I went out looking for sparrows this morning since it was nice a calm. I walked in on the north side of the East Landfill Reservoir (west of Rochester) and found a few but didn't find the Le Conte's or Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows I was looking for (both have been seen some years in that area in the past). As I was leaving I noticed a shorebird on the mudflat and stopped to look and, while sitting there I heard a chip in the ditch right near the car. I imitated the chip and up popped a Le Conte's Sparrow. The Sharp-tailed is still on my wish list.
A few minutes later I spotted a fairly early immature dark phase Rough-legged Hawk flying circles over the South Landfill Reservoir as it gradually moved southward. Yesterday I had a Kreider's Red-tailed Hawk fly up from the ditch just a short distance north of the east reservoir. It had such a white head and tail I first thought of Ferruginous. After it was up and flying around a bit I was able to pick out a tinge of rufous on the tail. It also had the bar on the leading edge of the underwing that helped confirm it was a red-tailed. -- Bob Ekblad Olmsted County in SE Minnesota http://home.rconnect.com/~ekblad/
