[Mnbird] Birding about the Metro

[Steve Weston]

I just returned from Florida to a beautiful spring.  Flowers are blooming
and the yard is alive with birds.  One of my three wood duck houses was
down and had to be repaired and remounted in the tree. Another had be
righted before the post fell over.  I had hoped that it was unoccupied, but
I chased out the Wood Duck when I moved the post. After I got it
straightened up, I checked the nest and found nine eggs.  She was in the
box the next day when she bolted as I walked into the yard to hang the
other house. I will try to stay out of the yard as much as possible to give
them their peace.

Most all of the birds in the yard were singing when I saw them, including
both Kinglets. The most interesting thing I've seen were two Brown Creepers
hawking. I watched as two different Creepers flew off the trunks of the
trees they were climbing to snatch insects out of the air. I have seen a
lot of Creepers, but I have never seen that behavior.

Last night I headed down to the Frontenac area near Lake City to run my
frog and toad route. It is an hour drive to start the route and find out if
I have chosen a good night to survey. I found all four of the expected
frogs (Chorus, Spring Peepers, Northern Leopard, and Wood Frogs) in full
chorus. The Wood Frogs are the toughest to find, because they call for only
a short period of time. Few things are as satisfying as standing by a pond
at night and trying to hear who else is singing when one frog species is
drowning out the rest.

Other things seen include Mourning Cloak and Red Admiral Butterflies, and
an unidentified native bee. It was a little too hyper to approach for an ID
and definitely too hyper to pet

Other
Steve Weston
On Quigley Lake in Eagan, MN
sweston2 at comcast.net
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