[mou] Red Crossbill Flight Song Assistance
The bulk of my birding years was spent in southern Wisconsin, so winter finch exposure was scanty. Three times this week - once each in St. Louis, Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties - I've had small flocks of finches fly over that my ear says "Redpoll" - the chip, chip, chip call. Or was it jip - jip - jip? I wouldn't normally question my ear on this, except flocks of Red Crossbills are being reported with regularity as much as 70 miles south of my location - and I've seen few reports on C. Redpolls yet. So, the question is, how does one distinguish the flight calls of the two species? This morning's Internet search was unproductive, and neither the Peterson nor Feith CD's have Red Crossbills on them. Thanks! Al Schirmacher Princeton, MN Mille Lacs & Sherburne Counties
[mou] Redpolls-Bloomington
---1161874657 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Doing yard work has its benefits. On Tuesday afternoon I had three Greater Yellowlegs fly over and yesterday afternoon I had two Redpolls land in an Oak tree for a couple of minutes. My yard is across the street form Girard Park in Bloomington. Paul Egeland ---1161874657 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Doing yard work has its benefits. On Tuesday afternoon I had three Grea= ter=20 Yellowlegs fly over and yesterday afternoon I had two Redpolls land in an Oa= k=20 tree for a couple of minutes. My yard is across the street form Girard Park in Bloomington. Paul Egeland ---1161874657--
[mou] Forthcoming news on Three-toeds in Two Harbors (Long)
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[mou] Three-toed Woodpeckers in two Harbors (Long)
Three-toed Woodpeckers are hard to find. This challenge prompted Peter Neubeck and I to set forth for Two Harbors, MN along lake Superior in search of Three-toeds, a lifer for Mr. Neubeck and a really cool bird to see for me. In the woods behind the two Harbors lighthouse, I met Adam Rayburn, an MD in residence at Rochester Mayo, and his father, an Illinois Ornithological Society member. We discussed the finer points of finding these rare birds. I had been recording audio with my parabolic mike, (Gray Jays were very cooperative this day), and returned to my car to pack the audio gear away and pick up my video camera when Peter pulled in. Adam came clear out to get me, saying his dad was on a Woodpecker. We moved along the trail briskly, and came upon the stakeout, to the right of the trail as it makes a bend to the left; Mr. Rayburn stood peering upwards into a large Spruce with dead-looking foliage still clinging to its long lateral branches. I filmed Peter as he got the bird in view - he had chased this bird for many years, then turned my camera on the bird, a female Three-toed Woodpecker, feeding with rigor along the bottom side of a small lateral branch, about 5-6 meters high. I filmed it for about 20 seconds, and then it flew away towards the denser trees inland. We spent the next two hours looking for this bird, to no avail. I did find two Black-backed Woodpeckers, both female, yet the forest is so dense, no opportunity to shoot them on video presented itself. These birds are hard to find and harder to get good looks at.=20 5 Downy Woodpeckers and a couple of Hairies were at work in the area, each requiring great effort for identification. Several deer, including a massive buck, many Brown Creepers, a single Golden-crowned Kinglet, and many Gray Jays (three seen at one time) At noon, we went and grabbed lunch and headed for the Gold Course to see Cackling Geese. The birds were barely visible from the road, so I went in to the shop to ask permission to walk the course, and the staff was so helpful, they actually rented us a golf cart (electric even). Thus mobilized, with video cameras on board, we were like Marlin Perkins and his fearless assistant Jim as we headed off across the verdant fairways, in search of cacklers. We crossed over four fairways and drove to a high point to scan the geese, when Peter noticed a massive flocking of Snow Buntings in the area. We stalked the birds to get closer, using a row of pines, and then found the birds to be pretty fearless. A conservative estimate of the count would be over 3,000 birds. There was very little wind, so when the birds would lift off, we would hear a cacophony of noise, a combination of 6,000 wings fluttering and the utterance of the buzzy flight calls. Describing it is difficult., perhaps a mix of thumbing speedily though a book's pages by flexing the cover and allowing the pages to snap past your thumb as it releases each