I think I shall never see, a Goldeneye sitting in a tree!

Seriously, this morning a few minutes after sunrise was a treat. I have never seen goldeneyes on shore anywhere within miles of me, and these ducks spook oh so easily. Eyes seem to spend almost all their time in the water, or flying, but this morning was different. I found a few eyes on shore, and given how low the sun was to the horizon I was able to stalk up closely to the birds using some docks which were out of water for the winter as cover.

After my fun with the “eyes”, I found a red-tailed hawk deep in the woods, and was able to watch it from only 15 yards away as it successfully hunted for its breakfast. I was amazed how deep in the woods it hunted. It was darn hard to just walk in the thick underbrush.

Finally I saw my first trumpter swans of the late fall. These birds are generally the last waterfowl to start their migration south. Winter will soon be here.

A Standing Goldeneye

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Red-Tailed Hawk and Breakfast

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Trumpeter Swans and Friends

Red was definitely the color of the morning! Arriving at French Park in suburban Minneapolis this morning I was surprised and pleased to find hundreds and hundreds of birds. I think the cold weather up north where I live near Lake Superior had chased the birds south.

I found flocks of robins, juncos, cardinals and red-bellied woodpeckers feeding in the ash trees, and off shore on Medicine Lake the there were flocks of goldeneyes, bufflehead ducks, migrating gulls as well as the usual mallards and geese. In short it was a birders paradise! For this northern Minnesota boy, it was a treat to have a flock of cardinals often within 10 feet of my car / blind!

The ducks, geese and gulls did not take kindly to the bald eagle which kept cruising the shoreline at an altitude of 60 feet, whereas inland the small mammals needed to be on the lookout for the red-tailed hawk which was hunting the lagoon area.

For folks looking for my presentation materials, either scroll down three blog posts, or follow this link.

Flock of Cardinals

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Red-Bellied Woodpecker