[mou-net] Osprey sightings
The ospreys are slowly returning but should start returning in larger numbers shortly. The Twin Cities Osprey Project would appreciate a report of any sightings of osprey. Please report any sighting of an osprey including when and where it was seen and what it appeared to be doing (carrying nesting material, flying, perching, etc). The email for reports is jvengl...@threeriversparkdistrict.org. Thanks! Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
Re: [mou-net] Common Redpolls
I still have a few today also, I also had a few Pine Siskins toady too, my peak PFW count this winter was 300 commons, but on a few non count days I estimate I had as many as 400 or more.. I also had a Hoary a few times this PFW season and on a few non count days.. This Year I only went through 220 pounds of Thistle seed. I'm looking for a job!! Please see http://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewlongtin -- Andrew Longtin Corcoran (Hennepin Co.) Minnesota See my WEB pages at: www.birderguy.com Email: birder...@comcast.net Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory Supporter http://www.hawkridge.org Minnesota Ornithologists Union Member http://www.moumn.org Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) Member http://www.hmana.org Cornell Lab Member (PFW) http://birds.cornell.edu/pfw -Original Message- From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:mou-...@lists.umn.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis and Barbara Martin Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 11:56 AM To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: Re: [mou-net] Common Redpolls I would expect them to be leaving fairly soon. Historically I have never seen redpolls anywhere in Minnesota in the month of May, although I believe that a few others have seen them that late on occasion. Someone else should chime in on that point. The question is what the size of this years irruption will have on some birds staying late. I still have over 130 redpolls at my feeders as of this AM. That is considerably down from the peak counts of a month or two ago. My peak count at any one time was a conservative 530 birds. That only occurred once. Most other peak counts this year were in the 200 plus range. Compare that to past years peak counts. Never had we seen more that 62 redpolls at once in past years. By the way we have not had a problem with dying birds at our feeders. All winter we have practiced very clean practices. Feeders are washed and disinfected on a regular rotating basis and the ground under the feeders has been kept fairly clean. Most of our feeders have trays which were cleaned on a nightly basis thus eliminating severe ground contamination. The local Coopers Hawk which returned in the past 2-3 weeks has been more of a problem, along with the Sharp-shinned who was here in January for a few days. We haven't figured out exactly how much seed we went through this winter I do know that I was buying Niger seed and sunflower chips 100 pounds of each at a time. And that occurred several times. And that got tiring. But the chance to study that many redpolls and their plumage variations was probably a once in a lifetime experience. Even the degree of variation in probable hoaries was rather interesting Only two true hoaries were seen but at least a half dozen other possible hoaries were studied for several days at a time. By the way we believe that there is a constant turnover in the birds visiting the feeders. On more that one occasion we would see a bird with a distinctive form of albinism that would only be present for a few days throughout the period. Denny Dennis and Barbara Martin Shorewood, MN dbmar...@skypoint.com - Original Message - " To: From: "Lynne Schoenborn Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 8:35 AM Subject: [mou-net] Common Redpolls >I still have many Common Redpolls coming to the feeders in my New Hope > yard. Does anyone know how long I can expect them to stay? Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] [mou-rba] Duluth RBA 4/9/09
