A big thank you to Conny Brunell for posting about the American Avocets at Purgatory Creek in Eden Prairie. I arrived around 2PM, Saturday, May 8, 2010, and the avocets were out on the sand bar with a group of gulls and terns. A second year Ring-billed Gull did not care for the avocets very much and starting attacking them. It drove them off to the west. The American Avocets returned in about a half hour. The gull once again attacked them and they flew to the same area to the west. I decided to go setup with my camera to the west and see what would happen. The birds were not present when I first arrived, but I could make them out on the sand spit. Once again the Ring-billed Gull attacked them and they flew right over in front of me. I took a series of pictures and then a flock of gulls and terns took flight from the sand spit. The Ring-billed Gull was one of the birds and zeroed in on the avocets near me. It drove them off and they flew out to the island directly in front of the bridge near the water fountain. I left at 5PM.
Here are a few images of the birds: http://www.naturepixels.com/IMG_9927.jpg http://www.naturepixels.com/IMG_9938.jpg http://www.naturepixels.com/IMG_9940.jpg http://www.naturepixels.com/IMG_9947.jpg Regards, Terry Terry Brashear Hennepin County, MN http://www.naturepixels.com birdnird AT yahoo.com ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
