[mou] Anoka Cty: Snow Bunting

[Jim Ryan]

Hello,
Been too busy to bird much these last few months but sometimes the birds 
just land right in front of you.
After parking (at 117th and Jefferson) and catching up on some cell phone 
calls, I exited my car this morning and noticed a single, sparrow like bird 
on the asphalt in front of me. It was a pale, dirty gray with rust along its 
flanks and upper chest. That rusty color was faintly repeated in the rear 
auricular area. It had a mostly white backround. I knew I had never seen a 
bird like this before so scrambled into the backseat to get my old binocs I 
always carry in case of emergency (this was one!) The bird flew right past 
me to reveal much white on its wings and some on it's tail. Both were edged 
in black. It landed on a nearby single story house rooftop. Glassing it 
revealed a dark eye, yellow bill and dark legs, with a notched tail. I only 
got to see it for less than a minute before it took off into the wind with 
erratic undulating flight, giving a "dit dit dit dit" call.

With no book to check against the thought of waiting all day to ID it was 
torture. A quick cell phone call to Steve Weston helped me ID it as a

@ Snow Bunting

A Lifer for me! And I wasn't even trying!

Jim (now in) Mpls (formerly in St. Paul)



'If all the animals were gone, we would die from loneliness of spirit, for 
whatever happens to the animals soon happens to us. We are part of the 
earth, and it is a part of us. This we know: all things are connected like 
the blood which unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life; he is 
merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.'  
Chief Seattle, 1854

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