Hi My friend Russ and I drove up to Sherburne today. We did the auto drive trail. First we drove left off of 5 to CR 16 to check out the marsh there. We saw some shovelers and a trumpeter swan then we started talking to some other birders who were also going to be doing the auctorial. They asked if we might see Meadowlarks in this area and Russ and i told them that we had certainly seen them up there but didn’t know if we would see them this early even though I just saw several on 180th street marsh yesterday. We then proceeded on to the auto-trail and I stopped near the bathrooms and heard an eastern meadowlark but didn’t see him. I noticed that there had been a control burn in the area bout a mile east on the trail. After the trail turns right and then left there is an overlook and we saw four killdeer displaying. It was fun to watch. We proceeded east on the trial and about a mile further at about the two mile marker I asked Russ to stop the car because I thought I saw a Northern Harrier. I can’t confirm that but as I was looking at a tree nearby I saw an eastern Meadowlark. Russ and I took photos and just as we were done the couple that we saw earlier approached just as the meadowlark flew off. I believe that they saw two of them flying off so I hope that they got them for the day. Russ and I continued and saw quite a few sandhill cranes also displaying and in the sticky pond just before the end of the trail we saw a green winged teal land for a minute and then take off. We also saw a handful of tree swallows chasing each other over Stickney. Later we decided to go to Pelican lake where a friend of mine saw a Mute Swan yesterday. We drove to where CR37 and 119 meet then towards the lake where we stopped at several locations and looked but never saw the mute swan but we did see a couple of double crested cormorants flying around in circles. I had hoped to see more but we were quite content for the day. Here are a few photos from the day. One more thing. We saw the eagle nest on Highway ten between Hanson and 242 and she is on eggs but the Eagle nest at Sherburne made me wonder since both were off of the nest. I didn’t see any sign of chicks but if there are any I’d appreciate someone letting me know. Thanks
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronsthoughts/ <https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronsthoughts/> Ron Taube Coon Rapids
