[mou-net] Gr. Black Backed Gull: Red Wing CBC
I participated in the Red Wing CBC today, birding around Wacouta south of Red Wing. Our area was reduced by the time it took to try to get a handle on the thousands of Common Mergansers both on the water and in the air. We counted and estimated over fifteen thousand, but were clearly unprepared and overwhelmed by about ten minutes of continuous and overlapping waves of Mergansers flying past. We counted thousands of birds and then compared flock sizes and multiplied, but the numbers were still staggering.Joe Conley took a great picture of one small part of the flock. Good birds we found included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (one of two seen that day) and an immature Great Black-backed Gull that stood out easily even at a distance by its size, which appeared to closer to the many Bald Eagles than the Herring Gulls. Interesting was the find of a flock of Pine Siskins at exactly the same spot as last years CBC. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.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
Re: [mou-net] Gr. Black Backed Gull: Red Wing CBC
A couple of additional notes: Wacouta is not an area with river access and for the most part the river is not viewable without going on private land. Also the gulls headed out and continued south. Steve - Original Message - From: Steve Weston To: mnbird ; Mou-net Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 9:06 PM Subject: Gr. Black Backed Gull: Red Wing CBC I participated in the Red Wing CBC today, birding around Wacouta south of Red Wing. Our area was reduced by the time it took to try to get a handle on the thousands of Common Mergansers both on the water and in the air. We counted and estimated over fifteen thousand, but were clearly unprepared and overwhelmed by about ten minutes of continuous and overlapping waves of Mergansers flying past. We counted thousands of birds and then compared flock sizes and multiplied, but the numbers were still staggering.Joe Conley took a great picture of one small part of the flock. Good birds we found included a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (one of two seen that day) and an immature Great Black-backed Gull that stood out easily even at a distance by its size, which appeared to closer to the many Bald Eagles than the Herring Gulls. Interesting was the find of a flock of Pine Siskins at exactly the same spot as last years CBC. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.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] Sax-Zim
On Christmas morning, I dragged myself out of bed and, despite my cold, headed out from Floodwood to Sax-Zim for my 15th annual Christmas morning bog drive. With excellant postings from Sparky on the earlier CBC, I was well prepared to plan a productive route. A visit to the sumptuous feeders on Blue Spruce rewarded me with Pine and Evening Grosbeaks, Common Redpolls, and Pine Siskins. The feeders and ribs on Admiral were amazing. As I watched a couple of Gray Jays, who probably were nesting nearby, both Boreal and Black-capped Chickadees, Common and Hoary Redpolls, Blue Jays, and Downy Woodpeckers flew in. Most interesting was the behavior of the Boreal Chickadee, who spent most of the time flitting around the feeder without ever stopping to feed. I wished I had my camera, which was disabled by a dead battery. He gave me the finest views I had ever had of this comparitively shy bird. On my drive I found the Hawk Owl on Stickney by CR28 and saw many Ravens. I missed the Great Grays and the White-winged Crossbills. Interesting was the report from my brother-in-law in Floodwood that a Boreal Chickadee had been a common visitor to his feeder. Others on the roads professionally around Floodwood have seen no winter owls in that area. My son inquired what gift he could buy me. I expressed an interest in the currently available O'Brien book on shorebirds. Failing to find that in stock at Barns and Noble, he got me a book that may change my birdwatching: Extradorinary Chickens. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.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] Snowy Owl: Dakota Co. around the metro
Jill Wood reported a Snowy Owl on 12/11 along the Hwy 55 near the golf course (CR-85). I do not know of anyone refinding it. On Saturday we did a snowy Bloomington CBC. Best birds included: Black Duck with about 300 Mallards in a very small pond at Coldwater Spring (Ft. Snelling), 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches (at feeder by Acacia Cemetery), Cooper's Hawk, and 190 Cedar Waxwings (at 3 locations including 130 at hotel NE of I-494 and Pilot Knob. Flock is there consistanly). Today (Monday): I was watching a Blue Jay flying over frozen Quiggley Lake, when I realized something was amiss. It was moving too fast with much slower wing beats than a Blue Jay. It could only be a Shrike. Driving for close to an hour on Hwy 212 between Norwood/Young America and Eden Prairie, I was struck by how devoid of bird the landscape appeared. The only birds were a few pigeons, a couple of flying Turkeys (always cool), a crow, and one Red-tailed Hawk. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN swest...@comcast.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] MRVAC auction this Thursday
MRVAC's annual Holiday fundraiser will be held on Thursday, November 20th starting at 6:00pm at the Nothwestern Health Sciences University at 2501 W 84th Street ( Penn Avenue) in Bloomington. Some of the items that will be available include Nikon Action Extream 8x40 waterproof binocs, gift certificates from Bylerly's, a quality scope and tripod and as always, there will be plenty of goodies available to purchase. Home made jams, jellies, bread, apples, gift certificates, bird feeders, and dare I say Jack Telford's wood turnings, art, books, sporting goods, products from Great Harvest, Byerly's, Valley Natural foods, Aveda, and Caribou Coffee. While the bidding can be hot especially for the incredible home made jams and baked goodies, some things will go for a fraction of what they normally cost. This year monies raised will again provide bus transportation for students to travel to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, as well as provide funds for the refuge to hire environmental education interns to help teach the students. MRVAC also supplies a scholarship to a student wishing to go the Hunt Hill Audubon Center. Monies raised also are going to the Audubon Center of the North Woods to construct a brand new Corvid mews for their educational Raven. Your monies from this auction will allow us to do fund these worthwhile projects, and more, to help educate our youth about the wonders of nature. Last year we were able to disburse $10,000 in donations to these causes. Help us to that again this year. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20081115/e3c07580/attachment.html
[mou] no eurasian wigeon Sunday
I went to Anderson Lake about 4pm on a cold Saturday and returned warmer and better dressed on Sunday about 1pm. While I did not find the Eurasian Wigeon, either time, I am only convinced it was not on the lake on Sunday. I did not have time to check neighboring lakes. Conditions were poor for viewing all the ducks and there were at least two or three times more wigeons on Saturday. the only birds of interest there were Pintails (5 on Saturday and at least one on Sunday) and a Lesser Black-backed Gull on Sunday. My lack of success in Eden Prairie did not deter me from checking White Bear Lake for Kittiwicks, but I was no more successful. I did see a winter plumage Common Loon. On Thursday in Maple Grove, I had to pull over to the side of the road when I saw what looked like a buteo hovering being harassed by a smaller falcon. The only buteo that will normally hover is the Rough-legged. They can be ID'd at a great distance by this trait. But, this was a Red-tail. Upon closer inspection it was kiting, which is holding a stationary position with minimum wing beats, usually in a stiff wind. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20081110/00938dd8/attachment-0001.html
[mou] [mnbird] lakewalk Duluth again
Hi Sandra, Go to the MOU website (http://moumn.org/) , choose Review Reported Birds , choose Query Sightings Database. choose Palm Warblers, fix the dates to be inclusive (1901 thru 2008) and you will get a listing of all reported palm warblers in the database. the reports will be in date order and will give who saw the birds and where. Pretty damn neat (sorry about the language), if you try it. You will see that your date of 10/28 is the second latest reported, although there have been multiple reports on 10/26 and 10/27. Interestingly, almost all of these late dates are on the north shore. Now you will know how to research this kind of question. Note: I believe this is the only state in the country that you can do that. You will also note that the reports of the species have increased significantly over the last few years as more observers are reporting their sightings to the MOU. Reporting your sightings are easy. look under Reporting Birds This sighting is worthy of writing up an RQD (ReQuest for Documentation) form, which will be reviewed by the MOU Records Committee (MOURC). It usually takes a few RQD's before MOURC accepts them. Really unexpected birds usually will require exceptional documentation. Photos help. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: Sandra van den Bosse To: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 1:07 PM Subject: [mnbird] lakewalk Duluth again Today I saw a white winged scoter and a snow bunting again, but I also saw a Yellow-rumped and a palm warbler. Is it a bit late for palm warblers? Can anyone tell me? Thanks, Sandra -- ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20081028/b367f73f/attachment-0001.html
