[mou] Hennepin County and Questions (4/13)

[alyssa]

I birded four locations with a total of 56 species. A lot of what others have been reporting were seen. Highlights:

General Mills Nature Area (Golden Valley):
-Northern Shrike (one singing)

General Mills Nature Preserve (Golden Valley):
-Peregrine Falcon--As I was leaving, I spotted it in hunting mode. It eventually went behind the Spanlink Building (west of 169). I am wondering if this is the same individual at Colonade Building, although this would be about 4-5 miles away from its original home. Do Peregrines have multiple building sites, or was this a possible migrant or even a new Peregrine to add to Hennepin County? I have never seen one in this part of Golden Valley. Any input would be appreciated.

Purgatory Creek (Eden Prairie):
-15 waterfowl(like) species, including 15 Common Loons along the southeast side of the "creek"
-Herring Gull (at least one, adult)

Westwood Hills Nature Center (St. Louis Park):
-There is a male Downy Woodpecker that has a buffy-orange breast. A naturalist told me that they have seen it there since February. Could this be a Pacific subspecies, or just an aberrant plumage? Has this been documented in Minnesota?

A lot of the water was iced over in many places, and there were some ice on the trails as well. Even Killdeer and a Yellow-rumped Warbler were having fun ice-skating. It has turned into a sunny day, nonetheless. Good birding!

Alyssa DeRubeis
tiger150 at comcast.net 
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