Most people I know don't know where every city in their state is. So when I mention Waterville, Minnesota. I get dumb looks. Most of those looks I see are when I look into the mirror. It was just west of Waterville that I was able to get ever so brief looks at one of my nemesis birds; the Cinnamon Teal. Found a small post on the MOU website which led me to the Ebird website. This is where I saw the posting for this teal and I debated whether or not to go on a 90 minute drive down south. Turns out it was a good decision this time after I got GPS coordinates from another bird app that I use. Then it was the typical drive to an unknown location look for a place to park; hoping that I find the correct spot. Then always looking for people in the area with cameras and binoculars. It was a long walk once I found the correct parking spot; about 1/2 mile down a paved trail to a small lake/pond with a plethora of trees between me and the bird in question. Also, there were large quantities of other ducks in this waterhole. But as luck would have it, I was able to get a few good looks with my binoculars and then some horrible photos but I would say partially diagnostic to the common birder. Nabbed it; now 11 to go until I have all of the Regular Minnesota bird species in my visual brain. Yay!!!
