[mou-net] A little more on the Great-tailed Grackle
I was in a bit of a hurry to get the message out this afternoon, so I didn't describe the location as well as I should have. The Great-tailed Grackle posed(by posed I mean he stood in the same spot without any movement) in the field atop a slight hill for 5-10 minutes about 60 feet from the west side of cty. rd. 151 about 1/4 mile north of 182nd St(road in the Martin's post). When I drove up most of the Common Grackles had already begun moving west following the tractor as it tilled the field(some of the gulls were circling above the tractor but most were resting in the same field just south of the grackles). The Great-tailed finally flew when the last few Common Grackles flew towards the tractor. The easiest way to Cty. Rd. 151 is to take Hwy. 212 to Cty. 51 south. Cty. 51 turns into 151 south of Cty. 52. I'm not sure if I'll be out in the area tomorrow, since I don't think the chances of me finding him are that good. You just have to hope that the flocks stay closer to the roads. 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] Carver County Great-tailed Grackle
Went looking for the Great-tailed Grackle reported by John Cyrus. Found the flock containing the grackle about a mile and a half west from Cty Rd 151 on the Sibley County line (182nd Street.) Without a little luck we would have never seen the bird as the flock is now about 750 birds. The Great-tailed Grackle chose to sit in a tree relatively close to the road and in the open so we were able to set up a scope and compare all the features to the Common Grackles, Rusty amd Redwing Blackbirds, Starlings, and a few other misc that made up the group. Only now the bird was on the south side of the road, in Sibley County as the entire grove was on the south side of the road.. Both counties are first county records for this species. We never saw it fly north of the county line. As it was late in the day this flock seemed to be going to roost in this grove of trees. There were a few other flocks of blackbirds in the general area (a 3-4 mile circle.) Also as we were leaving the area some birds were moving north for the night. To find this bird in the morning it will depend on where the farmers ar plowing. All the flocks of blackbirds seemed to be in the most recently plowed fields. Dennis and Barbara Martin Shorewood, MN dbmar...@skypoint.com - Original Message - From: "John Cyrus" To: Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 2:09 PM Subject: [mou-net] Carver County Great-tailed Grackle A Great-tailed Grackle(male) was with flock of ~200 Common Grackles in a field on the west side of Cty. Rd. 151 in southern Carver County this morning.Luckily for me he spent quite a bit of time just posing in one spot giving me good size comparisons. His bright yellow eyes and iridescent body really stood out.The Grackles eventually moved away from the road further into the fields. Also near that area was a large mixed flock of Ring-billed(didn't count) and Franklin's Gulls(167)(Farmer was tilling the field which is what probably attracted the gulls in the first 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] WW and Black Scoters at Stoney Point, St. Louis Cty.
At 3 PM Saturday we observed 9 White-Winged Scoters and 6 Black Scoters on the lee side of Stoney Point. They were seen fairly close to shore and were moving together although each group kept with its own type. We saw them from the first pullout on Stoney Point Drive, just after you turn onto that road near Tom's Logging Camp. Winds were strong from the east so the Duluth side of the point was the only relatively calm water om the vicinity. Stoney Point is approx. 10 miles from Duluth on Scenic Highway 61. Jeanne Tanamachi Lauderdale 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
Re: [mou-net] You say potato
I had some doubts too, but I sent the pictures to a friend in California,
Stanley Walens, that specializes in Seabirds - and sees thousands of Pomerain
and Parasitic Jaeger on the west coast while leading seabird trips.
Here is what he had to say:
well you should be completely certain of the long-tailed
that's a lng tail
plus look at the black trailing edge to the wing and the contrast between
flight feathers and coverts
the other one is a parasitic
size as big if not bigger than ring-billed gull
dark cap that does not extend onto chin
bill long [too long for long-tailed]
warm reddish tone of upper side
unicolored upper wing [primary coverts are darker but otherwise the wing's
pretty uniform]
white at the base of the primaries on the upperwing
pretty extensive white at the base of the primaries on the underwing
more than 2-4 primaries with white shafts
lack of barring on uppertail coverts
restricted pale edges on the back and upperwing coverts; not patterned enough
for long-tailed
pale breast
mottled, not barred, pattern to breast and belly
pointed
central rectrices [most noticeable in the shot of the birds's
underside] {the two central rectrices on a long-tailed are rounded, and
barely extend beyond the other tail feathers] {{this last feature, plus
the cap not extending below the base of the bill, eliminate pomarine}}
I have about 30 images of the bird that I did not post that helped lead me to
my identification. I am certainly open to discussing the bird.
Regards,
Terry Brashear
Hennepin County, MN
http://www.naturepixels.com
birdnird AT yahoo.com
--- On Sat, 10/23/10, Stefanie Moss wrote:
From: Stefanie Moss
Subject: [mou-net] You say potato
To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU
Date: Saturday, October 23, 2010, 5:59 AM
After looking at the many jaeger photos being posted, it seems to me that
one person¹s pomarine is another person¹s parasitic. What am I missing?
