[mou] Miscellany

[Kathy Confer]

Good afternoon....I work on the Minneapolis/East Bank campus of the 
University of Minnesota. This morning around 11:45 a.m., while walking 
from Walter Library to Rapson Hall via the mall sidewalk near Northrop 
Auditorium, I saw 13 American robins, 5 tree sparrows, 2  pigeons, and a 
male Northern cardinal. The location, more specifically: robins mostly 
in small crabapple (?) tree (and surrounding larger trees) on eastern 
edge of Northrop Plaza wall; some robins and sparrows in small birch 
next to Morrill Hall south side door; and the cardinal in a large tree 
on the Church St corner of Morrill Hall. Robins were also seen in trees 
outside of Rapson Hall connection to the Mechanical Engineering Bldg. 
The robins have been around for a couple of weeks, but I had never seen 
this many before in these two blocks...Here's to good birding at your 
place of employment!

Kathy Confer

PS: A week ago, I had an adult red-tailed hawk come crashing into the 
branches of a small grove of trees right next to my house--trying to 
land about 15 feet above the ground. I think it was after a red squirrel 
that was "frozen" mid-trunk below where the hawk landed. The hawk 
couldn't get its wings folded up to perch on the limb so it took off as 
quickly and clumsily as it had tried to land...Suburban Wild Kingdom 
near Lake Josephine, off of Lexington Avenue, where Arden Hills, 
Shoreview and Roseville meet.