Yesterday the ice went out on Quiggley Lake. this morning there were two hen and one drake wood ducks by our shore. One of the hens spent a while in the same wood duck box that yesterday hosted a Hooded Merganser hen. Hopefully, tomorrow I will return home early enough to check out the box.
New birds in the yard today: Eastern Phoebe kinglet (sp?) I stopped yesterday on Hwy 55 in Plymouth, just east of CR24, to inspect a former Red-tailed Hawk nest that hosted Great-horned Owls a couple of years ago. the nest was empty, but I flushed a Winter Wren from the ditch puddle by the road. I found another nest today occupied by what appears to be a Red-tailed Hawk. This was in Oakdale at the SE corner of I-694 and Century. C. Loon on Lake Keller in Maplewood, Hwy 61 south of Hwy 36. Yesterday north of Rogers I found my first singing Chorus Frogs. Nearby on Brockton & 147th I found a pair of Trumpeter Swans. I checked out a marshy field at Brockton and 141st and found that the farm was gone and in the process of being replaced with a subdivision. And, the wetland where I found many species of shorebirds including Dowitchers and Buff-breasted Sandpiper, had been graded, sculpted, and sterilized. While still bear earth now, by next fall it will be sodded, carefully mowed, and the dominion of dogs, cats, and children. And, excepting an occasional pair of Canadian sky carp, empty of any wetland birds. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net
