This afternoon I took a study break and drove over to Kasota Prairie, across the river
from St. Peter. The unusually warm, windy weather seems to have brought quite a few new migrants into our area, including:
Song Sparrows
Tree Swallows
Double-crested Cormorants
Turkey Vultures
Also at the prairie, Eastern Meadowlarks were back on territory, perched out in the open
and singing their sweet whistled song, “Spring-of-the-year!” This is definitely one of my
favorite sounds of spring.
Ducks, geese, and blackbirds are still moving through the area in large numbers. On
Friday night, a flock of Snow Geese flew over campus, a new bird for Gustavus.
Not a bird, but another sign of spring: Western Chorus Frogs are chirping in wetlands.
They sound like someone running a finger over the teeth of a comb. Sometimes you can hear these little guys, no larger than a quarter, all the way on the south/east side of
campus, even when the frogs are in the ponds located in the NW part of the Arb! I find it
amazing that something so small can be so loud at the same time.
Birdman (Bob Dunlap)