[mou] Dr. Katey Pelican at MRVAC this Thursday
Thursday, October 23 at 7:30 pm Environmental Change, Wildlife Health Monitoring and Species Survival Dr. Katey Pelican Assistant Professor, University of Minnesota Veterinary Population Medicine Dr. Pelican will discuss how environmental change is impacting the health, physiology and survival of wildlife populations - and the importance of health monitoring in wildlife. Katharine Pelican has a diversity of interests in endangered species reproduction and conservation. She also is applying her skills as a leading researcher in an interdisciplinary project to conserve the endangered clouded leopard in Thailand. Goals include improving breeding of clouded leopards in Thai zoos, monitoring this species in Thai National Parks and training Thai personnel in zoos and National Parks. Note location: we will be back at the Minnesota River Valley Visitor's Center at 3815 American Bld in Bloomington. The meeting starts at 7:30pm, but join us at 7pm to view the artwork, enjoy refreshments, and/or socialize. Steve Weston sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20081021/e358b209/attachment-0001.html
[mou] MRVAC November - December Trumpeter
The November - December issue of the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC) Trumpeter Newsletter has just been posted to the web and is now available on line at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/Nov2008.pdf . Note that this month's meeting will be this Thursday evening at the Refuge Visitor's Center and will feature Katey Pelican of the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota talking on Environmental Change, Wildlife Health Monitoring, and Species Survival. See announcement tomorrow for more details. Steve Weston MRVAC Program Chair sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20081020/8b18105d/attachment.html
[mou] Craig Mandel at MRVAC on Thursday
This Thursday, September 25 at 7:30 pm. Note location: back at the Minnesota River Valley Visitor's Center at 3815 American Bld in Bloomington Craig Mandel (of MRVAC will present a program on Birding Alaska. Craig has great photos and stories from his recent birding trip to Alaska - land of nearly 24-hour daylight. Super-long days can be great if you want to bird all the time and don't need to sleep. If you are interested in going to Alaska or have already been up there and want to relive those memories, join us September 25th. Craig has birded extensively in Minnesota - he has seen over 100 birds in each of the 87 counties in Minnesota - as well as around the US and around the world. Craig leads trips for Kim Eckert's Minnesota Birding Weekends as well as for MRVAC and the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. Please, join us at 7pm to view the artwork, enjoy refreshments, or socialize. Note change: next month's speaker will be Dr. Katey Pelican from the U of M College of Veterinary Medicine. The program Environmental Change, Wildlife Health Monitoring, and Species Survival will be at the Refuge Center on Thursday, October 23rd at 7:30pm. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080923/05cab46f/attachment.html
[mou] [mnbird] Hurrican Ike news, habitat damage - and a question
Reports from Texas on Whooping Crane arrivals have not yet started. Therefore, I do not believe that they have started to arrive. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: Erika Sitz To: MnBird (E-mail) ; MOU-net (E-mail) Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 3:21 PM Subject: [mnbird] Hurrican Ike news, habitat damage - and a question Many on the list will remember Sue Levy who lived in Minnesota several years ago, first in Duluth and then in Dakota County. Sue now lives in Texas about halfway between downtown Houston and Galveston. Thankfully, she (and her daughter, who lives near her) had no major damage to their homes and are among the lucky ones to have power restored soon afterwards. There was, however, an area of terrible devastation within about a mile and a half of her apartment, so she has many friends and members of her former congregation who have suffered great losses. And she knows, and expects the worst, the fate of the nearby birding areas she loves. Here is an excerpt from an email I received this morning. I will grieve for the destruction on Galveston and the forty-miles long Bolivar Peninsula - where the towns of Gilchrist, Crystal Beach and probably Port Bolivar, about which there has been no news, have simply ceased to exist. Right now there is no access to the area except by boat or helicopter, and no safe place to put a helicopter down. . . . The other issue on the Bolivar Peninsula for me is that it's an area where our Audubon Society has spent countless hours/years and years and raised millions of dollars to create and protect habitat. We have turned it into a world-class birding and wildlife habitat, and our work is gone. I am too numb to really grieve for any of it, but I know that's coming. It's much too close to home. For you birders, you should know that this is the second hit High Island and the coastal sanctuaries closer to Louisiana have taken in two years. No pictures yet, but it will be bad news. The people of High Island are still completely cut off and without communications. They were on the dirty side of the storm. Right now the focus is on human loss, lives and property. Sue says the American Red Cross (along with that part of the Texas National Guard that isn't in Iraq) are the most effective ones around and they need financial support. So that's where we'll give now, but I expect that a plea for donations will be forthcoming from Houson Audubon Society later. I'll forward anything that I receive to the lists for those who wish to help. Does anyone know the impact of the hurricane on Aransas NWR and the Whooping Cranes? I talked about it to Steve Weston and we suspect that due to its distance it's probably not great. But I don't know anything about where the cranes feed and on what, or any other details, so it would be nice to hear from someone about them. Erika Sitz Ramsey, north Anoka County -- ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080917/93033e24/attachment.html
[mou] Sabines Gull Brown County update
After birding in the western edge of the state, Jim Ryan and I arrived at the Sleepy Eye Lagoon at dusk, finding two cars and a birder (Robin from Delano) with her scope focussed on a gull on the grassy median between the two lagoons. As dusk thickened we approached the gull to within about 50 yards. At this time the four occupants from the other car, gathered their guns and pop (it being past the time for legimate hunting) and walked towards us. They were enjoying their fellowship and were totally unaware of the object of our attention. The gull flew when approached to about ten feet, showing off its wing pattern and settled upon the lagoon. We left it at 8:00pm. Before we left we talked to the young hunters, who were there for the special goose hunting season that openned today. We told them that we hoped that our presence did not intrude on their hunt. They had been on the far shore of the lagoon. They assured us that it had not. At which point a flock of about twenty Canada honkers flew over their abandoned station and settled on the lagoon, too late for the hunt. The geese were either not affected by our presence or acutely aware of rules of hunting. We explained about the rarity of the gull and its attraction to birders across the state. They had noticed the visitors earlier in the day, but had not seen anyone except the three of us since they arrived at a couple of hours earlier. They are returning on Sunday for the hunt. We told them that the birders would be there also and we would not be able to stop them. They hoped that they would not interfere with their hunt. They appeared to be quite tolerant, hopefully tomorrow's birders can respect their space. Besides the gull we found at least three species of swallows, an Eared Grebe, and a Nighthawk. There was more of interest, but hour was late and we were focused on the gull. The lagoons are a mile or two south of the edge of Sleepy Eye and are easy to see from Highway 4. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] September October MRVAC Trumpeter new fieldtrip list
The September October Trumpeter Newsletter of the Minnesota River Valley Adubon Chapter (MRVAC) has been posted at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/Sept2008.pdf Please, note that our speaker for October will be Katey Pelican, Assistant Professor of Ecosystem Health, College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Minnesota who will give present a program: Environmental Change, Wildlife Health Monitoring and Species Survival. Scott Lanyon will be at our meeting in March. We also have posted the new MRVAC fieldtrip list for our 2008-2009 season at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/fieldtrip.pdf My appologies for the delay in publication of the Trumpeter and fieldtrip list. We had problems with scheduling the speakers and the change in file format. I am having challenges editting the pdf files and will post the corrections hopefully tomorrow. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] [mnbird] odd shorebird
