[mou] Miesville Ravine

[Steve Weston]

Black-throated Blue Warbler
Connecticut Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Philadelphia Vireo
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

On a beautiful sunny Sunday MRVAC sponsored a field trip to Miesville Ravine 
Park in south east Dakota County.  This Dakota County park actually spills 
across the road into Goodhue county.  While the conditions were delightful 
for a walk in the woods, the wind made birding difficult.  I don't think I 
have ever been on a field trip where so many birds were missed by the bulk 
of the people.  We ended finding 58 species including 14 species of 
warblers.  While several uncommon birds were found, some common birds were 
not found and some were found in surprisingly low numbers.

The fourteen species of Warblers included a Black-throated Blue Warbler seen 
on the road probably picking grit, a Cerulean Warbler up near the meadow 
close to where we had found a couple of them in June, and a killer 
Blackburnian male in full sunrise splender in the top of a tree.  A few of 
us had the best look at a Connecticut Warbler that I have ever found, when 
it came out to check us out at about 15 feet close to the raging Canon 
River.  The most common warbler was the Black and White.  Whenever we found 
warblers we found one or two of them.  Next most common were probably 
Redstarts and then Canada Warblers.  We found only one Nashville Warbler and 
no Tennesees.

We had all of the likely Vireos including a Philadelphia that was seen by 
all.  Red-eyes were one of the most common birds of the day and most got 
great looks at Yellowthroated.  We also found most of the flycatchers 
including a Yellow-bellied.  A couple of Trails flycatchers were silent and 
not divisible into specie.  We had a Red-breasted Nuthatch not in its 
preferred habitat of conifers, but in the deciduous woods.  Lastly we had 
flushed a Ruffed Grouse.

What didn't we find?  We found almost no sparrows, only a single pair of 
Song Sparrows.  I expected them to be all over the place.  Hummingbirds were 
found all through the park with no concentration in the Jewelweeds at the 
meadow.  The flowers were plentiful, but the hummers were sparce.  Most 
trips I find cuckoos here, but not on this trip.

Non-birds:  Painted Lady, Monarch, and some blue butterflies.  There weren't 
many butterflies.  There were many interesting insects including a walking 
stick and a shield bug feeding on a cut worm.  We had several people 
interested in plants and found fruiting Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Trillium, as 
well as Fancy Orchis orchids.  Mushrooms were plentiful and included a 
couple of large Puffballs smashed on the trail, an incrdible coral mushroom, 
and a blue-staining bollette.  The bollette had bright yellow flesh that 
turned within seconds to bright blue when exposed to air.  Neat!

Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN
sweston2 at comcast.net