page, with the hint of vocalizations coming at the tail end of the sound, like an aftershock. The birds would make the sound as they lifted off hen if they sustained flight; the sound went away until hey landed. Many times they would lift off, the entire flock going 3 feet in to the air, and then they would turn and settle back in place. This was when the sound was loudest. There were as many as 20 seen flycatching (or drinking water?) over the nearby pond. The birds were very tightly flocked; at times, 95% were on an area no larger than a football field. They would occasionally split into smaller groups, but never for long, and during the half hour we observed them, 70% of the time they were in a single, dense flock. When on the ground, they appeared as light brown spots on the green grass, when they lifted off their wings flashed brilliant white, then as the flock wheeled in a spiral, the flashed black and then light brown as the landed. I have only ever seen flocks move like this in large groups of shorebirds, where they form a spiraling flock, low to the ground and then alighting again, still in a densely packed flock., literally wing to wing. We were able to film this from about 75 yards away; it was one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed. A Merlin jetted in at one point, flying 3 feet off of the ground, like a baby Gyrfalcon, parting the flock, then focusing on one bird which veered sharply upward, the Merlin flared its tail and wings and veered to follow, swallow-like, upwards, managing to hit but not disable its prey. The Buntings dispersed out of sight; the Merlin assumed a sentry position atop a nearby spruce. 5 Merlins were seen this day, all of them being dark in plumage. This one was a male. We spotted a Greater Yellowlegs wading on the sand at the pond near the clubhouse, and Peter was videoing it when the Merlin took a shot at it as well. The yellowlegs flew away calling loud enough to hurt your ears. It seemed to be at least twice the size of the Merlin. Peter's video shows the bird flushing,
[mou] Townsend's Solitaire Mille Lacs
There was a Townsend's Solitaire this afternoon about 1/2 mile south of Eddy's resort on Mille Lacs CR 35. Lots of loons, mergansers, snow buntings, Bonaparte's gulls, Wilson's snipe and one greater yellowlegs along with expected stuff. Cindy Risen Tamarack, Aitkin County www.naturescapenews.com
[mou] MOU RBA 26 October 2006
--1161910554 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" -RBA *Minnesota *Minnesota Statewide *October 26, 2006 *MNST0610.26 -Birds mentioned California Gull American Three-toed Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker Northern Shrike Carolina Wren Mountain Bluebird Townsend's Solitaire Orange-crowned Warbler Eastern Meadowlark Common Redpoll -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota Statewide Date: October 26, 2006 Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) http://moumn.org Reports: (763) 780-8890 Compiler: Anthony Hertzel (axhert...@sihope.com) This is the Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday October 26th 2006. On October 22nd, Bob Dunlap and Ben Fritchman found a CALIFORNIA GULL at the Clay County Sanitary Landfill near the town of Hawley. Hawley is located on U.S. Highway 10 at the junction of Clay County Road 33. Go west on U.S. 10 from Hawley to 190th Street and turn south. Drive about two and a half miles to the dump on the west side of the road. Bob Williams found a PLEGADIS IBIS on the 22nd on the east side of Lake Johanna Waterfowl Production Area in southeastern Pope County. The location was about three miles west / southwest of the town of Brooten (which is in Stearns County), on the west side of Pope County Road 37, half a mile south of County Road 8. In the past several days, at least two AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS and six BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS have been reported in the vicinity of Lighthouse Point in Two Harbors, Lake County. John Latimer has reported seeing a CAROLINA WREN in Grand Rapids several times over the last few weeks, with the last sighting being on the 19th. The location is along the north shore of Pokegama Lake at the 24000 block of Itasca County Road 76. A MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD has been at Bayfront Park in Duluth since the 17th. On the 24th, Jim Lind found a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE in Knife River, Lake County, across the road from Emily's Restaurant. Ann Russ found another at the Temperence River State Park in Cook County on the 22nd, Chris Benson found a Townsend's