[mou] Wood Lake Today - more birds

[Mark Oestreich]

We have these migrating cattail islands happen on Westwood Lake from
time to time especially during times of extended high winds. It is
definitely an odd sight to see.

Mark Oestreich
Manager - Westwood Hills Nature Center
City of St. Louis Park
8300 West Franklin Avenue
St. Louis Park, MN  55426
952-924-2543
952-292-2808 Cell
moestreich@stlouispark.org


-----Original Message-----
From: mou-net-admin@cbs.umn.edu [mailto:mou-net-admin@cbs.umn.edu] On
Behalf Of Alt, Mark
Sent: Tuesday, May 02, 2006 1:31 PM
To: MOU-net
Subject: FW: [mou] Wood Lake Today - more birds

I hit Wood Lake today on my lunch hour. I didn't see any warblers but
Yellow-rumpeds, but did see the following birds in addition to what was
listed:
*Great Egret
*7 Hermit thrushes
*LeConte's Sparrow (photographed by the Pioneer Press "Spottings"
photographer - Scott Goihl)
*Sora (photo by S.G.)
*Broad-winged Hawk (Photo by S.G.)
*Barn Swallow
*Tree Swallow

	I saw two very interesting things today and was fortunate enough
to capture them both on film.. The water in the cattails is getting
quite high and the dryness of the cattails prior to the rains of the
weekend has created a buoyancy to the tightly tangled roots, so rafts of
cattails and sedge are free-floating in the lake areas of the preserve.
There is one large raft that is about 20 feet by 40 feet and was blowing
back and forth just north of the boardwalks on the west side of the
marshy area. I saw two other smaller cattail islands floating about. I
had not noticed this event before and do not know if it is a common
occurrence, but it was really cool to see it firsthand. Duck hunters and
photographers would love this big island, it would probably hold a
hunter and his dog! I filmed the big one floating back and forth for
about 10 minutes.
	The other was a basic Green Heron shot, one standing on a log
with a painted turtle next to it, I was about 35 feet away. The Green
Heron then leaned down to the water, seeming to tip forward slowly, then
extended his beak in a lightning flash, something I have seen hundreds
of times, but what was different this time was the extended beak wasn't
long enough, so the heron dove forward like a Kingfisher, stabbing the
minnow about two feet from the log and 3 inches underwater. The heron
then floundered about, swimming with its wings on the surface, its body,
legs and head submerged, it swam in a quick turn around motion, then
back a foot or so to where it had launched itself. It climbed up on the
log, shook itself like a dog, which startled the turtle, which dove off
the log like a beaver tail slap. The heron then jerked its head a few
times to position the 2" minnow and swallowed lunch. I had seen Great
Blue Herons swim before but never Greens. Pretty cool stuff. The video
shows it perfectly. The Green Heron went right back to its perch, ready
to do it again.

Good Birding,

Mark Alt
Brooklyn Center, MN


Wood Lake Today

Despite the beautiful weather, there was not a large quantity of birds=20
at Wood Lake this morning. *Quality*, however, was high. Highlights=20
included:

Forster's Tern
Belted Kingfisher
Pied-billed Grebe
Hooded Merganser
Wood Duck
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Palm Warbler
Black-and-White Warbler
Northern Waterthrush
3 Ovenbirds!
Warbling Vireo
Swamp Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Clay-colored Sparrow
Bobolink! (female in the marsh, near the prairie)
Swainson's Thrush
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
and all the "usual suspects"...
--=20
________________________
Matthew Bribitzer-Stull
Asst. Prof. of Music Theory
University of Minnesota

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