I went to Felton Prairie this morning and arrived to find Doug K. and Steve M. They were staring up at the sky and I knew what they were looking at. After looking up and getting a stiff neck, I noticed as Doug did, there were two birds flying and both appeared to have the same movement. I left there and we later hooked up when I noticed a strange looking bird. After talking to Steve I ascertained it was a juvenile Chestnut Collared Longspur (first Chestnuts I have seen). Doug was further South and motioned to us that he found a group who were probably in a nesting area. My nearest estimate was there were probably a little less than a dozen birds. The location is about 3/4 mile North of the Sprague's Pipit (which was by the North end of the wind generator). Also, there were a number of Marbled Godwits in the area with Bobolinks and Dicksissles. It was hard to focus at times with the many, many, Grasshopper Sparrows calling. Earlier I found two Upland Sandpipers and a lone LeConte's Sparrow. The Uplands were North where the minimum maintenance road joined County 108. The LeConte's was West of the end of County 108. Take the first minimum maintenance road heading South. Then the first maintenance road heading East again. It was back in the lowland grass area along the road on the South side. Two Minnesota lifers and 4 first of the year birds, plus, some good fellowship with a number of birders. My day was full and I was happy on the return trip. What a good way to spend a day.
---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html