Andrew Krenz and I did a little exploration of Blue Earth Hey birders, Andrew Krenz and I did a little exploration of Blue Earth County. We were looking for loons and scoters primarily on the lakes around Lake Crystal (Lily, Crystal, Loon, Mills).
We found two Horned Grebes on the eastern half of Loon Lake. A Double-crested Cormorant was found on both Loon and Crystal Lakes. Ducks were pretty far out and hard to identify due to the wind-factor, but we were able to tease out Redhead, Mallard, Gadwall, Ring-necked, and Northern Shoveler. We're still awaiting the diver push. On 535th Avenue south of Hwy 60 (location where Common Gallinules nested this past year) we stumbled across some late birds: American Golden-Plover (1), Killdeer (1), Pectoral Sandpiper (1), Greater Yellowlegs (1), and Franklin's Gull (1). The gull did not look like it was in good condition, but the yellowlegs seemed worse off. There was a 9-inch stick through its neck! Except for occasionally trying to dislodge the stick, it appeared unfazed and was actively feeding. I'll try and post some of the pictures Andrew took through my spotting scope sometime in the near future. Other species of note: Northern Flicker, White-throated Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Harris' Sparrow Happy Birding! Chad Heins Mankato, MN "But ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?" --Job 12:7, 9 ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
