[Mnbird] Birding About the Metro

Steve Weston sweston2 at comcast.net
Wed May 4 01:44:31 CDT 2016


Today (Tuesday) I stopped by 140th Street Marsh (a block east of Hwy 52) in
Dakota County. I was surprised. The marsh looks the best I have seen in the
last 10 years, wet!  It doesn't have the deep water marsh of before the
construction sucked it dry. There are lots of Sora and I saw a couple of
pairs of Blue-winged Teal. Hopefully they will stay around and nest. Last
week I saw several Snipe. It is good habitat for them.  The cedars nearby
had Field and Clay-colored Sparrows singing.

On Monday I was able to swing by 180th, which continues to have a good
assortment of waterfowl, although the numbers are definitely down from the
week before. I also saw a couple of L. Yellowlegs and Spotted Sandpipers.

Families of Canada Geese are everywhere and I saw a Mallard hen disrupting
traffic as she led her brood to water. I am beginning to see Rough-winged
and Barn Swallows joining the Tree Swallows that are already in the boxes.
I saw Rough-wings flying around a dock area, reminding me of my documenting
them a couple of years ago nesting under truck trailers.

Sandhill Cranes have been recorded in several locations in Dakota County.
1) Lake Rebecca in Hastings: I saw a crane apparently on nest in the marsh
about 75 yards east of the dike in the wetland closest to the dam.
2) SE of Hastings: 3 cranes were documented calling in the marshes around
Mud (or Bull Frog) Pond by Ravena Trail.
3) A Sandhill Crane was heard calling east of Annette Avenue SE of
Whitetail Woods.

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