[mou] Maple Grove ponds

[Thomas Maiello]

Finally stopped and birded the large pond on the north side of the  
huge wind generator in Maple Grove off Elm Creek Boulevard and Hemlock/ 
Zachary Lane.  FIrst surprise was a Green Heron sitting on a bare  
little islet (teensie island) on the east side.  Did not expect to see  
a Green Heron acting like a shore bird except it was obviously looking  
into the water for fish from the shore.  It finally flew to the pond  
shore but then walked along the shore like a shore bird again but  
still keeping full attention to the water.

Second surprise was what I think were three Caspian Terns on another  
little islet near the pinch in the pond.  I could be totally wrong  
since terns are also not my specialty (do I have a specialty?  Never  
thought that thought before!).  The were gull size or maybe just a bit  
smaller - easy to compare with so many gulls (sp? not my specialty  
either) nearby and the bills appeared all orangy-red.  The tail seemed  
shorter than the wings.  When they flew the wings were mostly all  
white with light grayish tinge to the ends.  (Now is that any way for  
a non-technical bird dude to talk - of course it is!)

The final surprise was with the constant warning cries of the  
Killdeers - three of them - one a bit a away but two obviously  
concerned about the same area.  As I began to weave to see if they  
would react more in any particular area more than another - and  
keeping my eyes locked to the ground in case a few eggs lay bare on  
the ground - the bird's behavior seemed very odd in that they weren't  
doing the wounded bird routine but running away, stopping and looking  
and then circling back all on the ground.  My suspicions that  
something was up was confirmed when a "cruising" of killdeer chicks  
(had to make up some name for a flock of baby killdeers) shot out of  
some thick grass I was approaching.  There were about 6-8 of them and  
they just disappeared into the thick grass and then shot out the other  
side and again disappeared into the next tuft thicket of grass.  I  
looked up "cute" in the dictionary when I got home and sure enough  
there was a picture of them.

Thomas Maiello
Angel Environmental Management, Inc.
Maple Grove, MN



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