[mou] Goodhue Co Birding

[connyb]

This morning with the blue sky, and promise of an above freezing day my boots were full of gotta go, and I was out the door, and at Prairie Island Lock and Dam #3 by 10:00.  I was greeted with the rattle of a Belted Kingfisher going from limb to limb along the edges of the little water open along the shoreline on the right. 

Just above the Dam the Long-tailed Duck was still there with 3 Male Goldeneyes just floating along tucked in, taking a few minutes to preen occasionally.  It was a beautiful Winter Adult Male minus the longtail, those white feathers across his back just glistened in the sunlight, as did the orange in the bill.  

In the open water farther up stream out quite away (scope needed) besides a ton of Common Mergansers, Mallards, and Canada Geese there were a pair of Blackducks, M Hooded Merganser, F Bufflehead, Coot, Gadwalls, and a M Scaup that spent so much time diving I could not tell which kind it was.

On Sturgeon Lake Road just after you turn off County 18 Blvd that huge nest on the right across from the A/C Express Gas Station has an Eagle nesting.  Along Goodhue Co 18, I saw 5 Rough-legged Hawks soaring out over the fields, and perched on the side of the road.  There was a Imm. Sharp-shined Hawk t'd up on a pole, and with the wide shoulders it's easy to hop out and set up a scope.  There were numerous Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, and Horned Larks everywhere.

Conny Brunell
Richfield, Hennepin Cty
connyb@mycidco.com