I took a different "scenic route" home from work today, inspired by my second osprey sighting and the great blue heron at Sherburne NWR. I saw a red-shouldered hawk along Sherburne CR 23 just south of it's intersection with CR 4 - across the road from fire number 9852. This is just outside the town of Becker, just east side of Hwy. 10.
There was a pair of sandhill cranes along Sherburne CR 16, one mile east of it's jct. with Hwy. 10, south side of the road, along the fence line. Additionally, there was a corn stubble field full of trumpeter swans along CR 16 just east of Briggs Lake/bridge/public access. They were very vocal - fun to hear! There were many more swans, Canada geese and a few mallards in the river south of the bridge. I was hoping for a woodduck sighting. Nope. There's quite a bit of open water south of the bridge and it is often the first place I see trumpeters in Sherburne County in early spring. Rooster pheasants are hollering across the marsh from my yard as I write this. Love the "spring" sounds. HAPPY SPRING everyone!!! Betsy Beneke St. Cloud, Benton County ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html