We just arrived back in Minnesota from our winter exile in the south, where I saw some good birds, but didn't get out nearly as much as I would have wanted. Back home, the snow is melting in the yard and the ice is retreating from the edges of the lake. Our lake is higher than I have ever seen it. Something I have never seen before: the ice along the edges of the lake is still there frozen to the lake bed, but it is now several inches below the ice free water along the shore.
The last two days I have heard flying high overhead small groups of Sandhill Cranes. We have also had a large flock of 60+ Canada Geese. We have also gotten a couple of pair on our lake. Yesterday, I heard one of our neighborhood Titmice calling. We also had a calling Red-shoulder Hawk looping over the lake. I don't know if this is a local breeding hawk. We have yet to see any migrants in the yard. Today I emptied the mouse traps. All the traps had been sprung or cleaned out in our absence. Most contained only a head. The rest of the mouse having been taken away, I assume, by shrews. In one fancy trap that has never attracted mouse attention, I found that the peanut butter was gone and a beautiful three quarter inch long chestnut brown pupa remained. Steve Weston On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> Virus-free. www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/email-signature?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