this odd sandpipper is definitely not a Stilt! If you look at the head, the Stilt always has a slanting forehead, this bird does not. And the obvious: bill shape. this bird has a shorter thicker, decurved billed. The wing tips do not extend beyond the tail like a Stilt. The warm brown tones of the plumage eliminate a couple of possible shorebirds that would not be expected (Knots) and is consistent with breeding plumage of a Reeve, a female Ruff. The Ruff is a larger bird than a Stilt. Well, actually a male Ruff is larger. A female Ruff is about the same size as a Stilt. I am off to Fairbault! Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: danerika To: Ricebird ; MOU net ; mnbird Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2008 12:27 PM Subject: [mnbird] odd shorebird Hi All--Yesterday, 29 Aug, Erika and I drove down to the River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, Rice Co., to check out the Stilt Sandpiper. I took photographs and got around to developing them late morning the next day (today), What do you make of this photo? http://www.northern.edu/tallmand/dat/misc/stiltmystery.jpg At the time I thought I was taking a photo of one of a few Stilt Sandpipers on the pond. But the bill looks way too short for a Stilt Sandpiper. The base of the bill is also an odd pink color. The bird is vaguely colored like a Ruff, but the breast is not plain like a Ruff. A second photo shows what may be the mystery bird behind an obvious Stilt Sandpiper. http://www.northern.edu/tallmand/dat/misc/stiltmystery2.jpg Note the much more obvious eyeline on the Stilt Sandpiper and its grayer coloration. Is the mystery sandpiper just an immature Stilt Sandpiper? I will be interested to hear any and all opinions. dan -- Dan or Erika Tallman Northfield, Minnesota http://danerika.googlepages.com/home http://picasaweb.google.com/danerika danerika at gmail.com the best shod travel with wet feet Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes --Thoreau -- ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080831/188b5842/attachment-0001.html
[mou] Swallow-tailed kite
The MOU website has the following reports of Swallow-tailed Kites in the last 50 years: 4/29/66 Washington Co. 7/13/74 Anoka Co. 4/22/76 5/15/76 in and around Itasca S.P. (Hubbard Clearwater co.) 5/15/99 thru 5/26/99 Rice Co. 8/11/02 8/25/02 Scott Co. 8/18/03 Rice Co. Six birds in the last fifty years with three in the last decade. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: Leah Carlson To: MOU-net at moumn.org Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 10:15 AM Subject: [mou] Swallow-tailed kite A co-worker and I have both spotted what we believe to be a swallow-tailed kite near Madelia. We have each spotted it independently on two occasions yesterday and today. Have there been any other sightings in Mn recently? -- --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Mailing list membership available on-line at http://moumn.org/subscribe.html. - To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with a subject of unsubscribe. -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080827/20b080ee/attachment.html
[mou] Miesville Ravine
Sunday we (five participants besides me) spent a near perfect day birding in the ravaged remains of Miesville Ravine for our annual MRVAC field trip. Trails have been almost completely reopenned after a devasting storm in July. However, side trails were everywhere blocked. Storm damage appeared to be consistant with a tornado, as many trees had been twisted until they snapped. I saw one tree that had snapped about twelve feet high, stripping the remaining truck bare of bark. Some areas were mowed down, while a few yards away, trees appeared untouched. Despite the devastation, birding was fairly active. Thirty-eight species were counted, including eight species of warblers (Blue-winged, Blackburnian, Black and White, Redstarts, Ovenbirds, No. Waterthrush, Canada, and Mourning) plus a Brewsters (hybrid Blue-winged x Golden-winged). This was found near where we found one in June, but was a different individual. More notable than the birds found were the noticible absence of expected birds: cuckoos, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, and Scarlet Tanagers. At the meadow, canary reed grass had mostly choked out the jewelweed, and banished the hummingbirds. On the way down from Miesville town, after coming out of the woods, I had a quick, but convincing look at a Western Kingbird. Also, we found two to four Giant Swallowtails, mostly in Goodhue County. and an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] non-bird sightings
Sunday, I had a Giant Swallowtail butterfly in my yard. While these are known to wander, it appears to be outside its nomal range. I do not know how unusally a sighting this is. I know it is the first I have noticed in the state. This morning (Monday) I saw a beautiful buck Mink road killed on Pilot Knob by the Eagan city hall. by the end of the day, when I passed it is well grounded into the pavement. This Sunday is my annual MRVAC field trip to Miesville Ravine. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding about
Last weekend I went straight west to the South Dakota border for Doug Buri's shorebird workshop. He and Bob Janssen did a super job, especially for birders lacking confidence with this group of birds. The most memorable lesson in the seminar was: The best way to differentiate between Short-billed and Long-billed Dowitchers is to look down. If you are or should be wearing shorts, it is a Short-billed Dowitcher. There were two bird highlights for the seminar field trips. 1) Doug Kieser's discovery of a Burrowing Owl just three miles from the Minnesota border. We went out later that night and again the next morning and found the bird still on the hay bales. the last birders that first evening saw the two parents join the juvenile. 2) the invisible sandpiper. Phil Chu (thank you, Phil) gave us directions to a field where he had observed a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. We walked the recently burned and mostly bare field chasing Killdeer as we walked. We did flush out a couple of Pectoral Sandpipers, an American Golden Plover, and a couple of elusive Baird's Sandpipers that were seen by a few birders on the wing. We had splintered into three groups and a few stragglers, when someone flushed a Buff-breasted Sandpiper that we had to have walked right by on the way out. While one the group zeroed in on the bird about 30 yards away, others tried to figure out what we were looking at. We had our scopes trained right at one lady, who was about 40 or 50 yards away. We signalled her to stop walking. She looked at us. She studied where we were looking. She looked around. She studied the area behind her. And then started to walk over to us to find out what we were excited about. We waved her to a stop and signalled that she needed to walk around. People were arriving, lining up next to us, and easily finding the nearby beauty. I turned my scope over to one of the participants and she gazed through it. I asked, if she had found it. When she answered negatively. I looked through the scope, figuring that it had walked out of the field and she was having trouble locating the cryptically plumaged bird. But, I could not find it and most everyone had lost the bird, which was still only some thirty yards away. One guy who had watched the bird stop and sit down was still on it. Another found it when it blicked its eye. I looked through one of their scopes, saw the eye, and carefully noted its location. I went back to my scope, focused it in on the spot, and found...an empty field. At this point Bob Janssen started walking slowly out towards the bird. When he was about 10 yards away and still could not see it, It got up and started to walk. At this point just about everyone (but Bob) could focus in on the bird. It was amazing how well it blended in. On Tuesday and then again on Friday I checked the Jirik Sod Farms in Empire Township in Dakota County, hoping to find some Buff-breasted migrants. I found none. The only shorebirds were Killdeer. The best bird of the week was a single Loggerhead Shrike on the wire along 180th Street between Emery and Fischer west of the 180th Street marsh. Of course, this does not include the finds in Yellow Medicine County last Sunday evening. I have seen quite a few bats of late. On Monday I found what I believe to have been a Big Brown Bat flying in the basement of the Mall of America. I also observed several of them at my house in the late evening flying in the company of a smaller bat, probably a Little Brown Myotis. I wish I could do better at differentiating them. Well, time to get back to my microscope and the bugs, leeches, and other critters of the wetland awaiting me. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Lark Bunting Western Tanager - Yellow Medicine Co.
