Prairie Home Visits

For the past few days, my wife and I visited southeastern Minnesota.  While we didn't pick any life birds, we did see some awesome birds.  Most people visit Minnesota and go north to see the Sax-Zim Bog, we did not.  While it is a site that we definitely want to go see, we just didn't have the time during this trip.  Hope
fully next time!  We did visit two awesome sites that were definitely worth the visit.  Oxbow Park and Quarry Hill and the Whitewater State Park and Wildlife Management Area.

Oxbow Park yielded some great looks at some Minnesotan Black-Capped Chickadees which are pretty big compared to the Connecticut BCCHs.  We also got a look at some WBNH and a Rusty Blackbird that was hanging out with some sturdy American Robins. Link Here

Whitewater State Park and WMA - This was definitely the most exciting place we stopped at.  Before I write any more, let me give a shout out to the Minnesota State Park Naturalists.  Their attention to our query (about the golden eagle) was answered and they told about atoll the other boss we could see and enjoy as well.  We missed out on the Golden Eagle and Townsend's Solitaire, we did get to see Bald Eagles and some very active Northern Shrikes.  Even the drive to the Whitewater was productive.  We picked up a ton of horned larks, Turkeys, and even got to see an American Kestrel hunting in thesnow covered farm land.
I look forward to the next time we can come back to the Land of 10000 Lakes.  They have done a great job in protecting a lot of their environment  and open farmland.  Link Here.

Until the next time, get outside and go birding!

A Gaggle of Turkeys in Oxbow Park

The Chickadees were huge in Minnesota.

Horned Larks getting a jog in as they search for food

A Juvenile Wild Turkey joining in on the fun of running

2014 Year Birds: 122
Notable Additions:
American Kestrel
Northern Shrike (Subject of our next blog)