[mou] Dakota County Sunday morn

[Chris Fagyal]

Sunday morning I wandered down familiar routes in Dakota county to see =
what I could see. =20

I went down to 140th St and while not spending a whole lot of time there =
saw an adult male Orchard Oriole maybe 200 feet past the east end of the =
marsh on the left hand side frequenting the trees.  A short distance =
beyond that I saw 2 adult Red-Tailed Hawks and their recently fledged =
Juvenile.  The juvenile is still learning to fly and is mostly hopping =
around/flexing its wings and making short flights between trees.  I tried =
photographing it, and was able to take 40 or 50 shots as it sat and posed =
for me, unfortunately my focal length was not sufficient to take decent =
shots.  It was very entertaining watching it hop amongst the branches.  =
One parent was on a pine tree near by perched enjoying the sun, and =
keeping a close eye on me, and the other was on top of one of the =
powerline towers.  Just past that spot right before you reach emery avenue =
saw an immature male orchard oriole.

180th was quiet with just the expected species.  No least bittern or =
american bitterns heard, though i didn't spend much time checking.  Was a =
Ruddy Duck on the northern side of swamp in the first pool as you come =
down the hill.

At and around empire substation on 210th produced Grasshopper Sparrows, a =
pair of Clay-Colored Sparrows, Dicksissel, Bobolinks (2), Western =
Meadowlark, Eastern Meadowlark and Savannah Sparrows.

Just for kicks I checked Byllesby and found the lake at its highest point =
i've ever seen it.  There was absolutely no shore line as the water level =
was probably 2 feet above the shore.  Thus there were of course, no late =
shorebirds, and there wasn't much of anything on the lake at all.  =
Disheartened and annoyed at the bugs I left without scanning.

Good birding,




Chris Fagyal
Senior Software Engineer
United Defense, L.P.
Fridley, MN
(763) 572-5320
chris.fagyal@udlp.com