-RBA *Minnesota *Duluth/North Shore *April 9, 2009 *MNDU0904.09 -Birds mentioned Long-tailed Duck Barrow's Goldeneye Spruce Grouse Iceland Gull Great Gray Owl Long-eared Owl Black-billed Magpie Hoary Redpoll -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota, Duluth/North Shore Date: April 9, 2009 Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) Reports: (218) 834-2858 Compiler: Jim Lind (jsl...@frontiernet.net) This is the Duluth Birding Report for Thursday, April 9th, 2009 sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. A male BARROW'S GOLDENEYE was found by Kyle TePoel on the 8th at the Grand Rapids sewage ponds along River Road (CR 3), 1.1 miles southeast of Airport Road. Visitors are asked to check in at the plant office about a half mile northwest of the ponds. The bird was still present on the 9th. Shawn Conrad and Earl Orf found a SPRUCE GROUSE on the 3rd along Itasca County Road CR 552, about 0.75 mile south of CR 52. Norma Malinowski found a SPRUCE GROUSE on the 4th in Lake County along MN Highway 1, between mile posts 302 and 301 near Harris Lake. Mike Steffes saw a flock of more than 20 LONG-TAILED DUCKS on the 4th on Lake Superior west of Gooseberry State Park. Jan Green saw four LONG-TAILED DUCKS on the 9th at Agate Bay in Two Harbors. Three LONG-TAILED DUCKS were seen on the 5th along Scenic Highway 61 at the Lakewood Pumping Station. Peder Svingen found an ICELAND GULL on the 5th near the mouth of Miller Creek off 27th Avenue West in Duluth. Frank Nicoletti saw a BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE on the 6th flying along Wisconsin Point in Superior. Jason Mandich found two GREAT GRAY OWLS and two LONG-EARED OWLS in the Sax-Zim Bog on the 3rd along the McDavitt Road (CR 213). HOARY REDPOLLS are still being seen at several feeders in the area. Jan Green had one on the 9th in her yard along the Old North Shore Road (CR 290) in Duluth Township. Kim Eckert had two in his yard near the UMD campus on the 7th. One was seen on the 3rd on the 300 block of 2nd Avenue in downtown Two Harbors. The next scheduled update of this report will be on Thursday, April 16th. 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, e-mail us at m...@moumn.org, or visit the MOU web site at moumn.org. Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] [mou-rba] Northwest Minnesota Birding Report- Thursday, April 9, 2009
-RBA *Minnesota *Detroit Lakes *April 9, 2009 *MNDL0904.09 -Birds mentioned Snow Goose Trumpeter Swan Tundra Swan Wood Duck Blue-winged Teal Redhead Hooded Merganser Common Merganser Sharp-tailed Grouse Wild Turkey Common Loon American White Pelican Great Blue Heron Great Egret Turkey Vulture Bald Eagle Sharp-shinned Hawk Cooper's Hawk Broad-winged Hawk Red-tailed Hawk Rough-legged Hawk Golden Eagle American Kestrel Merlin Sandhill Crane American Woodcock Ring-billed Gull Herring Gull Eurasian Collared-Dove Mourning Dove Great Horned Owl Northern Hawk Owl Barred Owl Northern Shrike Eastern Bluebird American Robin American Tree Sparrow Chipping Sparrow Lark Sparrow Fox Sparrow Red-winged Blackbird Eastern Meadowlark Brewer's Blackbird Common Grackle Brown-headed Cowbird -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota, Detroit Lakes Date: April 9, 2009 Sponsor: Lakes Area Birding Club, Detroit Lakes Regional Chamber of Commerce Reports: 1-800-542-3992 (weekdays during business hours) Compiler: Jeanie Joppru (ajjop...@q.com) This is the Northwest Minnesota Birding Report for Thursday, April 9, 2009 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. Spring finally seems to have arrived, but don't tell the weather man - he might revoke it. Warmer , drier conditions have encouraged a slow melt, and finally at our house, on April 8, the last of the ice went out of the Red Lake River. I believe that there are still some small areas where that has not yet happened, but we are on the way. There are many reports this week, especially of migrating BALD EAGLES, as well as the other common hawks. AMERICAN ROBINS are moving through the whole northwest in large numbers now and this week have found their voices, as the first sound these mornings is the ringing calls of many robins as they awake to the day. In Douglas County near Alexandria, Deb Johnson reported AMERICAN TREE SPARROW, FOX SPARROW, and LARK SPARROW on April 3. Teresa Jaskiewicz reported 75 possible KRIDER'S REDTAILED HAWKS over the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center near Fergus Falls in Otter Tail