[mou-net] Carleton College Arboretum - 18 Warbler Species
I was so close to 20 today and had a couple easy misses. Still, I was very happy to see so many birds back in good numbers. All of the birds listed are from the Upper Arb in Rice County. Today's Warblers (some numbers given; *=FOS): Nashville Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Palm Warbler Ovenbird *American Redstart (many) Magnolia Warbler Yellow Warbler Blue-winged Warbler (4) *Golden-winged Warbler (1) Orange-crowned Warbler Tennessee Warbler *Blackburnian Warbler (1) Black-and-White Warbler *Chestnut-sided Warbler (2) *Wilson's Warbler Northern Waterthrush Common Yellowthroat *Mourning Warbler (1) Other significant sightings *Rose-breasted Grosbeak *Indigo Bunting *Ruby-throated Hummingbird *Yellow-throated Vireo Blue-headed Vireo Red-eyed Vireo From yesterday *Eastern Kingbird *Baltimore Oriole *Black-throated Green Warbler Owen McMurtrey Carleton College Northfield, 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] Rice County - Carleton Arboretum: Blue-winged Warbler and other FOS
Today at about 12:00 I heard a Blue-winged Warbler singing in the northern part of Carleton's Upper Arboretum (this part of the Arb is in Rice County). It wasn't shy, and I proceeded to take some cruddy pictures of it, which are at this address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851...@n06/ There must have been a decent movement last night because numbers of White-throated Sparrows Palm Warblers and Yellow-Rumped Warblers were noticably higher. Other FOS: Blue-headed Vireo Nashville Warbler Swamp Sparrow Northern Waterthrush (I think I'm behind schedule on the last two). Owen McMurtrey Carleton College Northfield, 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] Black-backed Woodpecker in Goodhue County
Today at approximately 2:00 PM while in the conifer plantation in Carleton College's Cowling Arboretum I found a female Black-backed Woodpecker (the eastern part of the 'Arb' is in Goodhue County). The bird was easily approached, appeared to have three toes, did not make any vocalizations, and scraped the bark off of the White Pine it was climbing on. Pictures will be posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851430 at N06/. I can add more details later if needed. Owen McMurtrey Carleton College Northfield, MN
[mou] Black-Backed Woodpecker is in far southern Dakota County, not Goodhue County
My sense of Minnesota County boundaries is not yet accurate. Alas, the Black-backed Woodpecker is in far southern Dakota County, not Goodhue County. The MOU website lists January 12th, 1930 as the last date for a Black-backed in Dakota County, but my understanding is that there have been others seen there this week. Also, I have now put the bird's location on a map which accompanies the photo on Flickr. Just scroll down and look to the lower right under Additional Information. The third line of text says Taken in Northfield, MN (map) If you click on map it will take you to a place that shows approximately where the bird was found. You might have to change the map to hybrid and then zoom out a little bit to get more of the context. This part of the Arb is easy to reach as there's a parking lot near the conifer plantation. If you just go 2.2 miles east on MN 19 our of Northfield, then turn North onto Canada Ave. (at least that's what Google Earth says it is). Canada Ave. will go straight north for about .85 miles, then jog right (East), then jog left again (North), the parking lot for the 'Arb' is on the West side of the road soon thereafter, right before you hit 320th St. W. If you cross the Cannon River you've definitely gone too far. Owen McMurtrey Carleton College Northfield, MN - Original Message - From: Owen Scott McMurtrey mcmur...@carleton.edu To: mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2008 5:27:07 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: Re: Black-backed Woodpecker in Goodhue County I apologize for the rushed description of my last post. I was in a hurry and I wasn't sure if I would be back at a computer again this evening. As I said earlier, there is a female Black-backed Woodpecker in the far northeastern corner of Carleton's Cowling Arboretum. In the 1940s, several species of pine trees were planted in this area and a small stand (which I believe is mostly White Pine) has been allowed to remain today. To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a fire, controlled or otherwise, in the conifer plantation area of the 'Arb'. This area is in Goodhue County, but I'm not sure exactly where the boundary is. When I first saw the BBWO it was on the trunk of a large pine only about 6-8 feet off the ground. It allowed me to approach within 15-20 feet of it. After I tripped over a log, it moved, but did not fly, 30 feet or so up the trunk of the tree. After a few minutes, it flew to a neighboring pine, then quickly flew back to the original tree. When the bird was on the trunk of the pine, it was scraping the bark off the tree in huge quantities. After scraping off nearly all the layers of bark in a given area, the bird would occasionally rap at the now clean area. The scraping and rapping were the only sounds the bird made for the 15 minutes I spent watching it. I