As this was the first real spring day that we’ve had this year, Tina and I decided to visit the Wood Lake Nature Center in Richfield, MN. We spent about 3 hours hiking the paths and boardwalks, stopping often to look for birds and shoot some images with the new 400mm lens.
Right out of the car, we spotted 2 Hermit Thrush and knew this was going to be a special place during this special time of year. I have put together a slide show of some of the birds we saw this morning. Our first loons of the season were a hit and we added the Northern Shoveler to our life list. Tina especially loved watching a tree sparrow in the sunlight and then a pair of blue birds defending their home. We counted at least 30 species of birds in our 3 hours at the park including numerous ducks and gulls.
On our walk we also spoke with several birders about other hot spots and heard of a flock of 50+ loons on a small lake in Bloomington waiting for the lakes to thaw up north. They seemed to be sleeping a lot after a long hard trip north.
Hope you enjoy these as much as we did.