County on April 3. Other species seen included AMERICAN WHITE PELICAN, AMERICAN KESTREL, and CHIPPING SPARROW. Tom Smith reported BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD and COMMON GRACKLE at the feeder on April 4. Also that day, Brad and Dee Ehlers saw a flock of 11 GREAT BLUE HERONS fly over the Prairie Wetlands Learning Center. Dan and Sandy Thimgan reported that as of April 7, the EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES have returned to Perham. Other species they reported included BLUE-WINGED TEAL, COMMON MERGANSER, COMMON LOON, GREAT EGRET, COOPER'S HAWK, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, and HERRING GULL. Deb Johnson reported HOODED MERGANSER in Otter Tail County on April 8. Kelly Larson reported a TURKEY VULTURE in Hubbard County on April 7. Duane and Marilyn Olson saw a WILD TURKEY near Lake Park in Becker County on April 7. Mel and Elaine Bennefeld went birding at the Ponderosa Golf course in Clay County on April 7 where they saw a SNOW GEESE, WOOD DUCKS, a GOLDEN EAGLE, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS, and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS among others. AMERICAN KESTRELS have made it to Polk County as reported by Charles Christianson on April 7. Kelly Larson in Polk County on April 8 reported a NORTHERN SHRIKE at the Gully fen, a GREAT HORNED OWL at the Larix WMA, several EASTERN MEADOWLARKS singing, and also SANDHILL CRANES, and SHARP-TAILED GROUSE in several places. John Braastad reported AMERICAN KESTREL and CHIPPING SPARROW in Pennington County on March 30. Shelley Steva saw 3 SANDHILL CRANES just north of the Red Lake County line in Pennington County on April 3. A MOURNING DOVE showed up at our feeder near Thief River Falls on April 8, and the ice finally went out of the Red Lake River by our house that day. Tonight, I saw several HOODED MERGANSERS swimming in the river. Earlier in the week, I saw a flock of 10 RING-BILLED GULLS flying over the town. Zeann Linder reported much activity by a pair of MERLINS in her neighborhood in Thief River Falls this week. At Agassiz NWR in Marshall County on April 2, John Braastad reported that the BALD EAGLES are on the nest at Parker Pool. Recent arrivals include many ROUGH-LEGGED HAWKS, a few BROAD-WINGED HAWKS, and 25 RED-WINGED BLACKBIRDS seen at Madsen Pool. Greg Knutsen reported only one new species this week - a single REDHEAD. Dana Jenkins reported 6 BALD EAGLES 13 miles north from the Petro Pumper in Thief River Falls and 4 miles west on Marshall CR 7. These birds have been hanging around some old deer carcasses for several days. . Kelly Larson in Clearwater County reported on April 7 that SANDHILL CRANES, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, BARRED OWL, and EASTERN BLUEBIRD have returned to the county. On April 8 she reported TUNDRA SWANS, and TRUMPETER SWANS on the Clearwater rice paddies along with a gathering of ducks. Beth Siverhus saw a NORTHERN HAWK OWL along MN 72 north of Waskish in Beltra
[mou-net] April 18th field trip in Itasca County
The Itasca Birding Club is having a field trip on April 18th. There are still a some slots left, available to anyone who is interested. Please let me know if you are interested and to help arrange carpooling. There is no charge for this trip. Date / Time: Saturday, April 18th, 2009 / 7am - noon Trip / Leader: Deer River Spring Duck ‘Hunt’ / Shawn Conrad Meeting Place: Public lot immediately west of Jurvelin Hardware Hank – on Hwy 2, 1.5 blocks west of the stop light in Deer River Description: It’s time to explore western Itasca County hotspots like White Oak Lake and other wetlands looking for a wide variety of waterfowl. Of course, at this time of year, we’ll probably find many “first of year” species of the non-duck variety as well. Please contact Shawn in advance to arrange carpooling. -- Shawn Conrad http://users.2z.net/itasca_chippewa_birding/ Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Polk and Clearwater Yesterday