After the shorebird seminar with Doug Buri Bob Janssen, three of us went down to Yellow Medicine County and found a winter plumage Western Tanager. A mile away from that we had a brief fly-by of a male breeding plummage Lark Bunting. Directions: turn south a half mile before Gary, SD. Go two miles until the road T's and turn left. The bird was seen on the south side of road in the next clump of vegetation. The Lark Bunting was seen one mile south of this as the bunting flies. Bird watchers will have to drive around to get there. It was seen on the north side of the road. We also found four Orchard Orioles, Red-headed Woodpeckers, Grasshopper Sparrow, a stiking juvenile Western Red-Tailed Hawk, a family of Turkey, a Badger, and a Grey Fox. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] birding about the area
A quick trip out to Hutchinson on Monday sent me by way of New Germany on local roads with HWY 7 closed. I observed good shorebird habitat in a small pond with several species (Killdeer, Pectoral, Least, Semi-Palmated SP, L. Yellowlegs, perhaps more) on CR33 just south of town and at CR30 and Yancy, a better known spot. The shallow lake to the south of that area is too well cloaked in willow thickets to be observed. I also stopped at Purgatory Creek in Eden Prairie, which has limited habitat, but is interesting. Shorebirds included Least Solitary. More interesting was the two Red-necked grebes in cryptic molting plummage. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Least Bittern Horned Grebe in Floodwood
Today (Sunday) I birded around Floodwood in St. Louis County visiting the sewerage lagoons and Hedboom trail. I found lots of good birds, but the most interesting were two Horned Grebes seen swiming at the sewerage lagoon and two Least Bitterns heard calling, one in the weeds on the west side of the first lagoon. The second one was calling from a marsh outside of the lagoons north of the inner gate. Crossbills were hanging around town in Floodwood last week. I was unable to refind them. Steve Weston
[mou] [mnbird] western kingbird
Scott, The place to check the occurance of a species of bird in Minnesota is the MOU website occurance maps: http://moumn.org/cgi-bin/occurrence.pl?group=ducksseason=all . This map indicates that the Western Kingbird is uncommon in Stearns County. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: scott henkemeyer To: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net ; mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2008 8:47 PM Subject: [mnbird] western kingbird can anyone tell me how common a western kingbird is in stearns county?saw 2 back in may,looking at the map in the smithsonian guide its rare. -- ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080716/6e648c7f/attachment.html
[mou] sick bat
Several people responded suggesting that I take the bat to: Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota 2530 Dale St. N. Roseville, Minnesota 55113 651.486.WILD (9453) http://www.wrcmn.org Even though I am relatively comfortable in handling wild creatures and the chances are that even a sick bat does not have rabies, I was not interested in trying to transport a sick and possibly rabid bat. In the morning that bat was still hanging on the garage door where I had seen it last. But, it had vanished by the time I got home twelve hours later. thanks for the many responses. Steve Weston
[mou] sick bat
I have a sick bat (little brown) hanging on my garage door. I realize the probablility of rabies infection is high. Should this be reported to DNR or somebody? Or should I let it expire and bury it carefully in the garbage. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net 612-978-3993
[mou] About the Metro
Last Saturday I went to a concert at Lake Harriet. I found a very vocal Broadwinged Hawk in Robert's Sanctuary. During the concert, a Cooper's Hawk flew past the bandshell, escourted by the local nesting Barn Swallows. I may have seen a non-breeding plumage loon flying over the lake. On Monday, I observed two Kestrels at 180th Street, a strong indication that the young in the nest box have probably fledged. I also found a Loggerhead Shrike on the wire along 170th Street east of Goodwin (CR85). Most interesting was the Merlin that flew about ten feet over my car today (Thursday) at Smith and Cherokee on the west side of st. paul. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] [mnbird] RFI, perhaps July is the time to diversify
Hi Al, When I head off to scout camp this summer, I will take some 20+ field guides and books on nature. Here are some recommendations. I like the North Woods Naturalist Series published by Kollath-Stensaas Publishing in Duluth. I have five of their books. Their books are written for northern Minnesota and are applicable for most of what you will find in the state. I think their Dragonflies of the North Woods is the best Dragonfly field book available, as is their Damselflies, although I am not as interested in those. I wish both showed more of the nymphs, but I doubt many others would be interested in those, and the nymphs are unlikely to be anywhere that you will bump into them. I also have their Spiders and Butterflies guides by Larry Weber. the Spiders guide is probably unique. It goes with me to scout camp, but doesn't usually go into the field with me. The Butterflies guide is great. I use it often, but it is not comprehensive enough for me. I use the Kaufman Butterflies guide book, which is wonderful, but much more difficult to use because it covers some five to ten times more species. The North Woods field guides are available in many nature orientated book stores or you can contact Sparky Stensaas: sparkystensaas at hotmail.com. I have no finacial connection with this publisher, although I do know Sparky and like supporting local interests. Another field guide that I recently obtained that I think is great is the Princeton Field Guides: Mammals of North America. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: Pastor Al Schirmacher pasto...@princetonfreechurch.net To: mou-net at moumn.org; mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 12:53 PM Subject: [mnbird] RFI, perhaps July is the time to diversify Thinking about diversifying this hobby (avocation? passion?), adding butterflies dragonflies. Three motivations: 1) They're beautiful, and they fly. I'm there already. 2) It's July, and I know most of the two county bird residents by first name:) (and post-breeding vagrants are still a bit scarce) 3) Would be nice to be able to answer non-birding questions on field trips (no, sorry, I only know about birds is a bit lame) So, a few questions: 1) Any (reasonably priced) field guides you'd recommend? 2) Are there any Minnesota checklists available, on-line or otherwise? 3) Other thoughts you would like to add from experience? (Bit quiet at Milaca Hiking Trails and Pioneer today - nice views of a Wood Thrush at latter.) Good birding (and butterflying) to all! Al Schirmacher Princeton, MN Mille Lacs Sherburne Counties ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird
[mou] Miesville Ravine more
On Sunday (6/22) I led a MRVAC field trip to Miesville Ravine with eight participants. The best birds included a couple of Acadian Flycatchers and a surprising Brewster's Warbler (Blue-winged x Golden-winged). Also heard were Wood Thrushes, Ovenbirds, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Redstarts were everywhere and we also found a couple of Scarlet Tanagers. Eastern Wood Pewees and baltimore Orioles were unexpectedly uncommon. Most of the activity was early in the morning. After finishing at Miesville, some of us continued on to a couple of other sites further downstream. We found lots of mosquitos, but few birds of interest. I was the only one who caught a glimpse of a Ruffed Grouse dust bathing in the trail. Yesterday (6/26) I spied a Hooded Merganser hen sitting on a log with a line of eleven one to three day old chicks, all sleeping in a row. They probably had just come down from one of my boxes. the evenings continue to be quite noisy with Copes Gray Treefrogs. This year the wild strawberrys are especially sweet, plump, and plentiful. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] MRVAC Newsletter
The July and August issue of the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC) Trumpeter Newsletter is available online at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/July2008.pdf Steve Weston
