The river has finally receded enough to allow an admittedly tenuous, direct access to the backwater area by the 35E bridge. It is still advisable to have water-proof foot-gear, and a walking-stick or two, but it's possible to take the first path or two left, off of the east entrance driveway, and find a negotiable crossing of the flood channel on fallen logs and branches. (The first path is through the grassy field; the second leads into the woods, then splits---go left here. They will merge.) If you avoid rush hour it will be easier to hear these birds singing. They seem to be nesting in the outer backwater channel, but one of them was highly visible at the west end of the "island" that parallels the part of the path along the backwater. At one point, it came down and perched on a log and some branches lying in the water to forage, and gave fantastic views. It then flew off behind the "island", heading for some maples at the shore's edge. On a BBA check last year, the water there was seen to have some promising stumps, with cavity-holes for potential Prothonotary nests. Apparently at least some of those cavities were above maximum floodstage height.
Linda Whyte ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