Yesterday I headed north to check on road conditions along my owl survey routes. It was a glorious day to soak up the sights and sounds of early spring! Northern Shrike -one at Gully Fen SNA, Polk Great-horned Owl -on nest near the northern edge of Larix WMA, Polk Eastern Meadowlark - several locations and singing! Horned Lark -also heard singing and working the fields at several locations Sharp-tailed Grouse - a group of seven along US2, Polk south of the Lost River. Another group of nine south of Berner on lek with one male displaying, Clearwater. Sandhill Crane - at least a dozen pairs seen throughout the trip, both counties. Black-billed Magpie -family groups sighted at four locations, both counties. Common Redpoll -a small flock foraging in the dogwood and willow along a ditch in the Peatland Reds Potato fields, Polk. Tundra and Trumpeter Swans, the rice paddies north of Clearbrook are starting to thaw out and fill up with waterfowl. Hundreds of Tundra and a smattering of Trumpeter. Many hundreds of Mallard, Canada Geese and gorgeous N. Pintail. Raptors Rule! Next time I'm going to keep a tally sheet...At least 18 Northern Harrier, 7 Red-tail, 2 Rough-legged. 5 A. Kestrel and at least a dozen Bald Eagle, three of them on nests. Noticeable misses for the day...Red-winged Blackbird, Killdeer, E. Bluebird. ** NOTE: EMAIL CHANGE ** NEW ADDRESS ON APRIL 1ST northernflightsf...@gmail.com ( old address dies on 4/25/09 ) Kelly Larson The Bagley Farm -Clearwater The Bemidji Loft -Beltrami Minnesota Eschew Obfuscation! The middle of Nowhere is Somewhere! Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
Re: [mou-net] Common Redpolls
Funny how yesterday I still had a lot of Redpolls and now today there only has been a hand full or so. Even though it's hard to know or prove I also think that from day to day there seemed to be different groups of Redpolls coming in which makes you wonder how many millions of Redpolls there were this winter. As for Hoaries it was almost maddening trying to identify them. If it wasn't a classic frosty white Hoary it was almost impossible to know if I was IDing them right. I don't think I have ever taken so many pictures of redpolls that I thought were Hoaries and then later looked at the pictures and decided that they weren't hoaries and deleted them. Now I'm wishing I hadn't deleted them since I'm second guessing myself. Like Denny said it might of been a once in a lifetime experience. - Original Message - From: "Dennis and Barbara Martin" To: Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 11:55 AM Subject: Re: [mou-net] Common Redpolls I would expect them to be leaving fairly soon. Historically I have never seen redpolls anywhere in Minnesota in the month of May, although I believe that a few others have seen them that late on occasion. Someone else should chime in on that point. The question is what the size of this years irruption will have on some birds staying late. I still have over 130 redpolls at my feeders as of this AM. That is considerably down from the peak counts of a month or two ago. My peak count at any one time was a conservative 530 birds. That only occurred once. Most other peak counts this year were in the 200 plus range. Compare that to past years peak counts. Never had we seen more that 62 redpolls at once in past years. By the way we have not had a problem with dying birds at our feeders. All winter we have practiced very clean practices. Feeders are washed and disinfected on a regular rotating basis and the ground under the feeders has been kept fairly clean. Most of our feeders have trays which were cleaned on a nightly basis thus eliminating severe ground contamination. The local Coopers Hawk which returned in the past 2-3 weeks has been more of a problem, along with the Sharp-shinned who was here in January for a few days. We haven't figured out exactly how much seed we went through this winter I do know that I was buying Niger seed and sunflower chips 100 pounds of each at a time. And that occurred several times. And that got tiring. But the chance to study that many redpolls and their plumage variations was probably a once in a lifetime experience. Even the degree of variation in probable hoaries was rather interesting Only two true hoaries were seen but at least a half dozen other possible hoaries were studied for several days at a time. By the way we believe that there is a constant turnover in the birds visiting the feeders. On more that one occasion we would see a bird with a distinctive form of albinism that would only be present for a few days throughout the period. Denny Dennis and Barbara Martin Shorewood, MN dbmar...@skypoint.com - Original Message - " To: From: "Lynne Schoenborn Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 8:35 AM Subject: [mou-net] Common Redpolls I still have many Common Redpolls coming to the feeders in my New Hope yard. Does anyone know how long I can expect them to stay? Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
