I had a lot of activity today in southern Washington County, including 6 Minnesota FOYs for me. At home in Cottage Grove I had a NORTHERN HARRIER and 7 TURKEY VULTURES (both FOYS), as well as two flyover flocks of GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, and one GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET (the first one arrived on 3/29). Yard arrivals today included Wood Duck, Mallard, Song Sparrow, and Brown-headed Cowbird. (Yesterday I had a FOY FOX SPARROW singing in the woods.) Then I went to the Grey Cloud Island causeway (Hazen P. Mooers Park), where I did a 100-minute stationary count that yielded four more FOYS: COOPER'S HAWK, two PIED-BILLED GREBES, a few flyover flocks of AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS, and several DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS. I also did hard counts of 29 Bald Eagles, 14 Red-tailed Hawks, and 12 Turkey Vultures--in each case, erring on the conservative side. In addition, I had several more flyover flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese, one of which included a lone SNOW GOOSE.
Good birding! Peter Nichols Cottage Grove Washington Countyu ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