Has Mr. Eckert had a ³second look²? The photos are wonderful in any event.
Thanks,
Kurt
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[mou-net] Cackling Goose (Hennepin Co.)
I saw about 10-15 Cackling Geese mixed in with about 150+ Canada Geese at the traditional fall gathering spot at Lamplighter Pond in St. Louis Park. This is on the east side of Texas Avenue. Interestingly, there were no Canada Geese of the Giant race; just Lessers, which made for some questionable individuals. I assume they were just small Lessers because the bill didn't look "quite right" (i.e. too protruding) for a Cackling. At Westwood Hills Nature Center (about 2 blocks away from Lamplighter Pond), there was a Northern Shrike eating a mouse, a male Wild Turkey taking a dust bath (very fun to watch), and other expected migrants (i.e. Fox Sparrow, Hermit Thrush, Golden-crowned Kinglet.) Good birding! Alyssa DeRubeis Stevens Point, WI ...in Golden Valley, Hennepin Co. for the weekend 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] Small mammal abundance
I spent this week working in Lake County and found the small mammal abundance, particularly mice and voles to be far higher than I've ever experienced. It seemed like voles and mice were fleeing any step I took on a grass tuft or brush pile. On any given day, I would see dozens of these rodents. There was no shortage of hares either. These are just personal observations and may not be the whole picture if small mammals were actually surveyed. Does anyone know what this might mean for owls and raptors this winter? If the abundance is as high in Canada as it seems here, could there be little to induce an irruption? Could we still see one caused by high breeding success due to the abundant rodents? (A local bird bander has had higher than average success with Northern Saw-whet Owls this fallmaybe the rodents helped them as well.) If we do have an irruption, might it be an invisible irruption because the birds would be able to fill up at night without hunting during the day? Could the abundance of small mammals entice raptors like Rough-legged Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks to winter farther north than they otherwise would? -- Shawn Conrad www.itascacnfbirding.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] Black Scoter - Itasca County - Plughat Point
Kari and I checked out the Itasca side of Lake Winnibigoshish this morning. We found a lone Black Scoter at Plughat Point, off to the right of the high shoreline. Other than good numbers of Bald Eagles, Common Loons, and Bonaparte's Gulls, this was the only notable sighting and one of only 2 ducks we saw on Winnie. (The other was a lone Ring-necked Duck that may have been injured.) -- Shawn Conrad www.itascacnfbirding.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] Carver County Great-tailed Grackle
A Great-tailed Grackle(male) was with flock of ~200 Common Grackles in a field on the west side of Cty. Rd. 151 in southern Carver County this morning. Luckily for me he spent quite a bit of time just posing in one spot giving me good size comparisons. His bright yellow eyes and iridescent body really stood out.The Grackles eventually moved away from the road further into the fields. Also near that area was a large mixed flock of Ring-billed(didn't count) and Franklin's Gulls(167)(Farmer was tilling the field which is what probably attracted the gulls in the first place). Other birds seen this morning Carver Park American Wigeon 13 (down from 82 earlier in the week though I didn't check one location that probably had some) Northern Shoveler 45 Ring-necked Duck 215 (most arrived between Thurs. evening and this morning) Bufflehead 31 Hooded Merganser 1 (numbers down from Thursday. Canvasback, Redhead, and Scaup(most of the Scaup had left before Thurs.) also departed between Thurs. evening and this morning.) Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Wood Duck 2 Killdeer 1 Great Horned Owl 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet 3 Yellow-rumped Warbler 1 Fox, Song, Swamp, White-throated Sparrow, and Junco Lake Waconia (Common Loons last seen on lake on Monday and last Horned Grebes seen on Sunday) American Coot 110 Ring-billed Gull (a few after many hundred roosted there overnight) State Hwy. 284 south of Waconia Cattle Egret 1 Salem Ave. ~1000 Red-winged Blackbird Assumption Lake Ruddy Duck ~20 (surprised to even see these there, as 6 trucks and a couple boats of hunters were packing up when I got there. All other waterfowl that had been on lakes open to hunting earlier in the week were gone) Franklin's Gull 35 Yesterday at Rapids Lake MVNWR Golden-crowned Kinglet 6 Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1 Hermit Thrush 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
[mou-net] American Golden Plover
Five American Golden Plovers were at the west end of Lake Byllesby this morning around ten o’clock. Also present were Greater Yellowlegs and many Lapland Longspurs in the air. Bruce Baer Bloomington, 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
[mou-net] rough-legged hawks
Yesterday -- Oct 22 -- I watched 2 rough-legged hawks hunting over a hayfield. Location was 1 mile south of Co. Rd 3 on Co. Rd 20 (Uniform Street) in Kanabec County. This location is about 10 miles west of Hinckley. One was a light adult and the second a dark morph. Diana Rankin Pomroy Township, Kanabec County 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] You say potato
After looking at the many jaeger photos being posted, it seems to me that one person¹s pomarine is another person¹s parasitic. What am I missing? Has Mr. Eckert had a ³second look²? The photos are wonderful in any event. Thanks, Kurt Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
