[mou-net] [mou-rba] MOU RBA 8 March 2012
-RBA *Minnesota *Minnesota Statewide *March 8, 2012 *MNST1203.08 -Birds mentioned Ross's Goose Green-winged Teal Hooded Merganser Pied-billed Grebe Great Blue Heron Northern Harrier Killdeer American Woodcock Ring-billed Gull Mountain Bluebird Townsend's Solitaire American Robin Varied Thrush Eastern Towhee Red-winged Blackbird Rusty Blackbird -Transcript Hotline: Minnesota Statewide Date: March 8, 2012 Sponsor: Minnesota Ornithologists' Union (MOU) http://moumn.org Reports: (763) 780-8890 Compiler: Anthony Hertzel (r...@moumn.org) This is the Minnesota Birding Report for March 8th, 2012. I have a late report of two MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS which were seen on March 3rd in Cook County at the Coho Cafe in Tofte. Both were on the lake side of state highway 61. On March 6th, several birders reported a ROSS'S GOOSE on Long Meadow Lake near the Bass Ponds area of Bloomington, Hennepin County. A TOWNSEND'S SOLITAIRE was at the Litchfield Nature Center in Meeker County on the 4th. Another was refound at Montissippi Park, Monticello, Wright County on the 3rd, and Al Schirmacher reported one at the Ann Lake Sand Dunes in Sherburne County on the 2nd. And a VARIED THRUSH is visiting the yard of Dave Olson, about two and a half miles northeast of Chisholm. Please call Dave before visiting, 218-254-3431. Another has been in Credit River Township, Dakota County for more than two weeks, but I have no further information. Chad Heins saw the first KILLDEER of the spring from Blue Earth County on March 6th. Additional spring migrants reported over the last week include GREEN-WINGED TEAL, HOODED MERGANSER, GREAT BLUE HERON, NORTHERN HARRIER, PIED-BILLED GREBE, AMERICAN WOODCOCK, RING-BILLED GULL, AMERICAN ROBIN, EASTERN TOWHEE, RUSTY BLACKBIRD, and RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. The next scheduled update of this tape is March 15th, 2012. 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] Are there any Snowy Owls still in the TC Metro Area? + Thanks to Duluth Birders
In response to family viewing my reading the article about irrupting snowies in the Natural History magazine that arrived yesterday, they asked where one might see a Snowy Owl. I said I would see if there are any still about. Please reply back-channel... Thanks much! Holly Peirson Columbus, Anoka Co. PS: Had about 20 minutes to look at gulls at Canal Park in Duluth, with 5 kids in car waiting patiently (!) to eat dinner before heading back to cities, after watching the FIRST Robotics tournament at DECC yesterday p.m. in anticipation of our own tournament at the U of MN's Wilson Arena at the end of March. Thank you very much to the 2 birders who were there at the time, for pointing out the 6 species in various stages of juvenile and adult plumage that I was able to figure out with their help: Herring, Ring-billed, Thayer's, Glaucous, Iceland (all close-by, one of the birders was photographing them), and Great Black-backed (on a small ice floe near the lake). That was KISMET for a birder in her mom/driver mode!! I was surprised to see that at least 1/2 of the bay is already thawed and hardly any ice to be seen on the lake... It was especially awesome to be able to point out the sites to 1 of the young men who had never been to Duluth before. Took them back to freeway via Skyline Parkway so they could get a good overview at a couple of the pull-outs! Fun times. 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] Coopers Hawk
At 1320 today a Cooper's hawk flew over Highway 7 about a mile west of 101 in Excelsior. It disappeared into trees to the north of the highway. Thomas P. Malone Attorney at Law Barna Guzy Steffen Minneapolis Minnesota tmal...@bgs.com (Via BlackBerry)
[mou-net] Golden Eagle
Hi everyone, Spent the morning at River Bend Nature Center doing some hawk watching. Raptors were sparse but good. Besides the obligatory Red-tailed Hawks and Bald Eagles I had the following migrating raptors: 1 GOLDEN EAGLE (juvenile) 3 Red-shouldered Hawks 1 Northern Harrier (female) 1 Rough-legged Hawk (dark morph) 5 Sharp-shinned Hawks Lots of geese moving again today. Several flocks of Greater White-fronted and Canada Geese, with 2 Snow Geese within one flock of the latter. Wells Lake is opening at a rapid rate. The only different birds present today were a few Snow Geese (white blue phase) and 1 Double-crested Cormorant. Good birding! Dave Bartkey Faribault,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] Turkey vulture
We went for a bike ride today and saw a Turkey Vulture over Turtle Creek in Austin. Richard Smaby rnsm...@charter.net 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] Greater White-fronted Goose and Trumpeter Swans at Pickerel Lake, Lilydale Regional Park, Dakota County, Minnesota, US
Jeff Slywka and I stopped by Pickerel Lake in Lilydale Regional Park (just across the river from St Paul). We were surprised by the diversity of waterfowl in this lake that is beginning to open up. Highlights were a single Greater White-fronted Goose and 9 Trumpeter Swans. Also saw many Hooded Mergansers, 1 Common Merganser dispersed with Mallards and Canada Geese. Looking up, Alex Cruz Jr Ramsey Co, 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] .
