A group of birders consisting of John and Chris Hockema, Dedrick Benz,
Dave Bartkey, Ben Fritchman, Shawn Conrad, Alex Watson, and myself
held its third annual "Wang Chung Waterfowl Weekend" this weekend in
west-central Minnesota, with a focus on the four counties of the
"windowpane" (Douglas, Grant, Stevens, and Pope). Other counties
birded included Traverse, Swift, Wilkin, Clay, Becker, and Otter Tail.
In addition to the already posted Brant and Cinnamon Teal found
yesterday, the group had several highlights from Friday afternoon
through today (Sunday). Perhaps most notable were waterfowl and goose
numbers: on Friday (4/8), large flocks (with one numbering near 5,000
birds) of Snow, Greater White-fronted, and Ross's Geese as well as
Tundra Swans were observed along the Hwy. 75 corridor from northern
Traverse County to southern Wilkin County. The majority of fields
adjacent to the highway in this area are currently flooded and
probably will remain so for at least a few days yet, attracting very
large numbers of waterfowl and most of the state's regular species
(excluding Mute Swan and sea ducks). Good numbers of geese were seen
in western Grant County and northwestern Stevens County yesterday
(4/9) as well; the best location was south and west of the town of
Herman in Grant County (where we found the Brant). Just about any
flooded field in the windowpane counties held several species of duck
yesterday, while most ponds and lakes remained mostly frozen and
therefore unattractive to large numbers of waterfowl.
Here are some other highlights from our weekend:
- 6 species of geese on Saturday (Canada, Cackling, Greater
White-fronted, Snow, Ross's, and Brant)
- single flyover Red Crossbill and Bohemian Waxwing at the group
campground at Lake Carlos State Park north of Alexandria in Douglas
County (Saturday morning)
- early American Golden-Plover in a flooded field in southwestern
Otter Tail County (Friday afternoon)
- early pair of Swainson's Hawks along CR 20 in northwestern Stevens
County (Saturday afternoon)
- flock of around 25 Bohemian Waxwings feeding on crabapples in the
town of Deer Creek in eastern Otter Tail County (Sunday afternoon)
- breeding-plumaged Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs in several
locations throughout the weekend
Bob Dunlap, Nicollet County
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