South Heron Lake is fairly low with several decent mudflats. John Hockema and I observed four buff-breasted sandpipers yesterday. One was on the mudflat at the entrance to Sandy Point County Park. If you park just across from the entrance, you can walk down on to the mudflat and scan from there.
We had three others (buff-breasteds) on the gravel/rock spit visible from the boat landing in Sandy Point County Park. There is a nice mudflat there as well. The beach is excellent for walking out to the sandy point, there's also a nice trail that goes through the small woods out to the point as well. We had a decent variety of shorebirds; ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S72768749 The entrance to Sandy Point County Park: 43.718105, -95.242777 >From the town of Okabena, head southeast on Cty Rd 20 towards Lakefield. In 2.5 miles, turn left (east) on 850th St. There SHOULD be signs for the park, but they've gone missing before... The entrance to the park is 1.5 miles from Cty Rd 20, you'll see the lake in front of you. Another option if you're feeling super adventurous and have a high-clearance vehicle, is to try the rocky spit to the north of Sandy Point County Park. Before you come to the entrance to the park, you'll notice a two track road heading north, this is State property. It's a little overgrown, but we made it back there with our subaru. The road is dry (much like everything else down here right now), but it does have a few potholes. Take this two track north until it turns right. Then take that all the way to the turn around where you can park. You'll have to hike about 0.1 mile in to view the rocky spit. We did have a couple semi-palmated plovers out there yesterday. I would anticipate ruddy turnstones in the future. Kimberly Emerson Windom, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html During the pandemic, the MOU encourages you to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue to bird responsibly.