Twenty years ago, on this date, I saw over four hundred Bald Eagles between Hastings and the Kellogg Dunes. Today I couldn’t scrape up even twenty. Not much for waterfowl other than about three hundred high flying W-f Geese heading south at McCarty Lake WMA. Sandhill Cranes were in there. A Kestrel at Scharr’s Bluff and one at Frontenac State Park. Eleven Trumpeter Swans were at the first pullout north of Read’s Landing and another six in Whitewater Valley WMA. 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] L. Byllesby/ Randolph Industrial Park
The Cannon River at Randolph's L. Byllesby was Large Waterfowl Central again today, with countless Greater-white Fronted and Snow Geese among the many Canadas and some Cackling Geese. Despite repeated effort, there was no determining the presence or absence of Ross'; between the wind and the heat waves, scope (and birder) just weren't able to do it. There were, however, some good though brief looks at a pair of N. Pintails, and some frustrating glances at a couple of small, moderately short-billed, short-legged shorebirds. These were not Kildeer, which were seen in good numbers yesterday. There was no sign of the G. Yellowlegs we saw yesterday either. A stop at Randolph Industrial Park nearby yielded neither the N. Harrier nor the Rough-legged hawk we found hunting there yesterday, but there was a N. shrike at the pond by the church. It perched in small trees on the south side, then came to a post on the roadside, right by the car, where it stayed for many minutes, dropping once into the grass to hunt, then returning to the post. Its beak was slender, with a prominent hook. The dark eye-mask was also slender, with very discernible white along the ridge above the eye. The details were only visible because of its close proximity; it was having a tough time perching anywhere in that wind, never mind navigating to hunt. Earlier, another birder had been at the north pond watching what he had determined was a Loggerhead Shrike, that flew off when we arrived. That bird had been using a large muskrat mound in the middle of the pond as his look-out post. A return to the north pond found there was indeed a shrike using the mound as its home-base. Its ID as a Loggerhead couldn't be determined because it was very active, but it was certainly fun to watch the hunt. It skirted the pond, perching on short grasses at times, dropping to the shore, and even landing on the ice at other times. In between forays it would return to the muskrat mound---but not long enough for a good scope-look. There was no telling if this was the same shrike we'd seen before, or the one the other birder had seen. Linda Whyte 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] Thousands of migrating geese over Grey Cloud Island, Washington Co
Around 12:30 – 1:30 pm today, I watched in amazement as wave after wave of geese flew high overhead in huge lines and V-formations, generally heading in a northwest direction. I started in Hastings and then stopped at Grey Cloud Island, while the geese just kept on coming. Most groups were 100 – 200 birds, with some being over 1,000. I estimate I saw over 10,000 geese. They were so high that, except for an occasional white phase snow goose, I wasn’t sure how many were Canadas and how many were greater white-fronted. Some of the white-fronted flew low enough to hear their high-pitched calls and see their orange legs. 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] Geese in Dakota, Rice, Le Seuer and Scott
