[mou] Dakota County; Lower Spring Lake Park

[Richard J Specht]

This afternoon Jeanne and I birded along the river trail that takes off
from the Lower Spring Lake Park parking lot (thanks to Laura Cobles post
earlier this week).  It was the first time we birded this area and we
were very impressed with it.  We saw many waves of warblers, most of
which we could not positively ID (we left our fall warbler book behind). 
We did see:

@ vireos: several Yellow-throated and Red-eyed
@ warblers:  American Redstart, Tennessee, Nashville, Black-and-White,
orange-crowned plus several we could not ID for sure.
@ Brown Thrasher
@ Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
@ Flycatchers: Eastern Wood-Pewee, Eastern Phoebe, Least FC, Olive-sided
FC, Great-crested FC
@ Gray Catbird
@ Baltimore Oriole
@ many other resident birds.
@ Probable Northern Waterthrush - bobbing along a low branch; did not get
a great look.

We also saw a small warbler feeding a young Brown Cowbird.

When we arrived at the river, the area was full of birds:
@ Great Egret - many
@ Great Blue Heron - many
@ Double crested Cormorant
@ MANY distant gulls - we did not have our scope with us.
@ Spotted Sandpiper - several
@ Belted Kingfisher
@ American White Pelican - many circling above and on the water

This is a great place to bird and we hope to look for Spring migrants
here too.

Rick Specht