[mou] Mourning Doves - Goodhue County

[Alden McCutchan]

On the ground beneath our thistle seed feeder now are five MOURNING DOVES -
the first we have seen this season. We are on a farm between Cannon Falls
and Kenyon. We also have PILEATED, RED BELLIED, HAIRY, AND DOWNY
WOODPECKERS,  A NORTHERN FLICKER, WHITE BREASTED & RED BREASTED NUTHATCHES,
FIVE PAIRS OF CARDINALS, HOUSE FINCHES, an occasional PURPLE FINCH and
COMMON REDPOLL plus the usual but interesting CHICADEES, DARK EYED JUNCOS,
AMERICAN GOLDFINCHES, BLUE JAYS, AND HOUSE SPARROWS.

At Christmas we looked out at our flowering crabapple tree to see a male
RING-NECKED PHEASANT awkwardly perched in the tree eating the tiny frozen
apples - probably as close as we'll ever come to a partridge-in-a- pear
tree!  Alden & Margaret McCutchan