[mou] Birding about the Metro

[Steve Weston]

All this week there have been hundreds of Pelicans all along the Minnesota River.  On Friday there were large flocks of cormorants flying over the Mendota Bridge just above the cars.

Wednesday:   
today's bird was the Common Loon, even bigger than ever, sitting on Quiggley Lake (ice 90% gone) as I enjoyed breakfast.  Checked out Black Dog Lake late in the day and found 15-20 loons, 30+ Red-breasted Mergansers, and FOY Tree Swallows.

Thursday:
As with yesterday, we had a Fox Sparrow.   The ice is essentially gone, but so was the loon.

Friday
I stopped late at Lake Byllessby in the cold, cold rain.   No shorebirds except Killdeer.  Few ducks.   FOY: Franklins Gull, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Vesper Sparrow in fields near by.   There were thousands of Tree Swallows on the lake.

Saturday:
Today I stopped at the Old Cedar Bridge.  There were lots of Ruddy Ducks and three Horned Grebes.  I found a large flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and at least seven Brown Creepers.  Other birds of interest included three FOY (first of year) sparrows (White-throated, Swamp, and Chipping), several Hermit Thrushes, a Pine Siskin, and two Winter Wrens, one of which was singing by the third boardwalk.  Skunk Cabbage and Marsh Marigold are ready to bloom.  Quiggley Lake has a surprising amount of Star Duckweed already.

Checked one of my wood duck boxes and counted eleven eggs, both Wood Duck and Hooded Merganser.

Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN
sweston2 at comcast.net
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