Earlier this afternoon Lee Pfannmuller and I observed 2 Snow Geese on both the Hennepin County and Ramsey County sides of the Mississippi River below the Ford bridge between Minneapolis and St. Paul. I first saw the birds at 2:10 p.m. swimming right below the bridge near the western river bank. They later swam across the river, and from 2:45-2:50 p.m. flew in circles over the area, finally landing near the east side of the island immediately south of Lock and Dam # 1. I last saw them at 2:55 p.m., when they were loafing on the sand beach on the east side of the island with 17 Canada Geese. They were clearly visible from the Ford Dam Scenic Overlook that is located 1/4 mile north of the Ford bridge and Ford Parkway on Mississippi River Boulevard in St. Paul, Ramsey County. It is quite unusual to see Snow Geese in this area, especially swimming in the river. Other species of interest in the vicinity of the Ford bridge included 1 scaup (species uncertain), 4 Common Mergansers, 1 Peregrine Falcon, and 2 Bald Eagles.
Between 10:00 and 11:30 a.m., I saw 10 species of ducks plus 2 Killdeer (flying north) from the east side of the Mississippi River in Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park (Anoka County) from the dam north to a small stream that enters the river about 1/2-2/3 mile north of the dam. Ducks, many of which were near the eastern shoreline, included the following: 6 Mallard 3 Northern Shoveler (flying north) 2 Gadwall 2 Redhead 47 Ring-necked Duck 100 Lesser Scaup (several definitely were Lesser Scaup) 3 Common Goldeneye 9 Bufflehead 2 Hooded Merganser 1 Common Merganser Also saw a Common Grackle flying over Rt. 252 several miles south of the park. ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