[mou] ID Help
an exotic bird, probably a game bird, had a fatal encounter with a window at a friend's house in Corcoran. It is not in the regular field guides. I will send photos, if you are interested. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Carolina Wren? Northern Mockingbird? Tufted Titmouse? RiceLake Refuge
Some years ago I had a bird singing Peter, Peter, Peter at Seven Mile Creek. the song to me was identical to the Stokes tape of the Titmouse to which it was very responsive. The bird never came out of the dense undergrowth. Several years later I found another bird singing the same song. I again was sure I had a Titmouse, until I found the Carolina Wren. I am now sure the first bird was also a Carolina Wren, especially given its singing from a hidden low perch. I am dubious about the possibility of it being a Mockingbird. Even though the Mockingbird will imitate a Titmouse, it varies its song greatly and will not keep repeating the same song. I have found that when it imitates other birds, it sings much quieter. While the other birds sing almost always (and perhaps only) from elevated perches, the Carolina Wren will sing from hidden perches close to the ground. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: Pastor Al Schirmacher pasto...@princetonfreechurch.net To: mou-net at moumn.org; mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 9:48 AM Subject: [mou] Carolina Wren? Northern Mockingbird? Tufted Titmouse? RiceLake Refuge There has been some excellent dialogue on the identity of the heard bird on the Aitkin field trip Saturday. The bird sang repeatedly for a couple of minutes, then shut down. The song could easily be transliterated as Peter, Peter, Peter, but with an occasional two note ending as well, and much more musical than Tufted Titmice that I've historically heard in southern Wisconsin over the years (former residence). It was very loud/emphatic. About half the group joined searched visually for the bird, but we were hampered by the ponds and under/overgrowth. We did glimpse furtive movement around a cavity, but never had anything like definite views (as noted in the original email). We came to the conclusion that the closest song was a Carolina Wren after playing a CD - believe it was the second or third set of calls on Stokes (?) that was a match - one person noted a short response from the bird while playing it. Today I read an equally plausible audio ID: Northern Mockingbird. This comes from the gentleman who originally heard it while doing a BBS last week. Mockingbirds have been seen in this refuge on a number of occasions by staff (and others) - whereas Carolina Wren is a statistical anomaly there. So we need a good visual ID! The bird was singing in the (right side of road) pond with dead snags a few hundred yards or so before one completes the loop and begins heading out again. Good birding to all! Al Schirmacher Princeton, MN Mille Lacs Sherburne Counties --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Mailing list membership available on-line at http://moumn.org/subscribe.html. - To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with a subject of unsubscribe.
[mou] Miesville Trip this Sunday
I will be leading a MRVAC sponsored field trip this Sunday to Miesville Ravine, a Dakota County Park south of Miesville on the Canon River. We will meet at the north parking lot at the early hour of 6:30am. the park is about an hour south of the cities. Non members are welcome to join us. Both cuckoos and Acadian Flycatcher have been reported here recently. Last year we had Cerulan Warbler, Scarlet Tanager and Wood Thrush. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] bird books
Hi, I have three books: Hal Harrison: Peterson Guide: Eastern Birds's Nests and his older Peterson Guide: Field Guide to Bird's Nests. Both show birds nests with eggs. Mark Elbroch Bird Tracks Sign which has sections on bird tracks and on feathers, as well as other examples of bird activity. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: kbo...@frontiernet.net To: mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Friday, June 13, 2008 10:06 PM Subject: [mou] bird books Hi my name is Mike Lehrke i was just woundering if any one could give me any ideas on where i could find books on just bird eggs and bird feather's. Mike wright county --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Mailing list membership available on-line at http://moumn.org/subscribe.html. - To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with a subject of unsubscribe.
[mou] [mnbird] airport mockingbird
I have been wondering if we might have a nest in the area with hatchlings. The only time I have run into a Mockingbird softly singing other birds' songs was right after the Dakota County pair hatched their brood. He definitely was not singing like that a week ago when I observed him. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: linda whyte bi...@moosewoods.us To: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net; mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 3:21 PM Subject: [mnbird] airport mockingbird The airport mockingbird was still hanging out at the SW corner of the airport fields this afternoon, at 2:30. He was in the row of small evergreens diagonally across from the big stone sign. I parked in front of the barricade across the dirt drive that's marked with a dead end sign, and listened for the repertoire, with 3 or more repetitions of various birds' songs. Though not especially loud, the bird was easy to locate. It was on the back side of the nearest spruce 10 feet away, about 5 feet up, in plain sight. After a short pause, it flew down into the adjacent parking lot to the south, then up to the west, into the cluster of deciduous trees lining the dirt drive. Linda Whyte ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird
[mou] Miesville trip postponed
The annual June MRVAC Miesville field trip scheduled for this Sunday has been postponed a week to June 22nd. Steve Weston
[mou] AP mockingbird
At 8pm tonight the Mockingbird reported yesterday was back on top of the sign at the sw corner of the AP. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding about metro
Saturday: 140th Street marsh is no longer a marsh, a real downer, but birds there included Willow Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and a Loggerhead Shrike near the west gate. Bank Swallows are nesting nearby on Connelly. A Kestrel was sitting with his head sticking out of a box along the road at the 180th Street marsh. Sunday: Birding at Louisville Swamp is not recommended without long sleeves and concentrated DEET. The swarms were so thick that I actually had one between the binoculars and my eye. Lots of Indigo Buntings and Brown Thrashers. I found Blue-winged Warblers, Orchard Oriole, a Prothonatory Warbler, I did NOT find a Blue Grosbeak, Kentucky Warbler, or Hooded Warbler (reported south of parking lot near ruined farmstead). Near the ruins I found a Common Yellowthroat singing a song that was not close to any song I have ever heard from them. Elsewhere in Scott County I found Black Tern and a Western Meadowlark. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Shorebirds: Dakota County
I stopped at two wet fields in Empire Twshp in Dakota County and found some shorebirds. Jirik Sod Farm (200th and Blaine). Several Killdeer and one juvenile plumage Least Sandpiper. It seems awefully early for a juvenile shorebird to show up. 190th Street east of Biscayne: Several Killdeer including at least two half grown, 5 Spotted Sandpipers, 6 Semi-Palmated Sandpipers in non-breeding plumage. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Dakota Co. Pairie Birds field trip
Six participants and I found about 80 species of birds on Sunday on MRVAC's annual Dakota County Prairie Birds field trip. Most of the sparrows and other grassland birds were found. Notable birds: Wilson's Phalarope pair at 180th Street Olive-sided Flycatcher (3 - all in usual habitat: dead trees) Dickcissels (2 on CR42 by Schaar's Bluff 7 at Randolf Industrial Park) Lark Sparrow (pair mating on Michael Ave south of Hastings) ruby-throated Hummingbird on nest at Schaar's Bluff Yellow-billed Cuckoos (3 at Schaar's Bluff) Willow Flycatcher calling Great-creasted Flycatchers - many birds at many locations Scarlet Tanager Brewer's Blackbird 8 species of sparrows mystery all black raptor later, back at home, a Barred Owl flew about 5 feet over my head and landed in a tree about 40 feet away, and sat there about ten minutes while I worked in the yard. It was a beautiful day to be out. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding About
