Tweets,

Handicapped by weather only a duck or a birder could appreciate, I made a bet that I could find some waterfowl in the Kent Valley Sunday afternoon. Sure enough, several dozen Greater White-fronted Geese made their play in the fields to the west of Emerald Downs north of the intersection of 15th St. NW and M St. NW, accompanied by Canadian Geese. Other mudders in view included several hundred American Wigeon, many Green-wing Teal, nearly 100 Northern Pintails and lots of mallards. A half-dozen Killdeer, several Great Blue Herons and a Red-tailed Hawk completed the field.

Further to the north, the Boeing Ponds were quiet, occupied by Canadian Geese, Mallards, Buffleheads, American Wigeons, a Common Merganser and some American Coots.

My last stop was the flooded farm fields on S. 204th St. west of Frager Field, where I found a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk desperately trying to stay attached to a wind-whipped branch and upwards of 100 Green-winged Teal and assorted Mallards.

It was nice to find avian life amidst the soul-sucking industrial warehouses of the once-verdant Kent Valley.

Jim Owens
Mercer Island
jimo at brainerd.org<mailto:jimo at brainerd.org>