Hi  
My wife and I hit several spots today including the ponds in Golden Valley off of Louisiana and Laurel mentioned by Tony Lau this morning.  We saw at least five maybe six Black Crowned Night Herons.  I posted one photo here  https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronsthoughts/16527306994/ <https://www.flickr.com/photos/ronsthoughts/16527306994/>
Then we went to the bass ponds and saw quite a bit including the Avocet. Well I took photos but they are so distant that you might not see it clearly but we did see it.  Also a single Double crested cormorant , a single male bufflehead, quite a few shovelers, many coots, greater and lesser yellowlegs blue and green winged teal, tree swallows, mourning doves, eastern phoebe and a sulphur butterfly to name a few. Lastly we went to Lake Harriet hoping to see the Loon but no luck. There are thousands of Coots, a handful of red breasted mergansers and a few horned and pied billed grebes.  
I may post more photos later.
Ron Taube
Coon Rapids