This afternoon Laura Coble and I checked Cannon River Wilderness East (across the river from this Saturday's MOU walk) for the Cerulean Warblers usually found there. We found neither sight nor sound of the Ceruleans in this ravine, for the first time in many years. We did, however, find a calling and very cooperative Acadian Flycatcher midway in the ravine, as we have in several previous years. Both these species have seemed to be very faithful to this site in the past, but the area has sustained major damage from wind and water erosion these last two years., with many mature trees downed and the creek bed widened and deepened into a chasm. Perhaps the changes were a deterrent to the returning Ceruleans, who favor very particular features in a nesting area. The question of site-loyalty reminds me to make a very belated report: last week I found the Bell's Vireos had returned to the deciduous trees on the west border of the Xcel plant in St. Paul, on Randolph Ave.,south of Shepard Road. They were singing loudly enough to be heard from Randolph, but are best viewed from the drive and parking lot of the shipping business next door. (From this vantage point, you can also check the Osprey platform on old Station Island in the river--an osprey was on the nest last week.) Linda Whyte ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html