[mou] Northwest Minnesota Birding Report- Friday, October 10, 2003
This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Friday, October 10, 2003 sponsored by the Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce. You may also hear this report by calling (218) 847-5743 or 1-800-433-1888. What a beautiful week it has been in the northwest! After the very cold weekend that preceded it last weekend's weather was a very pleasant surprise. The fall colors are nearing peak here, and the migration is now bringing down new species every day. Even the unusual species are showing up in various places. Susan Wiste reported from Douglas County that the AMERICAN ROBINS were migrating through in large flocks on October 7th. I have reports of scoters from no less than four locations. Two SURF SCOTERS were reported by Doug Johnson off Diamond Point on Lake Bemidji, Beltrami County, on October 4th. Craig Mandel found an immature SURF SCOTER at the Warren wastewater treatment ponds in Marshall County on the 6th, two at Agassiz NWR this week, and one in Kittson County also on the 6th. A state record high count of 304 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS was recorded among the 734 shorebirds counted last weekend at Agassiz NWR in Marshall County. Benjamin Fritchman in Todd County reported 3 WESTERN GREBES, 100 PIED-BILLED GREBES, and many FRANKLIN'S GULLS on Lake Osakis, and the first NORTHERN SHRIKE of the season for the county. In Grant County, Craig Mandel found 12 CATTLE EGRETS in a cow pasture which can be reached from Douglas CR 19 by turning west on Grant CR 54 for one mile , then turning north on Ashby Estates Road for about a mile. Kim Eckert's Minnesota Birding Weekend birded in Otter Tail County on the 4th and 5th, and reported a dilute-plumaged WESTERN GREBE at the Orwell WMA, a SNOWY EGRET immature on Rush Lake, more than 100 GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKENS at Otter Tail Prairie SNA, CAPE MAY WARBLER at Orwell WMA on the 5th, LE CONTE'S SPARROW , and NELSON'S SHARP-TAILED SPARROW at Otter Tail Prairie WMA. A total of 16 sparrow species was found in Otter Tail County on the weekend. Wilkin County sightings by Kim's group included a HARLAN'S RED-TAILED HAWK , a RICHARDSON'S MERLIN , and LE CONTE'S SPARROW at the Rothsay WMA. Mary Wyatt reported from Becker County that she saw a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK fly through the yard on the 3rd, an INDIGO BUNTING on October 4th, and a FOX SPARROW on the 6th. On the 8th, she saw a BROWN CREEPER and an EASTERN TOWHEE. Donna and Leon Thoreson in Polk County reported BALD EAGLE, RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, FOX SPARROW, AND RUSTY BLACKBIRD on October 6th. The first Red Lake County record ROSS'S GOOSE was observed by Peder Svingen on October 4th. Red Lake County birds reported by Craig Mandel included 2 TRUMPETER SWANS, and 100 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS at the Red Lake Falls wastewater treatment ponds, and a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER at Old Treaty Crossing State Wayside. Other sightings in Red Lake County were 325 SNOW GEESE, at least 3 OSPREY, LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER, both nuthatches, both kinglets, HERMIT THRUSH, BOHEMIAN WAXWING, BLACKPOLL, and RUSTY BLACKBIRD.=20 Sue Braastad observed a RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER near Thief River Falls in Pennington County on October 8th. A covey of GRAY PARTRIDGE has been seen several times near the Thief River Falls wastewater treatment ponds, and the number of TUNDRA SWANS there has increased to 16. Craig Mandel counted over 1000 NORTHERN SHOVELERS there on the 8th. A LE CONTE'S SPARROW was near the entrance to the ponds. In Marshall County, Craig Mandel found a BROWN CREEPER and a WINTER WREN along the headquarters walking trail at Agassiz NWR on October 8th. Also on the refuge were most of the common species of migrant sparrows. Other reported birds at Agassiz include a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK and a GOLDEN PLOVER. Two GREAT EGRETS continued to feed at Agassiz on October 4th, and a MARSH WREN scolded from the cattails. On October 8th, Craig found a NORTHERN SHRIKE east of Farmes Pool, and two SURF SCOTERS along CR 7 east of Agassiz headquarters. He found SNOW GEESE, and LAPLAND LONGSPUR at the Warren wastewater treatment ponds, and SHARP-TAILED GROUSE along highway 59 at Marshall CR 5. Kittson County birds reported by Craig Mandel on October 6th include SNOW GOOSE, SURF SCOTER, RUFFED GROUSE, SPOTTED SANDPIPER, 100 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS at the Hallock wastewater treatment ponds, RED-HEADED WOODPECKER, BOHEMIAN WAXWING, AMERICAN PIPIT, and AMERICAN TREE SPARROW. Lake of the Woods County birds reported from the Northwest Angle of Lake of the Woods included 3 AMERICAN GOLDEN PLOVERS and a NORTHERN SHRIKE on October 4th. Thanks to Craig Mandel, Doug Johnson, Sue Braastad, Peder Svingen, Benjamin Fritchman, Donna and Leon Thoreson, Sally Hausken, Susan Wiste, Mary Wyatt, and Maggie Anderson who reported sightings this week. Please report bird sightings to Jeanie Joppru by email, no later than Thursday each week, at ajjop...@wiktel.com OR call the Detroit Lakes Chamber's toll free number: 1-800-542-3992. Detroit Lakes area birders please