Re: [mou-net] Common Redpolls
I would expect them to be leaving fairly soon. Historically I have never seen redpolls anywhere in Minnesota in the month of May, although I believe that a few others have seen them that late on occasion. Someone else should chime in on that point. The question is what the size of this years irruption will have on some birds staying late. I still have over 130 redpolls at my feeders as of this AM. That is considerably down from the peak counts of a month or two ago. My peak count at any one time was a conservative 530 birds. That only occurred once. Most other peak counts this year were in the 200 plus range. Compare that to past years peak counts. Never had we seen more that 62 redpolls at once in past years. By the way we have not had a problem with dying birds at our feeders. All winter we have practiced very clean practices. Feeders are washed and disinfected on a regular rotating basis and the ground under the feeders has been kept fairly clean. Most of our feeders have trays which were cleaned on a nightly basis thus eliminating severe ground contamination. The local Coopers Hawk which returned in the past 2-3 weeks has been more of a problem, along with the Sharp-shinned who was here in January for a few days. We haven't figured out exactly how much seed we went through this winter I do know that I was buying Niger seed and sunflower chips 100 pounds of each at a time. And that occurred several times. And that got tiring. But the chance to study that many redpolls and their plumage variations was probably a once in a lifetime experience. Even the degree of variation in probable hoaries was rather interesting Only two true hoaries were seen but at least a half dozen other possible hoaries were studied for several days at a time. By the way we believe that there is a constant turnover in the birds visiting the feeders. On more that one occasion we would see a bird with a distinctive form of albinism that would only be present for a few days throughout the period. Denny Dennis and Barbara Martin Shorewood, MN dbmar...@skypoint.com - Original Message - " To: From: "Lynne Schoenborn Sent: Thursday, April 09, 2009 8:35 AM Subject: [mou-net] Common Redpolls I still have many Common Redpolls coming to the feeders in my New Hope yard. Does anyone know how long I can expect them to stay? Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Photo of Grand Rapids Barrow's Goldeneye
On the MOU Recently Seen page I've posted a photo of the Barrow's Goldeneye that is being seen at the Grand Rapids Sewage Ponds in Itasca County. Here's the link. http://moumn.org/cgi-bin/recent.pl Earl Orf www.earlorfphotos.com Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Barrow's Goldeneye in Grand Rapids
The Barrows Goldeneye, found yesterday by Kyle TePoel at the Grand Rapids Sewage Ponds, was still there this morning. I watched it from 8:00-9:00. It was paired up with a female which appeared to be a common Goldeneye. They flew several times between the 4 ponds near the entrance to the facility. As Shawn Conrad mentioned yesterday, if you do come to see this bird, the operators of the plant would like you to first check in with them at their office. It is about ½ mile NW of the ponds on River Road right by the big sign that welcomes you to Grand Rapids. Earl Orf www.earlorfphotos.com Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Bald eagles nesting near Mounds Park, St. Paul
I have heard a report from someone in the Mounds Park neighborhood of a pair of eagles attempting to nest there. Can anyone verify this, please? Thanks, Tom Klein, St. Paul Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
[mou-net] Common Redpolls
I still have many Common Redpolls coming to the feeders in my New Hope yard. Does anyone know how long I can expect them to stay? Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
