Lake Vadnais is part of the City of St Paul water supply, so is closed to boating, swimming, and other in-the-water activities. It does have a nice paved walking/bike path along the west and north sides, and a gravel one on the east side. My wife and I went there for a walk yesterday despite the cold, gray, and breezy weather. Surprisingly, I took a few bird pictures. Added 7 new species to my bird list, and got nice captures of a number of others.
Yellow Rumped Warbler
Ruby Crowned Kinglet
Lesser Scaup (or is it Greater?)
Tree Swallow (I think)
Common Loon
Ring Necked Duck
Red Breasted Merganser
Redheads
Brown Headed Cowbirds
Barn Swallow (I think)
Song Sparrow
Ruddy Ducks
Canada Geese
Mallard
and 1 more Ruby Crowned Kinglet
April 24, 2023
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The small birds are impressive Jim! Very good detail, especially at ISO4000! A good collection of ducks. We get many of the ducks here, perhaps all of them. I have little knowledge about ducks other than a few that I see commonly. The others are always at a distance and become just ducks for me.
Andrew
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Nice catches, Jim. Your loons look OK. There was a story in the news over the weekend about loons icing up, getting too heavy, and falling out of the sky in Wisconsin. I thought, "What the Hell?" Rich
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Lovely Jim it’s always great to see ur many different species of Birds many of whom we don’t get over here although some are similar 🙂
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Thanks Rich. It wasn't a great day for loon photos, but I liked the one with a fish in it's mouth.
I heard that on the news as well. Not only did they ice up and fall out of the sky, they fell on the ground and loons can't take off from the ground!
Their legs are so far back on their body they can't walk on ground, they can only scoot. To take off they have to be in water, so, people had to go rescue them! -
Quite a collection of beautiful bird portraits ... I gather you're truly a birder while I just treat them as any other member of this world that I encounter along the street ... but occasionally i do note a new member that has wandered into my world ....
WhyNot
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Thanks WN.
I'm a beginner birder, just getting into it. Gives me a purpose for my photography and presents lots of new challenges ... -
You've made the best of a dull day. Very nice series! The R C Kinglet is my fav.
Thanks for showing!
K.
