[mou] Townsend's Solitaire-Afton S.P.

[Diana Doyle]

Today while hiking Afton State Park to count for the Afton CBC, Susan  
Plankis and I saw a Townsend's solitaire.

Two hikers first spotted a bird they were unfamiliar with, perched  
very close to the trail. We heard its warbling song and as we  
approached identified it as a townsend's solitaire.

We watched it for over 15 minutes, relocating it a second time, and  
watched it from as close as 25 feet as it sang and ate cedar and  
buckthorn berries. With the beautiful fresh snow cover and clear blue  
skies it was quite a New Year's Day event for us!

Unfortunately the trails in Afton SP are not named nor marked with  
numbers to easily describe the location. North of the backpack  
camping area are two shelters about 0.7 miles apart. To the west of  
the easternmost shelter is a 0.2 mile trail bend. The bird was along  
the N-S stretch of this bend, where pine and cedar trees line the  
west side of the trail.

Diana Doyle
Hennepin County