On Saturday morning I hit the paths with 24 birders for MRVAC's annual Warbler Weekend field trip. The weather was mostly gloomy. When the sun came out, it was shortly followed by brief squalls of rain and sleet. Except for Baltimore Orioles and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks the trails were mostly quiet. The birds were hard to find in the wind. But, by the finish at Sand Point we had accumulated 71 species: 4 waterfowl, including a female Bufflehead, 2 shorebirds (G. Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper), 10 warblers (Tennesse, Orange-crowned, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Pine, Palm, Black-n-white, Redstart, N. Waterthrush, and C. Yellowthroat). I have never heard so many of the Yellow-rumps singing. While we saw many of the "butter-butts", their numbers were still down. We found six Waterthrush, the next most common, mostly because they were vocal.
The insects were primerily over the warmer river and that is where the swallows flew. All six species were there, although we did not see the Purple Martins and few saw Bank Swallows. Whereas last year the swallows were engaged in courting, this year we saw none of that. We saw a few Forster's Terns and Bonapart's Gulls over the water, but there were no other terns or nighthawks. FOY birds for me included eight out of the ten warblers, the Grosbeaks, R.T Hummingbird, Red-headed Woodpecker, Least Flycatcher, Great Creasted Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird (seen later), Yellow-throated and Warbling Vireos, B.G. Gnatchatcher, and E. Towhee. Notably absent were the thrushes. Flowers in bloom included trillium, purple and yellow violets, columbine, yellow wintercress, and the honeysuckles. Back home I noticed that my strawberries, elderberry, and showy orchis (orchid) are in bloom. I saw no butterflies in the wind, but found a FOY Red Admiral back home. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.net ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
