Yesterday (Saturday) in the early morning mists we had five teams out checking on Sandhill Cranes. We had ten possible locations in Dakota Co. that had had reports of cranes during the breeding season in the last three years. We checked on seven of the locations, but only one pair of cranes was located and not in the spot that was expected.
I then went out to Lake Byllesby, which was quiet. There were no Pelicans and only a few shorebirds of four species: L. Yellowlegs, Pectoral SP, Killdeer, and Spotted SP (FOY). I also had FOY Brown Thrasher and White-throated Sparrow. 180th Street marsh had plenty of activity with several species of courting waterfowl: Pied-billed Grebe, Ring-necked Duck, No. Shovelers, Bufflehead. A Canada Goose was on a nest on a muskrat lodge. Randolph Industrial Park had both Meadowlarks, Song Sparrows, lots of Vesper Sparrows and Cowbirds. I stopped to speak with Ray Tervo, who had seen Savanah Sparrows there and White-fronted Geese north of the area along H-56. He lamented that he hadn't seen any Gray Partridge there. At that point two flew by that we were able to get a better look at later. There were lots of Red Admiral Butterflies I also saw a Rough-winged Swallow enter a hole at a sand pit. Lillacs are blooming along with the apple trees. I also found Wild Ginger in bloom. I heard my first Copes Gray Treefrogs of the season in the evening back home -- Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
