I checked out both Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet this evening for gulls. 200+ gulls (almost none at L. Calhoun) were on the ice and limited open water on L. Harriet. I arrived at the south end around 4:20/4:30. Sean Peterson, who had been there for about 15 minutes I got there, had some great looks at the adult GREATER BLACK-BACKED GULL. At that time, the gulls were closer to the south end; perhaps a spotting scope would not have been required. Then when I got there, the gulls flew (thanks, Bald Eagle) and settled at the opposite end. Before it started getting dark at 4:50pm, we managed to pick out the juvenile GLAUCOUS GULL. Sean saw some AMERICAN COOTS as well.
There is not a lot of open water left on neither of the two lakes. Lake of the Isles is completely iced over from what I saw. The next few days' high temperatures range from the low 20s to the low teens... Good birdin'! Alyssa DeRubeis Golden Valley, Hennepin Co., for the winter holidays ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
