[mou-net] Sherburne sightings - Wildlife Drive opening date
An eastern phoebe is singing outside our headquarters/office this morning. Hooded merganser, northern pintail, wood duck, mallard, trumpeter swan in the river. Great blue herons, killdeer, are back as well as more sandhill cranes. A visitor reported eastern bluebirds on CR 4, but I haven't seen them on the refuge myself yet. There is a song sparrow at headquarters also, but this is a bird (assuming it's the same one) that over-wintered here. The Prairie's Edge Wildlife Drive will open for the season on Thursday, April 18. Betsy Beneke Sherburne NWR 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] Belated Bagley Farm Report (long)
Here at Northern Flights Farm in Clearwater county, Friday March 29th, a Robin complained bitterly from the Secret Garden, the first migrant detected in my yard this Spring. It had every right to complain given the foot and a half of snow still on the ground. The first skein of northbound Canada Geese prompted a late day run to check for possible open water resulting in the following FOY Clearwater county birds. 7 Trumpeter Swan 5 C. Goldeneye 2 C. Merganser 4 Hooded Merganser Most waterfowl were found on the Clearwater River at Clearwater Lake 6 Great Blue Heron (three seen in Bagley following the frozen Clearwater River up and down) 2 Killdeer, one at the school in Clearwater, the other along the river edge near Clearwater Lake 5 Sandhill Cranes, all in the vicinity of the rice paddies north of Clearwater and close to Berner. 1 N. Harrier, a beautiful male coursing the ditch on cty 5 along the rice paddies On Saturday March 30th I visited Polk, Pennington and Red Lake counties. Observed in all counties were numerous flocks of Snow Bunting and Horned Lark. Polk Sharp-tailed Grouse - 23 Bald Eagle - 1 Rough-legged Hawk - 4 Merlin -1 Gull sp -1 (Herring Gull?) Black-billed Magpie - 3 Red Lake Sharp-tailed Grouse -15 Sandhill Crane - 4 Rough-legged Hawk -1 Black-billed Magpie - 2 Pennington Sharp-tailed Grouse - 42 Bald Eagle - 1 Rough-legged Hawk - 4 American Kestrel - 1 Northern Harrier - 2 Black-billed Magpie - 19 (one group of 15 birds going to roost in an Alder swamp) Kelly Larson Northern Flights Farm Clearwater County Bagley, 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
[mou-net] Greater White-fronted Goose - Lake Byllesby, Dakota County
It was a cold wind coming off the open water on the west end of Lake Byllesby this afternoon. With a scope I was able to find many waterfowl, three Tree Swallows and one Lesser Yellowlegs. I counted 38 Greater White-fronted Geese on a sand bar. -- KEVIN D. SMITH Dakota 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] April birds
I was happy to see 3 female grosbeak on my feeder today, I had not seen any for over a week. We have a male cardinal which I have been seeing and hearing for about 2 weeks. This is actually a big deal for us since we normally do not have them here. I hear the Phoebe's. We have a northern shrike actively hunting and see sightings of it most days. The Trumpeter swans are flying over looking for open water, lots of ice here yet. My in-laws reported seeing a mourning dove yesterday, they live just two houses away. The pine grosbeak have left us and we have far less common redpolls. Linda Schumann Rainbow Resort Waubun, MN 56589 Becker County lschum...@rainbowresort.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] Wells Lake and Rice County birding
Wells Lake (Faribault) is continuing to open up. Gene Bauer and I checked it out mid-afternoon today and found a good variety of waterfowl, though none in huge numbers. Most abundant were Common Mergansers, Canvasbacks, and Ring-necks but there were also other species, most notably three Red-breasted Mergansers. Notably absent were Greater White-fronted Geese. Here’s a list of species: Canada Geese American Wigeon Mallard Canvasback (60+) Ring-necked Duck (40+) Redhead Bufflehead Hooded Merganser Common Merganser (120+) Red-breasted Merganser (3) Pied-billed Grebe Double-crested Cormorant (35) Great Blue Heron (3, though I counted over 30 last Sunday in the rookery) Ring-billed Gull (70+) Herring Gull (1) At Alexander Park in Faribault we found some Greater Scaup as well, and driving around the roads of Rice County south of Northfield we came upon several flooded fields that hosted waterfowl. One on CR8 just E of I35 had large numbers of Canvasbacks, Ring-necked Ducks, Lesser Scaup, and Mallards. Others held Tundra Swans, Hooded Mergansers, and Wood Ducks. In Big Woods SP and the road to it we came across Eastern Bluebirds and Song Sparrows, as well as the usual Horned Larks, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Kestrels, etc. Good Birding to all! Gerry Hoekstra Northfield 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] Live From Freeborn County
There are 60 to 70 bald eagles on Bear Lake, north of Emmons. Al Batt 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] River Bend Nature Center, Faribault, 4/3/13
An extended hike at River Bend provided good birding with the requisite exercise. Along with some of the usual year-round and winter residents, a Fox Sparrow was foraging under the center's feeders. We hope it had departed before a later visit by the female Cooper's Hawk, who came and perched close by, giving us unparalleled looks. I certainly did hear Fox Sparrow song a short distance away on the trail. Along the river's edge, were Belted Kingfishers, Wood Ducks, Sapsuckers, Red-tailed Hawks, Eastern Bluebirds, Turkey Vultures and an Eastern Phoebe, among others. But perhaps the best finds there, were the singing Rusty Blackbirds, and singing Winter Wren. The wren perched low on a fallen log within a few yards of us, and belted out almost his full song, though only once. The Rusties, while less melodic, provided a lot of background aural ambiance. Away from the river, we found a small group of Cedar Waxwings in an area frequented by numerous Robins and Tree Sparrows. With more species arriving every day, this promises to be worth more visits. On the way home to St. Paul, there were Tundra Swans in several of the wet fields off of Northfield Boulevard. Hopeully they will soon have some Greater-White Fronted or Ross' Geese for company! 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