Solitaire at the ball fields of Park Point in Duluth on the 21st, and Cindy Risen reported one on the 26th about half a mile south of Eddy's Resort on Mille Lacs County Road 35. This last bird may be the same individual that was reported on the 12th near the town of Wahkon. A late EASTERN MEADOWLARK was heard singing by Julie Brophy in Carver Park Reserve in Hennepin County on the 15th. I also have a few reports of NORTHERN SHRIKE, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, and COMMON REDPOLL. The next scheduled update of this tape is Thursday, November 2nd 2006. --1161910554 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" -RBA *Minnesota *Minnesota Statewide *October 26, 2006 *MNST0610.26 -Birds mentioned California Gull American Three-toed Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker Northern Shrike Carolina Wren Mountain Bluebird Townsend's Solitaire Orange-crowned Warbler Eastern Meadowlark Common Redpoll -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota Statewide Date: October 26, 2006 Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) http://moumn.org Reports: (763) 780-8890 Compiler: Anthony Hertzel (axhert...@sihope.com) This is the Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday October 26th 2006. On October 22nd, Bob Dunlap and Ben Fritchman found a CALIFORNIA GULL at the Clay County Sanitary Landfill near the town of Hawley. Hawley is located on U.S. Highway 10 at the junction of Clay County Road 33. Go west on U.S. 10 from Hawley to 190th Street and turn south. Drive about two and a half miles to the dump on the west side of the road. Bob Williams found a PLEGADIS IBIS on the 22nd on the east side of Lake Johanna Waterfowl Production Area in southeastern Pope County. The location was about three miles west / southwest of the town of Brooten (which is in Stearns County), on the west side of Pope County Road 37, half a mile south of County Road 8. In the past several days, at least two AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS and six BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS have been reported in the vicinity of Lighthouse Point in Two Harbors, Lake County. John Latimer has reported seeing a CAROLINA WREN in Grand Rapids several times over the last few weeks, with the last sighting being on the 19th. The location is along the north shore of Pokegama Lake at the 24000 block of Itasca County Road 76. A MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD has been at Bayfront Park in Duluth since the 17th. On the 24th, Jim Lind found a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE in Knife River, Lake County, across the road from Emily's Restaurant. Ann Russ found another at the Temperence River State Park in Cook County on the 22nd, Chris Benson found a Townsend's Solitaire at the ball fields of Park Point in Duluth on the 21st, and Cindy Risen reported one on the 26th about half a mile south of Eddy's Resort on Mille Lacs County Road 35. This last bird may be the same individual that was reported on the 12th near the town of Wahkon. A late EASTERN MEADOWLARK was heard singing by Julie Brophy in
[mou] Northwest Minnesota Birding Report- Thursday, October 26, 2006
--1161915969 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" -RBA *Minnesota *Detroit Lakes *October 26, 2006 *MNDL0610.26 -Birds mentioned Snow Goose Ross's Goose Ring-necked Duck Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Black Scoter Gray Partridge Ruffed Grouse Spruce Grouse Sharp-tailed Grouse Greater Prairie-Chicken Common Loon Pied-billed Grebe Red-necked Grebe American Bittern Bald Eagle Rough-legged Hawk American Coot Sandhill Crane American Golden-Plover White-rumped Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Wilson's Snipe Bonaparte's Gull California Gull Northern Hawk Owl Short-eared Owl Red-bellied Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker Northern Shrike Gray Jay Brown Creeper Eastern Bluebird Hermit Thrush American Pipit Bohemian Waxwing American Tree Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Harris's Sparrow White-crowned Sparrow Dark-eyed Junco Lapland Longspur Snow Bunting Purple Finch Common Redpoll Pine Siskin -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota, Detroit Lakes Date: October 26, 2006 Sponsor: Lakes Area Birding Club, Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce Reports: 1-800-542-3992 (weekdays during business hours) Compiler: Jeanie Joppru (ajjop...