![]() ![]() ![]() These beautiful blackbirds are a rare sight in northern Minnesota, yet a few populations do exist here and there. including part of his breast, along with white wing patches, large body size, and loud, raucous calls, there’s simply no mistaking a yellow-headed blackbird for any other species of wild bird.įemales sport partly yellow heads, too, although mostly just on their throats. The young are covered with down when they hatch and jump from the nest cavity a day after hatching. Clutches comprise 616 eggs, which are incubated 2837 days. With his golden-yellow head and yellow throat. Wood ducks form pairs in midwinter and usually have two broods a year. On my recent journey to the north end of the lake - where a 300-foot boardwalk was built and installed by DNR wildlife biologists a year ago for wild rice harvesters, waterfowl hunters, and wildlife enthusiasts to use and enjoy - I was pleased to see and listen to a sizable population of yellow-headed blackbirds.īreeding male yellow-headed blackbirds are charismatic looking and behaving birds. Managed for wild rice production, the lake is vital to migrating waterfowl and a host of other species of birds for the rich source of protein-rich food that wild rice and other aquatic plants provide, but also for the abundance of cover these same plants and others also provide. This large shallow lake, the largest lake in the county, is replete with wetland-dependent species of birds and Minnesota’s state grain - wild rice. Switching gears here, I took a drive one evening a short time ago to do some bird watching on Upper Rice Lake in Clearwater County. “A hooded merganser laid eggs in the wood duck’s nest.”Ī pair of wood ducks.: Wood ducks nest in tree cavities near water and the ducklings have to jump out after they hatch. The tiny duckling nest-mates, all hatched at roughly the same time, were comprised of two different species! I expected wood ducks of course, which there were, but about half of the ducklings were hooded mergansers. Peering into the box from on top of a ladder one afternoon, I saw 10 or so duckling puffballs huddled together for warmth and safety, some still wet from having just hatched.Ĭloser examination of the nestlings revealed a surprise. ![]() Earlier this week upon my daily wood duck nest-box check, I was delighted to discover that the wood duck hen’s patient work of incubating a nest full of eggs for an entire month was a success. The forests and fields are alive with birdsong and birdlife. I’ve also seen numerous broods of ring-necked ducks and blue-winged teal, nesting red-winged blackbirds, and scores of other observations. Why in just the past week here at Assawa Lake, I’ve observed four newly hatched cygnets hatch and swimming with their doting trumpeter swan parents, as well as seeing a pair of tiny sandhill crane colts feeding in the sedge meadow with their watchful parents. This spring, especially since early to mid-May, has been particularly active with birdlife in my neck of the woods.Īnd now, avian offspring, too. ![]()
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