily the same ones. (FOY) - great egret (4/6) - two starting on (4/6) and maintaining continuous presence (FOY) - great blue heron (4/6) - also two, staring on 4/6, and increasing to five or so by 4/12 (FOY) - bald eagles (4/10) - I've been seeing bald eagles, two immatures (2-3 years) and one adult, on the pond and, for the first time on 4/10, the lower part of the creek. One, which looked to be nearly an adult, was getting strafed by ring-billed gulls and crows the other day--quite a show! - common loon (4/11) - first showed up on Wed 4/11 and was also there yesterday 4/12 on the Hwy 55 pond. (FOY) - ring-necked duck (4/11) - about 12 on Wed 4/11, which increased to about 20 yesterday (4/12) - common goldeneyes (4/11) - started with two on Wed 4/11, increased to about 12 yesterday (4/12) - redhead (4/12) - about eight on Hwy 55 pond yesterday (FOY) - lesser scaup (4/12) - two couples on Hwy 55 pond yesterday - pied-billed grebe (4/12) - two couples on Hwy 55 pond yesterday - American coot (4/12) - one on lower part of creek, one on Hwy 55 pond - osprey (4/12) - one flying over Hwy 55 pond yesterday (FOY) This is in addition to all the normal suspects, American robins, house finches, American goldfinches, of which I've definitely seeing more, and the American crows, Northern cardinals, blue jays, and black-capped chickadees that always liven up winter. Hope this helps. Exciting times for me, especially since I'm relatively new to the area. Happy Birding! David =============================== David Crow Skype: dbcrow Minneapolis, MN, USA Personal Web site: http://investigadores.cide.edu/crow/ UMN profile: <https://cla.umn.edu/human-rights/news-events/news/paradox-mexico-professor-david-crow-university-minnesota>https://goo.gl/uQnXwb ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