@wiktel.com) This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Friday, October 27, 2006 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. Nearing Halloween, we will gain an hour of birding time as we turn the clocks back this weekend. Migration is winding down. Any birds seen now are noteworthy, either for being early, late, or just for wandering this way on their journeys. Most noteworthy is the irruption of Gray Jays into northwestern and southern Minnesota. Please send in all Gray Jay sightings so we may log them in an effort to see where they go, and what habitat they use, to try to figure out why this happens every now and then. Please include precise locations, dates, and what kind of habitat they are found in. GRAY JAYS have been reported in Lake of the Woods, Roseau, Marshall , Red Lake, Polk, and Norman Counties this week. Gretchen Mehmel in the Beltrami Island State Forest reported this week both SPRUCE GROUSE and RUFFED GROUSE. Also there has been a NORTHERN HAWK OWL hanging out near the command center for the search for a lost hunter along the East Moose River Road. Please do not get in the way of the search. BALD EAGLES, and GRAY JAYS have also been reported. Stan Wood at the Roseau River WMA reported that several GRAY JAYS have been seen and SNOW BUNTINGS have been common in the area this week. Pat Rice in Beltrami County reported on October 23 that her yard still holds good numbers of sparrows, and she has also seen RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, PILEATED WOODPECKER, and PURPLE FINCH. At Agassiz NWR in Marshall County, Maggie Anderson reported on October 23, that a couple of GRAY JAYS have been hanging around headquarters, and two have been reported along the Maakstad Trail. Peder Svingen found one at Webster Pool on October 24. Other species seen at the refuge included an AMERICAN BITTERN, an AMERICAN WOODCOCK; 12 SHARP-TAILED GROUSE were seen near the observation deck at Parker Pool. 100 SNOW GEESE and a ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK have also been seen at the refuge. Steve Broten reported a NORTHERN SHRIKE near Viking, and 4-5 GRAY JAYS at a home southwest of Newfolden. On October 22, he saw 15 GRAY PARTRIDGE near his home in that area. On October 21, a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, and one SURF SCOTER were found at the Thief River Falls WTP, Pennington County. On October 24, Peder Svingen also found a BLACK SCOTER there amid hundreds of scaup and RING-NECKED DUCKS. Several PECTORAL SANDPIPERS were seen there on Saturday, but those were gone by Sunday. ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS are beginning to appear in the county. A SHORT-EARED OWL was seen hunting along the west side of the wastewater treatment ponds on October 25. On October 21, a GRAY JAY and a RUFFED GROUSE were seen at the home of Phyllis Audette near Red Lake Falls in Red Lake County. On October 24, Peder Svingen found two GRAY JAYS coming to a yard with a feeder at Huot. In Polk County, Ben Fritchman and Bob Dunlap found a SURF SCOTER at Oak Lake on October 21, and a SHORT-EARED OWL four miles south of the intersection of CR 44 and CR 45. Among many species found by Kim Eckert's Minnesota Birding Weekend were many GREATER PRAIRIE-CHICKENS, a dawn flight of over 500 SANDHILL CRANES near the Pembina Trail SNA, a flock of AMERICAN GOLDEN-PLOVERS, NORTHERN SHRIKE, HERMIT THRUSH, AMERICAN PIPIT, LAPLAND LONGSPURS, and SNOW BUNTINGS to name only a few. Two GRAY JAYS were seen, one of them near the intersection of CR 44 and CR 45 along the tracks. Peder Svingen on October 24 found three BLACK SCOTERS, one SURF SCOTER, one ROSS'S GOOSE, and one juvenal WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER at the Crookston WTP. On October 26, Dave Lambeth reported three immature WHITE-WINGED SCOTERS on the East Grand Forks WTP about a mile north of town along the Red River. A GRAY JAY wa
[mou] Duluth RBA 10/26/06
--1161916005 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" -RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *October 26, 2006 *MNDU0610.26 -Birds mentioned Ross's Goose Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Long-tailed Duck Spruce Grouse Western Grebe American White Pelican American Three-toed Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker Mountain Bluebird Townsend's Solitaire Varied Thrush Nashville Warbler Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore Date: October 26, 2006 Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) Reports: (218) 834-2858 Compiler: Jim Lind (jsl...