[mou] MOU RBA 9 October 2003
--_-1146374050==_ma Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed" This is the Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday October 9th. Laura Erickson reported an adult BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE October 3rd at the Superior Entry of Wisconsin Point. It was in the shipping lane on the Minnesota side of the breakwater. All previous 31 records of kittiwake have been of immatures. Also in Duluth, a dark-morph PARASITIC JAEGER has been seen from various points along Park Point since the 7th, most recently having been seen on the 9th; a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE has been at main overlook at Hawk Ridge for the past several days; and a SMITH'S LONGSPUR was still at the south end of the main pool at 40th Avenue West on the 3rd. A RED-THROATED LOON was at Good Harbor Bay in Cook County on the 7th. BLACK SCOTER, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, and SURF SCOTER were all on Lake Superior in Cook County on the 8th. There seems to be an influx of Surf Scoters occurring in northern Minnesota. In Marshall County a single Surf Scoter was at the Warren sewage ponds on the 6th, and on the 8th two were at the South Pool of Agassiz NWR; two Surf Scoters were on Lake Bemidji in Beltrami County on the 4th, seen from the Paul Bunyan Bicycle Trail along the east side of the lake; and two more Surf Scoters were on Wigwam Bay of Mille Lacs Lake on the 6th - check near the breakwater by the intersection of county road 25 and U.S. highway 169. A SNOWY EGRET was at Rush Lake in Otter Tail County on the 5th. The October 4th survey of shorebirds at Agassiz NWR in Marshall County produced a state record 304 LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS among the 12 species tallied. More than one hundred AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS were in a field to the south of the Red Lake sewage ponds in Red Lake County on the 6th. And on October 4th, 172 American Golden-Plover were two miles west of Wilkin County Roads 15 and 30. Twelve CATTLE EGRETS were in a pasture in Grant County on the 5th. From Douglas County Road 19 turn west on Grant County Road 54 for one mile, then turn north on Ashby Estates Road East for about a mile. A record tying early COMMON REDPOLL was at Zippel Bay State Park in Lake of the Woods County on October 4th. Many people have reported migrant SNOW GEESE in the past few days, and I also have recent reports of DUNLIN, RUDDY TURNSTONE, NORTHERN SHRIKE, AMERICAN PIPIT, BOHEMIAN WAXWING, AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, HARRIS'S SPARROW, RUSTY BLACKBIRD, RED CROSSBILL, and WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. This state-wide birding report is brought to you and financially supported by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU). The MOU is Minnesota's oldest and largest bird club. The report is composed from observations generously submitted by MOU members and other birders throughout the state. You can support this weekly update by submitting your bird reports to Anthony Hertzel at axhert...@sihope.com or by calling the hotline directly at 763-780-8890 and leaving a detailed message. MOU members receive this report directly on MOU-net, the club's free e-mail listservice, which is available to anyone interested. For information contact David Cahlander at . MOU members receive the organization's quarterly journal "The Loon" and the bimonthly magazine, "Minnesota Birding". For membership information, send an e-mail message to our membership secretary at moumemb...@yahoo.com. In cooperation with the Minnesota Office of Tourism, highlights of this hotline can be now heard at a toll free number which is available to callers outside the Twin Cities area. The number is 1-800-657-3700. The MOU is pleased to offer this service. Thank you, and good birding. The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday, October 15th. -- Anthony X. Hertzel -- axhert...@sihope.com --_-1146374050==_ma Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii" MOU RBA 9 October 2003 This is the Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday October 9th. Laura Erickson reported an adult BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE October 3rd at the Superior Entry of Wisconsin Point. It was in the shipping lane on the Minnesota side of the breakwater. All previous 31 records of kittiwake have been of immatures. Also in Duluth, a dark-morph PARASITIC JAEGER has been seen from various points along Park Point since the 7th, most recently having been seen on the 9th; a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE has been at main overlook at Hawk Ridge for the past several days; and a SMITH'S LONGSPUR was still at the south end of the main pool at 40th Avenue West on the 3rd. A RED-THROATED LOON was at Good Harbor Bay in Cook County on the 7th. BLACK SCOTER, WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, and SURF SCOTER were all on Lake Superior in Cook County on the 8th. There seems to be an influx of Surf Scoters occurring in northern Minnesota. In Marshall County a single Surf Scoter was at the Warren sewage ponds on the 6t
