Last weekend I went to the Salt Lake birding festival. Ken Larson sent me the list for the weekend (129 on Saturday, 3 on Friday, & 4 on Sunday for a total of 136) I have the list, if anyone wants me to send it to them. Highlights for me on Saturday included a beautiful Virginia Rail about ten feet away, a pair of dancing Horned Grebes on Salt Lake, a displaying Ruddy Duck followed by a retinue of six, American Pipits, calling overhead and then feeding in close, winowing Wilson Snipe displaying overhead, a Franklin's Gull with a blushing pink breast. This year the birds were not as plentiful as last year, both in the number of species and the quantity of birds. The rain was keeping some of the birds down. Sunday's highlights included great looks at an American Bittern, a pair of Kingfishers near stream banks perfect for nesting, a Swainson's Hawk carrying nesting material, and a Great Horned Owlet in white down.
This afternoon I paused to listen to a very familiar bird song that I just could not identify. I got home and heard several more birds singing that song and then I realized: Tennessee Warbler! I walked into the backyard and heard the peeping of young birds. I counted 15 new ducklings swimming all around. The mother hen sat right next to a nesting Canada Goose, but she never called them. They were all over the place, peeping, and snaping up food. I have never seen such a disorganized brood. I figured this is an inexperienced mother hen. I did not have my binoculars with me to confirm that these were all Mallard ducklings. Looking across the lake I saw what appeared to be two more broods swimming. For the last few nights I have been hearing Copes Gray Treefrogs calling. and last night, as I watched the space shuttle cross overhead, I heard Northern Leopard Frogs. I have often seen them around the lake, but this might be the first time that I have heard them here. All kinds of flowers are up or about to bloom in the front yard, but these are not the native plants. the fruiting trees are all at the height of their blooming glory. The only native flowers that I have noticed this week are violets and prairie smoke. My neighbor reports only limited success in his search for morels. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
