Friday afternoon we arrived at Prairie Marsh Farm to open up the farm house for the spring and fill the bird feeders that had been empty for five months. After 2 inches of snow overnight numerous birds soon found the feeders or were seeking shelter in the grove. 6 Tree Sparrow 1 Fox Sparrow 1 Song Sparrow 1 Hermit Thrush 22 Slate-colored Junco 31 Common Redpoll 27 A. Robin 1 A. Woodcock flushed by our dog
Most sloughs and ponds are still frozen, creeks and rivers are full and fields are flooded, but at our spring fed pond were 53 Mallard 32 Ring-necked Duck 5 Canada Goose 2 Wood Duck Sunday driving back roads in SW LQP county and NW Yellow Medicine County with Jason Frank of Gary, SD we found many flocks of Juncos, Redpolls, Robins, Meadow Larks, and Horned Larks. Overhead were numerous large flocks of migrating White-fronted and Snow Geese. We were also able to find 4 Rough-legged Hawks including one dark phase hawk and a pair of light phase hawks in a flying courtship display. Also four Red-Tailed Hawks, one N. Harrier, one A. Kestrel, one Great Horned Owl, and one Merlin. The most interesting sighting were four Sharp-tailed Grouse found at the SW corner of the Mounds Spring SNA about 1/4 mile west of the junction of County Road 15 and 240th Ave in Yellow Medicine County. Two males were in display. Ken Larson, Minnetonka ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
