[mou] Corsby Park Prothonotary is Back

[Julian Sellers]

Yesterday, I saw (without hearing(!)) a male Prothonotary Warbler in the (St. Paul) Crosby Farm Park location where they have nested in recent years.  This is in the eastern corner of the park, near the Mississippi, a few hundred yards west of the I-35E bridge.  If you enter the park at the main entrance on Shepard Road at Gannon Road, and drive to the last parking lot, you have a two-mile hike to the far corner of the park.  More convenient is the old former secondary entrance on Shepard Road at Elway Street (there's a traffic light there, just west of I-35E).  Unfortunately, there's only room for three cars to park there, so you have to be lucky.  In the alternative, you can drive a few hundred yards up Elway Street and park on Montreal Avenue, then walk back down into the park.  From that old entrance, go down the paved road to where it turns right and goes along the south side of Crosby Lake.  But instead of turning right, bear left on a dirt trail into the woods.  Continue about a half-mile, always bearing left, until the trail turns right along a waterway.  This is the beginning of the Prothonotary habitat.  The bird(s) may be seen or heard anywhere for the next 100 yards or so.  You'll see where the best habitat is (flooded dead trees, lots of woodpecker cavities for nesting).  There's a lot of vehicle noise from I-35E, and there are a lot of American Redstarts in the area, who often sing a song that is amazingly similar to that of the Prothonotary.

Julian Sellers
St. Paul
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