It was a spectacular day for geese in these counties. Greater White-fronts poured into L. Byllesby much of the morning - most of these from the ENE. Many Snows (with many blue morphs) were also present, though in smaller numbers. In Rice, Wells Lake still had GWFG. The hot spot in Le Seuer was Gorman Lake (and Dora, but the birds were hard to see at Dora). At both Gorman and at Byllesby we were treated to 5 sps of goose. Though we found no open water in Scott, we did find large flocks of GWFG and Snows headed Southwest. All these spots also held good numbers of ducks (Pintails were particularly notable), and Byllesby also had about 2 dozen Tundra Swans. Doug Kieser Sean Peterson Paul Budde Paul Paul Budde | Aon Benfield Aon Benfield Analytics t: +1 952.886.8119 m: +1 612.810.3172 e: paul.bu...@aonbenfield.com (Sent from BlackBerry) 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] Talcot WMA, Cottonwood County - Inc Phoebe
Spent most of the afternoon at Talcot WMA. One of the first birds seen was an EASTERN PHOEBE in pines, I believe the earliest I have ever seen a Phoebe by weeks. Also seen(partial list): Killdeer 2+ Redwinged Black birds 1000s Greater White Fronted Geese 1000s (my, how their status has changed) Canada geese 1000s Cackling Geese 10s Snow geese (almost all up high and flying north in large flocks - very few down low) ~1500 up high Eagles 10s (certainly reports of larger numbers around) Pintail common Gadwall common Common Mergansers Hooded Merganser Wood Ducks Mallards Redheads Ring-billed Gulls - 10+ Redtail hawk - only one noticed on the way there Robin - 1 Although the waves of redwinged Blackbirds became very apparent to me on Thursday. I have not yet noticed similiar waves of Robins, Grackles, and Flickers. Probably more I am forgetting or failed to notice. I was mourning my tripod and another year passed. Brad Bolduan Windom 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] Lake Crystal area--Blue Earth County
My family went out with me today to look at the countl Hey birders, My family went out with me today to look at the countless waterfowl being seen in the Lake Crystal area. The following sites are worth visiting currently: O.A. Vee WMA, Loon Lake, Crystal Lake, and Lily Lake. Lily Lake had 5 species of geese (I just couldn't find a Brant!). There were also numerous Redheads, Ring-necked Duck and assorted dabblers. Crystal Lake had 4 species of geese including a blue-phase Snow Goose, Northern Shoveler, American Wigeon, Ring-billed Gull, Common Merganser. Loon Lake had 4 species of geese (no Cackling could be determined thanks to distance and heat shimmer), Tundra Swan (thanks for the heads up Andrew Krenz), Common Goldeneye, American Coot, Common Merganser, Ring-necked Duck, Lesser Scaup O.A. Vee WMA is mostly mudflat with lots of Northern Pintails and Green-winged Teal mixed in with the Mallards. All locations had Greater White-fronted Geese. There are probably close to 800 (conservative estimate) on these lakes. I found one Ross's Goose on Loon Lake with a dozen Snows and a group of 4 Ross's on Lily with Snows. Other migrants: Eastern Bluebird, Killdeer, and Red-winged Blackbird. Happy birding! Chad Heins Mankato But ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? --Job 12:7, 9 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] Lake Byllesby 3/10
Spent an hour today in awe of the sheer numbers of birds at Lake Byllesby. Impossible to count there were thousands of Geese and Ducks either on the ground, in the water or flying overhead. Snow Geese, Greater White Fronted Geese, Canada Geese, Pintails, Mallards, Redheads, Mergansers and the odd Killdear. Was not able to make out any Cackling or Ross's Geese but wouldn't be surprised if they were there. I've been birding for less than a year now and this was the single largest congregation of birds ive ever seen. Brian -- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. 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] Shoreview Pelicans
Saw two flocks of American White Pelicans flying west just north of 694 between Lexington and Rice St. around 5:30 p.m. Keith Carlson keithec...@usfamily.net Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