@frontiernet.net) This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, October 26th, 2006 sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. The female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD at Bayfront Park in Duluth was relocated as recently as the 24th. It has been seen most frequently around the gate near 7th Avenue West and Railroad Street. As many as six BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS and two AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS have been seen during the past week in Two Harbors at Lighthouse Point, especially along the trail on the east side of the point. Chris Benson found an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER on the 21st near the Harbor Point Apartments at 3rd Avenue and 1st Street in downtown Two Harbors. Keith Pulles found an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER on the 22nd at the west end of Gitchie Gammi Park in east Duluth. Additional BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS have been reported from Temperance River State Park, Taconite Harbor, the Two Harbors cemetery, Stoney Point, Hawk Ridge, Lester River and Chester Creek in Duluth. Dan Svingen found a WESTERN GREBE and a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER in Agate Bay in Two Harbors on the 20th. Nancy Jackson found a WHITE-WINGED SCOTER on the 25th at Park Point in Duluth, on the harbor side near the rowing club. A LONG-TAILED DUCK was found by Peder Svingen at this same location on the 21st. A SURF SCOTER was found by Keith Pulles on the 22nd at Park Point. The two immature ROSS'S GEESE were still present as of the 22nd at the Two Harbors golf course. Sue McDonnell reported an AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN on the 21st in the Grand Marais harbor near the North House Folk School. Ann Russ found a TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE at Taconite Harbor in Cook County on the 22nd. Chris Benson found a TOWNSENDS SOLITAIRE on the 21st at Park Point near the ballfields. Another was found on the 24th in Knife River in the crab apple trees across the road from Emilys Restaurant. It was still present this afternoon. Scott Clark found a LE CONTES SPARROW over the weekend at Flood Bay, a mile east of Two Harbors. Jan and John Green found a late NASHVILLE WARBLER in Two Harbors on the 21st. A VARIED THRUSH was seen on the 15th in Grand Marais near 3rd Street and West 3rd Avenue. Mike Hendrickson found a flock of 20 RED CROSSBILLS near the mouth of the French River on the 23rd. RED CROSSBILLS have also been found during the past week at Two Harbors and Hawk Ridge. WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL was reported from Hawk Ridge on the 24th. A SPRUCE GROUSE was seen on the 19th along Lake County Road 2, about a half mile north of the Sand River. The next scheduled update of this report will be on Thursday, November 2nd. The telephone number of the Duluth Rare Bird Alert is 218-834-2858. Information about bird sightings may be left following the recorded message. The Duluth Birding Report is sponsored and funded by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) as a service to its members. For more information on the MOU, either write us c/o the Bell Museum to m...@cbs.umn.edu, or visit the MOU web site at moumn.org. --1161916005 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" -RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *October 26, 2006 *MNDU0610.26 -Birds mentioned Ross's Goose Surf Scoter White-winged Scoter Long-tailed Duck Spruce Grouse Western Grebe American White Pelican American Three-toed Woodpecker Black-backed Woodpecker Mountain Bluebird Townsend's Solitaire Varied Thrush Nashville Warbler Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore Date: October 26, 2006 Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) Reports: (218) 834-2858 Compiler: Jim Lind (jsl...@frontiernet.net) This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, October 26th, 2006 sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. The female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD at Bayfront Park in Duluth was relocated as recently as the 24th. It has been seen most frequently around the gate near 7th Avenue West and Railroad Street. As many as six BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKERS and two AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS have been seen during the past week in Two Harbors at Lighthouse Point, especially along the trail on the east side of the point. Chris Benson found an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER on the 21st near the Harbor Point Apartments at 3rd Avenue and 1st Street in downtown Two Harbors. Keith Pulles found an AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER on the 22nd at the wes
