Weather conditions were perfect for a good flight of birds in the Twin Cities this morning, esp. for a big push of warblers. I went to the Bass Ponds with Brian Clough <https://www.facebook.com/brian.clough.315> this morning for a few hours and we had some great birding. Most birds were clustered near the bottom of the hill. We had EIGHTEEN species of warbler. Highlights among these (ornithologically speaking, since I loved seeing all of them) were CANADA WARBLER (tied for early date south) and BLACKPOLL WARBLER (feels early - blackpolls are usually a later migrant). Still a lot of Myrtle Warblers and a huge number of White-throated Sparrows; it feels like a lot of species just got backed up down south and are all arriving together.
Notably we DID NOT check hard for the Ruff. IT COULD STILL BE THERE. We heard one negative report, and noted that many of the shorebirds have moved out. There were however LEAST SANDPIPERS and SOLITARY SANDPIPERS out there. Many other FOYS for me, many of which have already been reported around the Cities. Great Crested Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Blue-headed Vireo Warbling Vireo Gray Catbird Swainson's Thrush Baltimore Oriole Rose-breasted Grosbeak I'd write out the warblers but it's easier to link below... http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist… <http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Febird.org%2Febird%2Fview%2Fchecklist%3FsubID%3DS23263785%26share%3Dtrue&h=rAQHjFGrs&enc=AZO-xuK3o5sehTnY8V7hN5Dxsgc77a5o-yYMLj95Vzv7gAoIqrMhCbCGHH53AUGueNo7bJ-4c8TYq43E-VpBBEFsO9faiqxYCxaEgJOrvDH9Gnw4qklYbUCnUubE5v3xbPm2kZ7j4yvRzVCtISg8Q2CiVVcchyQEWSE82f0O-hZN3w&s=1> ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