have never seen a Black-backed Woodpecker before because they're very rare in Illinois. It seems like they would not be prone to vagrancy, so it seemed like it might be significant here in the southern part of the state, too. On the MOU website, it lists one occurrence of a BBWO in Goodhue County on April 20th, 1935. There are two occurrences listed for Rice County, from November 25th of both 1981 and 1984. The observed species list for the Cowling Arboretum does not note any occurrences of BBWO, so those seen in Rice County were probably seen elsewhere, though I'm not sure of the validity of the 'Arb's' observed species lists. After going through the pictures again, I did find one where there are clearly only three toes visible...also the rest of the bird looks exactly like a female BBWO. Here is a direct link to a better photo than the original: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851430 at N06/2997379976/ and a direct link to the original photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851430 at N06/2996226949/. Owen McMurtrey Carleton College Northfield, MN - Original Message - From: Owen Scott McMurtrey mcmur...@carleton.edu To: mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Sunday, November 2, 2008 3:46:38 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central Subject: Black-backed Woodpecker in Goodhue County Today at approximately 2:00 PM while in the conifer plantation in Carleton College's Cowling Arboretum I found a female Black-backed Woodpecker (the eastern part of the 'Arb' is in Goodhue County). The bird was easily approached, appeared to have three toes, did not make any vocalizations, and scraped the bark off of the White Pine it was climbing on. Pictures will be posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851430 at N06/. I can add more details later if needed. Owen McMurtrey Carleton College Northfield, MN
[mou] Carleton College: 3 Species of Geese on Lyman Lakes
Today at Carleton College on Lyman Lakes there were probably a couple hundred of the usual Canadas. It seemed as though the nominal, lesser, and giant races were all represented. One Cackling Goose which I found only at about 6 pm was also present. An unidentified goose was present from at least 9:30 AM until 6 PM Pictures of the goose are located here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851430 at N06/2963109978/ and here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851430 at N06/2963109964/ If those don't work, the homepage, with the photos at the top of the page, is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7851430 at N06/ Snow, Ross', or something in between? It could also be part domestic, which was my first thought because of the strange bill and neck, but when seen out of the water it did not have the deep belly typical of domestics and appeared fully capable of flight. I talked to Gene Bauer, a Carleton birder and we were both unsure. Much about the face suggests Snow (and that's probably what it is), but it would still have to be a small Snow if it is one, as it appears much smaller than the Canadas in the photo, which were smaller than most Canadas I see. It certainly was not larger than the lone Cackler on the lake. Experts feel free to weigh in! Also, thanks to all those who wrote messages of welcome. I feel like I'm already more a part of the birding community here than I was in Chicago. The trip to the Gunflint trail was pretty good. Since it was primarily a Geology trip, I was mostly looking at rocks and I didn't have as much freedom of movement as I had hoped, but I did see PURPLE FINCHES, SNOW BUNTINGS, a NORTHERN SHRIKE, and a male and female RUFFED GROUSE, all of which are no big deal for Northern Minnesota, but still good birds for a Chicagoan. The male Ruffed Grouse was displaying to the female, with tail fully spread and neck feathers erect. I thought this might be curious behavior for mid-October. --Owen McMurtrey Carleton College Rice County
[mou] Rice County, Carleton College Birds
Hi, my name is Owen McMurtrey, I've just started school at Carleton College in Northfield. I've been birding seriously for four years and in some capacity for as long as I can remember. I've been wanting to post to the list but haven't had much to say until now. Today there were 50-100 CACKLING GEESE on the artificial ponds on Campus, mixed in with the Canadas. Cackling Geese are pretty rare in Chicago, so I'm not too familiar with them. Are these the 'Richardson's' Geese, or are there other subspecies that occur here? Later I stumbled upon a group of nearly fifty songbirds mobbing an EASTERN SCREECH-OWL in the Upper Arboretum (Carleton's Cowling Arboretum is about 2000 acres of protected land on the northwestern edge of Northfield). Mixed in with the mob was an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. Again, I'm new here so I'm not sure if any of this is significant. Also a brief request for information: Next weekend I'll be going up to the Gun-Flint Trail area and I'm wondering if Great Grays, Hawk Owls, Boreal Owls, Three-toed and Black-backed Woodpeckers, and Winter Finches can be seen there reliably this early in the year. Thanks in advance for any info you can provide. --Owen McMurtrey Northfield, MN Rice County