5/21 (Wednesday) Maple Grove (85th Revere Lane) checked out the grasslands adjacent to the sand pit: Bank Swallows Brewers Blackbirds 5/24 (Friday) Goodhue County: Ran down with Kevin Smith to the Frontenac area for my frog toad survey. Under brillant skies the rapidly falling temperatues probably quieted the frogs somewhat. Toads were singing everywhere. We had five species of frogs and toads. Most notable were that the Gray Treefrogs were singing and Copes Gray Treefrogs in the same area were silent. Back at Quiggley Lake in Eagan the next night, the Copes and Toads were deafing under a warmer sky. In the marshes near Frontenac we had Marsh Wrens and Virginia Rails calling. I could not call out a Whip-poor-will in the valley where I usually find them. I will try again next month. We stopped at Miesville Ravine on the way home and were able to call out a Whip-poor-will. 5/25 (Saturday) with Jim Ryan birded Scott Co., Nicollet County (Seven Mile Creek) and LeSuer County. Almost no migrating warblers were seen. I did find a skulking Mourning Warbler in the pines at the Wilkie Unit in Shakopee. Seven Mile Creek was wonderful especially for the thrushes. The seven species included singing Veeries and Wood Thrushes, plus (silent) Grey-cheeked and Swainsons. Besides our close encounter with a Veery, we had a Scarlet Tanager land about ten feet from us. Stopped at a couple of sites in LeSuer County. We had an incredible look at a Sedge Wren and had both Eastern and Western Meadowlarks singing. During a dispute between Eastern Kingbirds, one flashed his red crown. We also found two small flights of migrating Nighthawks, one of which treated us to a boom. The small numbers of Nighthawks, I hope were off-peak migration, and not the last view of a crashing population. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] MRVAC meeting Thursday 5/22
MRVAC Presentation: Thursday, May 22 at 7:30 pm How do Birds Choose a Nest Site? By Doug Johnson Scientists as well as laypersons have long thought about the processes that birds use to select a territory for breeding. Such information is critical for conservation activities, so that proper habitat can be protected or managed. It is useful too for birders seeking to find particular species. Historically, most research on the topic focused on the vegetative and physical characteristics of the birds' territories, song perches, or nest sites. More recently, emphasis has shifted to larger scales, involving habitat patch characteristics and landscape features. In addition, some birds seem to use the presence or behavior of other birds to select a site. This talk will review the topic as well as present some new findings, with an emphasis on grassland birds. Douglas Johnson is a research statistician and senior scientist with the US Geological Survey's Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, headquartered in Jamestown, North Dakota. He also serves as Adjunct Professor in Conservation Biology and Wildlife Conservation. Doug and his colleagues have conducted a variety of studies of grassland and wetland birds in North and South Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota. He currently serves as Associate Editor for The Auk and Book Review Editor for the Prairie Naturalist. When: Please join us at 7:00 pm at the Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship to socialize over coffee and cookies from 7:00 - 7:30 pm. A brief business meeting and the featured speaker begin at 7:30 pm. The meeting concludes at 9:00 pm. MRVAC meetings are free and open to the public. Where: The Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship 10715 Zenith Ave S Bloomington, south of Old Shakopee Road between France Ave and Penn Ave Steve Weston, MRVAC Program Chair sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080517/6770871b/attachment.html
[mou] Birding about the metro
Stopped by Murphy-Hanrahan Park in Scott County on Thursday evening. Found at least 12 warblers and might have had a Cerulean Warbler, including FOY Blue-winged and Wilsons. Best birds included several singing Wood Thrushes (no Veeries) and Great Creasted Flycatchers. Very abundant and noisy frogs definitely were a distraction, including Spring Peepers, Copes Gray Treefrog, American Toads, and a few Chorus Frogs. I met a father pushing a stoller and leading his two youngsters on a mushroom hunt. They were finding small morels. At home I am still being waylaid on my way out by migrant birds, including several Swainsons Thrushes, and at least five species of warblers, including Blackpoll and Magnolia, and a singing Blackburnian. In the evening a Copes Gray Treefrog walks across one of my windows. Along highway 280 I observed a Sharp-shinned Hawk closing in on a larger Rock Pigeon. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Dakota Co. shorebird report
Checked out shorebird locations in Dakota County in the last couple of days. All of the shorebirds found were on Sunday. Apparantly the shorebirds realize that I rarely can bird during the week, other than fast looks usually without slowing down. Revisiting most of the locations on Monday, I found nothing (except Killdeer, which do not count). Lake Byllesby: Water is relatively high, but there are sandy shores and shallows on the west end. We found a flock of Lesser Yellowlegs and a Spotted Sandpiper. This is probably the best habitat in the county. (from Hwy 56 CR88 just east of Randolph, go east to first private railroad crossing on right and walk in) 180th Street Marsh: About 20 birds in six species: Both Yellowlegs, Least Sandpipers, a Semi-palmated Sandpiper, and a pair of courting Spotted Sandpipers (cool!). (from Hwy 52 go east 4 or 5 miles). 140th Street Marsh: Did not visit. Heard from others. No habitat. Virtually no marsh. Castle Rock sod farms: Some damp spots, but no shorebirds. Empire Sod farms: same as Castle Rock Visited several other vernal wet spots that are usually farmed, but attract shorebirds. Damp spots had no shorebirds. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Metro Birding Hawks
Active hawk nests, probably Red-tails, that I have noticed in my wanderings: Coon Rapids: US 10 west of Hanson Blvd on north side. Definitely occupied by hawk. Brooklyn Park: Hwy 610 heading west just past Hwy 252 interchange on northside. this nest is probably not visible except from highway. Eden Prairie: I-494 north of Valley View on east side. I am not certain it is occupied. We had a visit from a Broad-winged hawk that hung out on the trees outside our windows, allowing great looks! On Sunday I birded Murphy Hanrrehan for too short a time and then spent the rest of the day around Dakotat County. We found 90 species with only 12 species of warblers, including FOY Blackpoll and Ovenbird (had great looks on road into Ritter Farm). Other FOY: Chimney Swift, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Swainson's Thrush, Savannah Sparrow, and Bobolink. I was listening to a Meadowlark, trying to figure out why I couldn't decide if it was an eastern or western, when I suddenly realized that it was a Bobolink singing. Most grassland habitats lacked grassland specialists, including Bobolinks. On Monday I found Brewers Blackbirds at several locations in Dakota Co. including CR-42 near Schaar's Bluff and at the 180th St. Marsh. I found a Western Meadowlark and a Northern Harrier at the Randolf industrial park north of Randolf. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] FOY
FOY = First Of Year Steve Weston - Original Message - From: Shari LaFleur To: mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 9:45 AM Subject: [mou] silly question This may be a silly question..but I have noticed in a couple messages where ppl say Harris' Sparrow FOY for example...what does the FOY stand for anyhow ?? clay-colored sparrows Harris' sparrows (FOY - Tues. morning) house sparrows robins bluebirds ovenbird rose-breasted grosbeaks (FOY) Thanks Shari -- --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Mailing list membership available on-line at http://moumn.org/subscribe.html. - To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with a subject of unsubscribe.
