[Mnbird] miscellaneous Twin Cities birding

linda whyte birds at moosewoods.us
Sun Mar 8 18:38:48 CDT 2015


With sights set on finding a few particular birds. Laura Coble and I made
stops at several different sites in Dakota and Hennepin County. We first
tried to see the Townsend's Solitaire at Resurrection Cemetery in Mendota
Heights. While we had no luck seeing it, we did succeed in hearing its call
note, on the lake side of the ravine; hard to tell if it was hidden against
the north side of the ravine, or on the lakeshore a bit further north, but
no amount of looking could locate it. Tom Tustison later spotted a
Sharp-shinned Hawk nearby, so perhaps that's just as well.

Next we visited the Merlin at Acacia Cemetery. It was sitting in some bare
branches atop a conifer on the left side of the chapel building (on your
left as you drive into the parking lot). It preened in the sun for awhile,
and gave some of its classic call before we departed.

>From there we went to Mounds Spring Park to search the ravine for a Winter
Wren. That met with no success, so we went to check out the ravine at Bass
Ponds. Once there, we met a familiar birder who had seen a probable female
Greater Scaup in the one open pond.  Although we were unable to find it
among the many Mallards (and one C Merganser), we were glad of the time
spent on the effort, because a FOY Great Blue Heron treated us to its
graceful flight.

For a finale, we made a drive-through of Lilydale Road, to look at the
Great-horned Owl I'd seen the other day. She's sitting on the abandoned
eagle nest she has occupied for the past several years. The nest is high in
the crotch of a huge tree that borders the wetland adjacent to the
pedestrian/bike path. The tree is located just a short distance from the
yacht club, and can (should) be viewed from the paved trail. Late afternoon
seems to be when the bird raises her profile above the nest-edge.

Linda Whyte
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