[mou] Possible Say's Phoebe
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --=_NextPart_000_000F_01C38E96.C2B84280 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable A walk around Cottonwood Lake (Lyon County) on October 5 yielded nice = list of birds. Near the dam, I watched a flycatcher flit back and forth = from a low shrub. I was with in 10 feet of the bird with binocs. I = believe that it was a Say's Phoebe! I've gone back once, and will go = back tomorrow (with a camera!) to see if I can find it again. =20 Other species sighted that day were: purple finch double crested cormorant ring billed gull great blue heron ring necked pheasant killdeer mourning dove american robin downy woodpecker red bellied woodpecker blue jay least flycatcher American crow grackle starling red wing blackbird (among the grackles and starlings) house wren ruby crowned kinglet song sparrow house sparrow white throated sparrow dark eyed juncos belted kingfisher Today I had a yellow rumped warbler in the yard: yesterday...a redstart. = I live on said lake. Sue Morton Cottonwood Lake --=_NextPart_000_000F_01C38E96.C2B84280 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable A walk around Cottonwood Lake (Lyon = County) on=20 October 5 yielded nice list of birds. Near the dam, I watched a = flycatcher=20 flit back and forth from a low shrub. I was with in 10 = feet of=20 the bird with binocs. I believe that it was a Say's Phoebe! = I've gone=20 back once, and will go back tomorrow (with a camera!) to see if I can = find it=20 again. Other species sighted that day = were: purple finch double crested cormorant ring billed gull great blue heron ring necked pheasant killdeer mourning dove american robin downy woodpecker red bellied woodpecker blue jay least flycatcher American crow grackle starling red wing blackbird (among the grackles = and=20 starlings) house wren ruby crowned kinglet song sparrow house sparrow white throated sparrow dark eyed juncos belted kingfisher Today I had a yellow rumped warbler in = the yard:=20 yesterday...a redstart. I live on said lake. Sue Morton Cottonwood Lake --=_NextPart_000_000F_01C38E96.C2B84280--
[mou] Parasetic Jaeger
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --=_NextPart_000_001D_01C38E77.90B30690 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I was at Park Pt. from 1:15 to 2:15 and was scanning the lake and found = two small loons way out in the horzon when a dark morph P. Jaeger zipped = by. It made a quick flight at a Ring-billed Gull and then resumed = heading towards WI. Its funny to see the anxiety of the gulls as they = flushed off the water to let the jaeger go by! That is why I admire = these birds! hehehhe Other: Baird's Sandpiper Green-winged teals UnId Loons (3 of them in the haze) Horned Grebe ** Also the annoying Japanese Beetles that fly and crawl on you then nip = on your sin. If you shoo them away they squirt this awful musty smell. = If you are going to Park Pt, they are EVERY where!=20 Mike H. --=_NextPart_000_001D_01C38E77.90B30690 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I was at Park Pt. from 1:15 = to 2:15 and was=20 scanning the lake and found two small loons way out in the horzon when a = dark=20 morph P. Jaeger zipped by. It made a quick flight at a Ring-billed Gull = and then=20 resumed heading towards WI. Its funny to see the anxiety of the = gulls as=20 they flushed off the water to let the jaeger go by! That is why I admire = these=20 birds! hehehhe Other: Baird's Sandpiper Green-winged teals UnId Loons (3 of them in the = haze) Horned Grebe ** Also the annoying Japanese Beetles = that fly and=20 crawl on you then nip on your sin. If you shoo them away they squirt = this awful=20 musty smell. If you are going to Park Pt, they are EVERY where! = Mike H. --=_NextPart_000_001D_01C38E77.90B30690--
[mou] Birding Festival Training
Birding Festival and Event Training: The Minnesota Office of Tourism is planning a one-day workshop "How to Organize a Birding or Nature Festival" with nationally accredited trainer, Nancy Millar, executive director of the McAllen Texas Convention and Visitors Bureau, on Wednesday, November 19 at the St. James Hotel in Red Wing. This workshop will introduce you to the benefits of capturing the wildlife watching recreational market with a step-by-step organizational manual for promoting and implementing an event in your area. A seminar rate of $68 per person includes continental breakfast, lunch and workshop materials. Contact the Minnesota Office of Tourism at 800-657-3637 for more information, or e-mail Cindy Schneider at cindy.schnei...@state.mn.us Lodging is available at the St. James Hotel for the special rate of $79; call 800-252-1875.
