Earlier this evening I found a first county record Sabine’s gull on South Walnut Lake in Faribault County. John Hockema and I initially viewed it from the boat landing on the south side of the lake. I’m not kidding when I say it was a mile away, as it was literally on the opposite side of the lake.
We decided to try and find it from the road on the north side of the lake (540th Ave). There are a couple places to try viewing it from. You can try parking by the bridge between the two lakes (the main Walnut Lake is on the NW side of the road) and follow the foot path south into the woods to see if you can spot it from there. It’s just a little trail that fishermen have created walking along the banks. Otherwise, if you drive NE a little more, there’s a pull off for the boat landing for Walnut Lake. From there we cut into the woods (south, or across the road from the pull off). Hopefully you can find where a few of us cut through the grass and down into the trees. The gull seems to favor this area more. It actually swam within 50’ of us. From what I found on the DNR’s website, this entire area is part of the Wildlife Management Area and is open to the public, so you shouldn’t have to worry about trespass issues. Coordinates are for where we had the best views: (43.6743447, -93.7973575). It’s tricky to view because it stays pretty close to shore. There’s been a pair of kingfishers that sometimes harass it, causing it to take flight and fly back up the shore to the NE. It basically starts swimming back down the shore for about 1000’ and then takes flight and starts the process all over again. I will try and post a photo in the morning. Best of luck! Kimberly Emerson Windom, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
