I had a pretty good weekend at my house on the North Shore this weekend. On Saturday, I picked up a road killed deer (small...about 90 pounds) and placed it in my field. I partially gutted it. Within about 10 minutes, about 40 crows appeared (a migrating flock) and they started in on the carcass. Within 15 minutes, about 12 ravens came in, scattering the crows. About 15 minutes after that, the first bald eagle arrived. Within an hour, we had 10 eagles taking turns. Early the next morning (about 3 am), I was awakened by my dogs barking. There was enough moonlight to see out in my field. On the carcass was a red fox. Sunday morning, the eagles arrived early and I counted 9. Right around lunchtime, two wolves raced out to the carcass and carried it off.
Other than those, I had a large number of Juncos, bluebirds and tree sparrows moving through. I put out some corn on the driveway and the juncos and sparrows were hitting that pretty hard. I also had the two Sandhill Cranes fly in (they have been coming in about every other day at least for the last two months). It was interesting how they interacted with the eagles...much more cautious but they also figured out quick that the eagles were interested in the carcass. I found another, larger carcass on Sunday afternoon and put that out in the field (about 150 pound spike buck). Between the eagles and wolves coming back in, it lasted only until yesterday afternoon. My son called me when he got off the bus and reported that he saw two wolves in the field, carrying off the last of the remains. Several eagles were still hanging around, apparently looking for a few remnant scraps. Uwe Kausch Duluth Township -----Original Message----- From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU] On Behalf Of Betsy Beneke Sent: Monday, October 21, 2013 6:39 PM To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: [mou-net] Lackluster fall migration? Does anyone else think that fall migration has been un-exciting? Generally speaking? Did we HAVE a warbler migration? Other than early posts from along Lake Superior, I don't remember hearing much from other areas. I certainly didn't have anything to report from along the Mississippi River, Stearns, Benton or Sherburne Counties. I always depend on other birders sharing information, the stuff that gets me in my vehicle, and heading down the road. Not much mileage logged this year - other than a couple of trips to the north shore! Are people seeing stuff, but not sharing? Or has it just been a lackluster fall? Betsy Beneke St. Cloud, Benton Co. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