[mou] Hok-si-lah
Today (Saturday) I led MRVAC's 42nd annual Hok-si-lah Warbler Field Trip. The forcast of near winter hell, or at least lousy weather, reduced participants to ten. The morning was cold and windy and all of us wore gloves. Warm clothes kept out the cold and the cold kept the birds mostly at eye level. While the number of species were below average, most birds allowed a close and intimate examination. We had 65 species at Hok-si-lah. The more persistant of the group added another 15 elsewhere in Goodhue County and I added another two in transit in Dakota County. The more interesting birds were all seen at Hok-si-lah. We had 12 species of warblers, including: Palm (2nd most), Northern Waterthrush (3rd most and perhaps more than I have ever seen), Nashville (4th), Orange-crowned (5th), Black White, Yellow, Pine (2 or 3), C. Yellowthroat, Tennesse (one only), Prothonatory, and Black-throated Green (one of the few seen at the tree top). We had three (all well viewed) vireos: Blue-headed, Yellow-throated, and Philadelphia. We did not see any Red-eyed or Warbling. Other birds of interest at Hok-si-lah included: Canvassback (female), Least Flycatcher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, House Wren, Tufted Titmouse (pair), Red-breasted Nuthatch, Orchard and Baltimore Oriole. Several humminbirds were observed feeding on the Dutchman's Britches. The Orioles were observed next to each other in the same tree, a perching arrangement that seemed to disturb the decorum of the more classy Baltimore. In addition to those FOY birds marked above in Bold type, we also found elsewhere in the county, FOY Cliff Swallow. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080504/79e13cc6/attachment.html
[mou] more observations on yesterday
Spring migration is still thin. The warblers were mostly of the early wave with Yellow-rumps still the bulk of the small birds and Orange-crowns, Palms, Black Whites, and Pines relatively well-represented. I was surprised by the higher numbers of Nashvilles and Waterthrush. The next wave dominated by Tennessees has definitely not arrived. Also the early Ruby-crowns were fairly common. But, still overall numbers of small birds were low. thrushes were not to be found and sparrows were for the most part light with small numbers of White-throated. Fox Sparrows were gone and Song and Chippers were important members of the thin chorus of on-territory birds. Water levels are high along the Mississippi. Sand Point is inaccessable except by knee-high rubber boots, at least. Traditional shorebird spots are beneath water and I found only a Solitary Sandpiper in a farm lot. I did not see any shorebirds in the farm fields, but there is a lot of water for them to be dispersed to. Steve Weston
[mou] more observations on yesterday
Spring migration is still thin. The warblers were mostly of the early wave with Yellow-rumps still the bulk of the small birds and Orange-crowns, Palms, Black Whites, and Pines relatively well-represented. I was surprised by the higher numbers of Nashvilles and Waterthrush. The next wave dominated by Tennessees has definitely not arrived. Also the early Ruby-crowns were fairly common. But, still overall numbers of small birds were low. thrushes were not to be found and sparrows were for the most part light with small numbers of White-throated. Fox Sparrows were gone and Song and Chippers were important members of the thin chorus of on-territory birds. Water levels are high along the Mississippi. Sand Point is inaccessable except by knee-high rubber boots, at least. Traditional shorebird spots are beneath water and I found only a Solitary Sandpiper in a farm lot. I did not see any shorebirds in the farm fields, but there is a lot of water for them to be dispersed to. A thank you to Dave Cahlander for his gratuity to me for participating on the field trip. Many of our field trip leaders volunteer their time and gasoline without expectations other than sharing their experience. With the high price of gasoline, I will be offering a token of my appreciation on future field trips I join. But, as a leader, I realize that many participants will also be battling the high price of gasoline, and I would be sadden if any of them saw the expectation of a tip as a barrier to participation. If a small percentage of us make an offering, it would be a significant impact. thanks. Steve Weston
[mou] Fw: Black and white warbler - Renville County
- Original Message - From: het...@rswb.coop To: Steve Weston sweston2 at comcast.net Cc: bnessar at aol.com Sent: Saturday, May 03, 2008 4:45 PM Subject: Black and white warbler - Renville County Hi Steve, I can not remember how to post on MOU...will you let the list know... Steve rescued a black and white warbler from our barn, in Birch Coulee Township, Renville County at 3:45 PM this afternoon. Great to see you at Salt Lakeand thanks for passing this info on to Toni and others. Chris and Steve Hettig, Morton, MN
[mou] owls and Salt Lake Festival
To my friend at the Salt Lake Festival banquet, with whom I conversed with about owls, can you please contact me with more information on location? Steve Weston
[mou] MRVAC Trumpeter Newsletter
The May June issue of the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC) Trumpeter Newsletter is now available at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/May2008.doc Dr. Doug Johnson of the US Geological Survey's Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, headquartered in Jamestown, North Dakota and a Professor in Conservation Biology and Wildlife Conservation at the University of Minnesota will be our speaker at our May 22nd meeting. Steve Weston MRVAC Program Chair sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Rochester
This evening after work left me in Rochester, I stopped at the impound dams west of Rochester by the landfill. I found eighteen species of waterfowl including: 1 Common Loon Red-necked Grebe 4 Horned Grebe 65+ Ruddy Duck on one pond and perhaps ten more on the other Pelicans I had one bird calling from the landfill that I could not ID. The call had six long notes. The first three were a nasal or non-musical call followed by three whistles similar in quality and tone to a Cardinal. I do not have anything on my Stokes eastern tapes that suggests an ID. I tried to find the bird which was probably calling from the pines, but... Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Fw: [mnbird] Salt Lake Bird Count
- Original Message - From: Ken Larson Mary Lou Frank prairiemarshf...@comcast.net To: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 2:13 PM Subject: [mnbird] Salt Lake Bird Count Thank You to all the Birder's braving the snow and wind to get to Lac Qui Parle County for the Salt Lake Weekend Bird Count. At the Saturday evening dinner 33 people made it, about half of the reservations. Total bird species seen on Saturday totaled 136 with an additional 4 on Sunday. Not bad considering. Next year we promise great weather and more great birding. Don't miss it! Ken Larson, Event Coordinator Minnetonka, MN ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird
[mou] Salt Lake Festival
We drove out on Friday night to Goody Larson's Prairie Marsh Farm near Marietta, MN, 5 miles from the South Dakota border in Lac Qui Parle County. We left the cities at 5pm in a light drizzle. By the time we reached Olivia, it was snowing. By the time we reached Granite Falls, it was starting to accumulate on the road. From Monteveido the last 30 miles was through a blowing snow with the road crusty with ice and small drifts blowing across the road. Still, the car was handling well. Turning off the highway, we held our breath for the last mile and a half to the farm. Shortly after we arrived the snow was measured by Ken Larson at eight to ten inches. The next morning the roads were dicy and the wind was hard and cold out of the north. By afternoon travelled roads were almost dry and the infrequent roads were passable and the weather was beautiful. Still on Sunday we did encounter one drift that turned us back. The over twenty participants found at least 131 bird species compared to 132 last year. The most interesting birds included a Great-tailed Grackle that Bill Unzen had steaked out for about a week and a Little Gull that was found by Bob Williams. The Grackle was not relocated Sunday afternoon. The Little Gull was seen Sunday morning, but not Sunday afternoon. Twenty-two species of waterfowl were found including Cackling Geese, and all the Grebes, except Clarks. Thirteen species of raptors were observed, including a Merlin (unusual out there), probably in excess of a hundred Harriers, Red-shouldered Hawks, Rough-legged, and several Swainsons Hawks, including a kettle of four. Fifteen species of shorebirds were found including Semi-palmated Plover, both Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpiper, Marbled Godwit, Sanderling, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Bairds Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, LB Dowitcher, Snipe, Woodcock, and Wilson's Phalarope. Snipe were quite numerous. One concentration of 25 were found. They were calling in many locations. We found the first of three Marbled Godwit in the Plover Prairie standing on one leg on a rock about fourty feet from the road with his head tucked in. After we watched him for a while, he pulled his head out, looked us over, greeted us in his dialect, and stretched his wings. He then tucked his head in and we drove off. Also in Plover Prairie we found a Sharp-tailed Grouse in a tree and a few saw a couple of Prairie Chickens. We probably saw over a thousand Ring-neck Phaesants during the day. We found fourteen species of sparrow, including Lark, Fox, and Lincoln. Other birds of note included Black-crowned Night-Heron, Franklin Gulls with pink blush breasts, a Shrike, four species of Swallows, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Orange-crowned Warbler, Palm Warbler, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Hermit Thrush, and Brown Thrasher. On Friday, a Pine Siskin was seen. On Sunday, additional finds included Peregrine Falcon, American Avocet (both at Salt Lake), Willet, and Marsh Wren. Mammals seen included Richardson's Ground Squirrel, and a River Otter. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080429/4a2ab258/attachment-0001.html
