Two More Birding Field Trips

I got up early on Saturday morning for our field trip to the Carlos Avery Wildlife Refuge. I was unaware of this beautiful spot. I had been to to a conference room on the grounds but I had no idea there are miles and miles of dirt roads you can travel between ponds and field and woods. The weather was sunny and warmer but the wind was strong. Our teacher said this was the worst field trip he's ever had there because we saw so few species of birds. I thought we saw a lot including turkey, wood duck, blue winged teal, green winged teal, trumpeter swans, loons, song sparrow, chipping sparrow, blue bird, great blue heron, great egret, robins, buffle head, red tailed hawk, and yellow rumped warblers. We had a great long look at the wood duck and the green winged teal through the spotting scope. They are such colorful and lovely ducks. They look like something a creative kid would color in a coloring book. On Monday we went to Itaska park in Ramsey which is another jewel most people don't know about. Here we saw robins, wood thrush, Northern shovelers, blue winged teal, great egret, great blue heron, sandhill crane, harrier, coopers hawk, yellow rumped warbler, red wing blackbirds, starling, greater yellow legs, mallard, pied billed grebe, blue jay, crow, tree swallow, bluebird, orange crowned warbler, brown headed cowbird, Forsters tern, pelicans, and a couple yellow headed blackbirds. The weather on Monday was finally comfortable for a change. The wind was very quiet. This ornithology class has been very much worth the money I spent. I've had so much fun. I've made new friends. I've learned so much. The people in the class are fun to be with because they're appreciative type people. A harrier flies right past us and we all look up in awe and remark how lucky we are to have seen that. A guy sets up a spotting scope to get a closer look at a bluebird and two deer wander into the picture we all hurry to see in the eye piece. The people in this class stop and appreciate the nature around us and I like that. We have the type of camaraderie where no question is stupid and no guess at bird identification is laughable. They're my kind of people. And although the class is officially over, we're still getting together this Saturday at the Sherburne National Wildlife Center for Migration Day festivities. And we're meeting in a couple weeks to go through Carlos Avery again because our first trip was not as fruitful as the teacher had hoped.