[mou] Glacial Ridge

[Larson Kelly]

Canada Goose
Bald Eagle
Rough-legged Hawk
Northern Harrier
Sharp-tailed Grouse
A. Crow
C. Raven
Black-billed Magpie
Horned Lark

I took a break from chicken duties yesterday and headed to Glacial  
Ridge in Polk County. A pair of Bald Eagles was at the nest sight on  
the north side of US Hwy 2, just west of Erskine near mile marker 96.  
A female Northern Harrier was hunting over fields west of McIntosh.  
Two more N. Harriers were found in the Glacial Ridge area. A male was  
hunting just north of the headquarters and another female was seen  
from Cty 45 near the Cty 44 intersection.
Horned Larks were the bird of the day. I stopped counting at 50.  
After three days of 45+ degrees there are plenty of open patches in  
the fields for them to forage at. Could not find a Lapland Longspur  
though I checked almost every LBB I saw.
Crows and Ravens were very active and 3 Magpies were calling and  
moving through the shelter belts near the viewing area near Us 2 on  
Cty 44. A lone Bald Eagle teed up in a Cottonwood tree a quarter mile  
south of Cty 45. I watched a pair of Coyotes slink through the scant  
brush along this stretch and disappear into a break. I'll bet the  
Eagle was watching them. One Rough-Legged Hawk spooked from a post as  
I drove up over the tracks on a min. maintenance road (12th Street,  
Tilden Junction) running north of Cty 45.
I managed to find a few Sharp-tailed Grouse, though not on leks.  
Several were feeding under pines in a farmyard on the east side of  
Cty 44, not far south of the viewing area. Other individuals where  
seen along Cty 45 at the few shorebird areas that pool up in the  
Spring near Tilden Junction. There was just the slightest bit of  
standing water on the ice. I was desperately hoping for an early  
Killdeer, Kestrel, Sandhill Crane or Red-winged Blackbird. I'll have  
to be satisfied with the sight and sounds of the two small flocks of  
C. Geese that flew over.

Kelly Larson
Bagley/Bemidji Minnesota


Eschew Obfuscation!
The middle of Nowhere is Somewhere!