[mou] Surf Scoter - Marshall County - 10/8/03
---1065708264 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 10/8/03 Spent the day birding in Marshall County at Agassiz NWR and Old Mill State Park. Observed 74 species of birds with some of the following being my favorite sightings. I found my first Northern Shrike of the year, just East of the Farmes Pool at Agassiz NWR and there were two Surf Scoters on the South Pool along CR 7. I ended up the day in Pennington County at the Thief River Falls Sewage Lagoons. Seems there is a huge push of Northern Shovelers, with over 1000 birds counted in two of the 3 pools, before I ran out of light. There was also a very cooperative Le Conte's Sparrow in the weeds next to the entrance to the Thief River Falls Sewage Lagoons. Here were some of my sightings from the day. @ Red-necked, Eared and Western Grebes at the South Pool at Agassiz NWR. @ Surf Scoter - South Pool Agassiz NWR @ 9 species of Shorebirds including 3 immature Long-billed Dowitchers, Stilt & Semipalmated Sandpipers and both Yellowlegs. These were mostly observed along the North side of CR 77, East of the Agassiz NWR Headquarters. @ Herring Gull - Farmes Pool Agassiz NWR @ Black-billed Magpie - Seen in about 7 locations, just love those birds. @ Northern Shrike - Just East of the water control structure at the Farmes Pool. @ Winter Wren - One bird was observed along the walking trail near the Refuge Headquarters building. @ And rounded out the list with 10 species of Sparrow, with the Le Conte's being the most unusual. Craig Mandel - egretc...@aol.com - Minnetonka, MN ---1065708264 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 10/8/03 Spent the day birding in Marshall County at Agassiz NWR and Old Mill St= ate Park. Observed 74 species of birds with some of the following bein= g my favorite sightings. I found my first Northern Shrike of the year, just=20= East of the Farmes Pool at Agassiz NWR and there were two Surf Scoters on th= e South Pool along CR 7. I ended up the day in Pennington County=20= at the Thief River Falls Sewage Lagoons. Seems there is a huge push of= Northern Shovelers, with over 1000 birds counted in two of the 3 pools, bef= ore I ran out of light. There was also a very cooperative Le Cont= e's Sparrow in the weeds next to the entrance to the Thief River Falls Sewag= e Lagoons. Here were some of my sightings from the day. @ Red-necked, Eared and Western Grebes at the South Pool at Agassiz NWR= . @ Surf Scoter - South Pool Agassiz NWR @ 9 species of Shorebirds including 3 immature Long-billed Dowitchers,=20= Stilt & Semipalmated Sandpipers and both Yellowlegs. These were mo= stly observed along the North side of CR 77, East of the Agassiz NWR Headqua= rters. @ Herring Gull - Farmes Pool Agassiz NWR @ Black-billed Magpie - Seen in about 7 locations, just love those bird= s. @ Northern Shrike - Just East of the water control structure at the Far= mes Pool. @ Winter Wren - One bird was observed along the walking trail near the=20= Refuge Headquarters building. @ And rounded out the list with 10 species of Sparrow, with the Le Cont= e's being the most unusual. Craig Mandel - egretc...@aol.com - Minnetonka, MN ---1065708264--
[mou] Sparrows in Murray County
We have been seeing many Harris and White-throated Sparrows in the yard this week and Red-tails, Swainsons, and Harriers in the fields hunting. Seems to be a good crop of Franklin gulls this year following the tractors again. Lovely golden autumn. Camden State Park was quiet with birds last night but bright with maples. Janet Timmerman Information Officer/Community Educator Center for Rural and Regional Studies, ST 201A Southwest Minnesota State University 1501 State Street Marshall, MN 56258 507-537-6288
