Ah, spring..... Bare ground and birds singing, but drowned out by a noisy pair of honkers that have arrived on the lake to carve out their fiefdom. A pair of Mallards have arrived and apparantly have found a small patch of open water across the lake. A muskrat popped up along the shore. This morning a Crow was carrying a twig as it flew across the lake. I will try to find its construction project.
In Carver County yesterday near Rapids Lake I found swans in a flooded field: two very dark Trumpeters and a Mute Swan. I suspect that the Mute Swan is the same one that was around last summer in that area. In the fields to the west of this area I saw a Richardson's Ground Squirrel, aka flicker-tail. I have definitely noticed an increase of road kill, possums, squirrels, and a fine looking, but squashed Mink in Eden Prairie. I have been looking for Great Horned Owls on nests with only minimal success. The two I have seen so far have both been along the freeways: 1) Mendota Hgts: I-494 NW of Dodd; 2) Eden Prairie: I-494 NE of Valleyview. Both have been seen at highway speed, but are not in areas affording easy viewing. It seems awefully early for spring. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
