This morning there were still extensive rafts of coots on Lake Christina north of Ashby MN along Hwy. 78. I also observed 3 large flocks of pelicans floating among the coots. I didn't have time to count them but would estimate 50 or so all together.
Also, are there Merlins around the area this time of year? I thought I saw a couple on my drive. I didn't stop on the freeway to look at the first one. The second I thought I saw was in Hector, MN at about 4:00 pm just south of Hwy 212 on the east side of town near the long tin storage sheds. It was sitting on a steel post by the drainage ditch along the dirt road. It flew as I drove past & when I came back I could not relocate it. It was definitely too large to be a kestrel, had a light breast, slatey back, & falcon shaped wings. I thought I saw the "sideburns" but can't be sure. There was quite a bit of dust and I had a pickup coming up too fast behind me to dawdle safely. Amy Drake -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080920/2b0c440e/attachment.html