[mou] more on Salt Lake
One of the notables about the weekend was the lack of corvids, which relate to endemic Nile Fever. We saw only one Crow on each of the days and heard a one Blue Jay on Sunday. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Schaar's Bluff
I birded the Schaar's Bluff unit of Spring Lake Park on Monday evening. The woods were quiet, but the edges hosted some good activity. FOY (for me): Eastern Towhee, Field Sparrow, and Palm Warbler. There were also several Eastern Bluebirds. I also rousted a perching Bald Eagle in the woods and a Barred Owl. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] [mnbird] Birding about the Metro
cavity nesters are well-known for dropping eggs in nests with other bird eggs. I regularly see both wood ducks and hooded mergansers visiting the same boxes. The wood duck eggs are usually ovid (egg shaped), while the merganser eggs are rounder. They are also slightly different colored, but I am not sure how reliable that is for differentiating them. I try to minimize my handling of the eggs, so I do little more than count the eggs and determine if both are present. If you realize that a hen lays one egg a day, you see that often multiple hens are using the boxes. While some boxes are major dump zones, nearby boxes will be ignored. - Original Message - From: Paul A. Lender len...@umn.edu To: Steve Weston sweston2 at comcast.net; MNBird mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:54 AM Subject: Re: [mnbird] Birding about the Metro Hi Steve I just want to be clear: the Hooded Mergansers are laying eggs in active Wood Duck nests? Is this known to be a common occurrence? Do the Woodies actually raise the young Hoodies? -- Paul Steve Weston wrote: On Sunday domestic duties kept me at home. I did check my wood duck houses. One I cleaned out and took down for rehab. The squirrels tore it up pretty bad. One has juvenile Gray Squirrels and one is presumed to still have squirrels. The other two had 13 and 17 eggs. *** Although it appeared that most were Wood Duck, each had at least one or two Hooded Merganser eggs. *** Company arrived and we all sat down to dinner, when two Barred Owls flew in just outside the windows. The closest must have sat there for about twenty minutes. Today I stopped at Purgatory Creek lake in Eden Prairie. I found two Common Terns, at least ten Bonapartes Gulls, and Rough-winged Swallows, which were also found in Anoka County. In Andover I saw my first butterfly, a Mourning Cloak, which hibernates over the winter as an adult. I heard Chorus Frogs and Spring Peepers in Coon Rapids. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- Paul A. Lender University of Minnesota Department of Orthopaedic Surgery 2512 South 7th Street, Suite 200 Minneapolis MN 55454 Voice: (612) 273-8053 FAX: (612) 273-7959 e-mail: lender at umn.edu The information transmitted in this e-mail is intended for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, including protected health information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please destroy and delete this message from any computer and contact us immediately by return e-mail.
[mou] [mnbird] Birding about the Metro
Oops... I tried to save that to send out later, but the program had other ideas. I will have more info later. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: Steve Weston swest...@comcast.net To: Paul A. Lender lender at umn.edu; MNBird mnbird at lists.mnbird.net; Mou-net mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 9:56 AM Subject: Re: [mnbird] Birding about the Metro cavity nesters are well-known for dropping eggs in nests with other bird eggs. I regularly see both wood ducks and hooded mergansers visiting the same boxes. The wood duck eggs are usually ovid (egg shaped), while the merganser eggs are rounder. They are also slightly different colored, but I am not sure how reliable that is for differentiating them. I try to minimize my handling of the eggs, so I do little more than count the eggs and determine if both are present. If you realize that a hen lays one egg a day, you see that often multiple hens are using the boxes. While some boxes are major dump zones, nearby boxes will be ignored. - Original Message - From: Paul A. Lender lender at umn.edu To: Steve Weston sweston2 at comcast.net; MNBird mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 8:54 AM Subject: Re: [mnbird] Birding about the Metro Hi Steve I just want to be clear: the Hooded Mergansers are laying eggs in active Wood Duck nests? Is this known to be a common occurrence? Do the Woodies actually raise the young Hoodies? -- Paul Steve Weston wrote: On Sunday domestic duties kept me at home. I did check my wood duck houses. One I cleaned out and took down for rehab. The squirrels tore it up pretty bad. One has juvenile Gray Squirrels and one is presumed to still have squirrels. The other two had 13 and 17 eggs. *** Although it appeared that most were Wood Duck, each had at least one or two Hooded Merganser eggs. *** Company arrived and we all sat down to dinner, when two Barred Owls flew in just outside the windows. The closest must have sat there for about twenty minutes. Today I stopped at Purgatory Creek lake in Eden Prairie. I found two Common Terns, at least ten Bonapartes Gulls, and Rough-winged Swallows, which were also found in Anoka County. In Andover I saw my first butterfly, a Mourning Cloak, which hibernates over the winter as an adult. I heard Chorus Frogs and Spring Peepers in Coon Rapids. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- Paul A. Lender University of Minnesota Department of Orthopaedic Surgery 2512 South 7th Street, Suite 200 Minneapolis MN 55454 Voice: (612) 273-8053 FAX: (612) 273-7959 e-mail: lender at umn.edu The information transmitted in this e-mail is intended for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material, including protected health information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please destroy and delete this message from any computer and contact us immediately by return e-mail.
[mou] Birding about the Metro
On Sunday domestic duties kept me at home. I did check my wood duck houses. One I cleaned out and took down for rehab. The squirrels tore it up pretty bad. One has juvenile Gray Squirrels and one is presumed to still have squirrels. The other two had 13 and 17 eggs. Although it appeared that most were Wood Duck, each had at least one or two Hooded Merganser eggs. Company arrived and we all sat down to dinner, when two Barred Owls flew in just outside the windows. The closest must have sat there for about twenty minutes. Today I stopped at Purgatory Creek lake in Eden Prairie. I found two Common Terns, at least ten Bonapartes Gulls, and Rough-winged Swallows, which were also found in Anoka County. In Andover I saw my first butterfly, a Mourning Cloak, which hibernates over the winter as an adult. I heard Chorus Frogs and Spring Peepers in Coon Rapids. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding about the Metro
All this week there have been hundreds of Pelicans all along the Minnesota River. On Friday there were large flocks of cormorants flying over the Mendota Bridge just above the cars. Wednesday: today's bird was the Common Loon, even bigger than ever, sitting on Quiggley Lake (ice 90% gone) as I enjoyed breakfast. Checked out Black Dog Lake late in the day and found 15-20 loons, 30+ Red-breasted Mergansers, and FOY Tree Swallows. Thursday: As with yesterday, we had a Fox Sparrow. The ice is essentially gone, but so was the loon. Friday I stopped late at Lake Byllessby in the cold, cold rain. No shorebirds except Killdeer. Few ducks. FOY: Franklins Gull, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Vesper Sparrow in fields near by. There were thousands of Tree Swallows on the lake. Saturday: Today I stopped at the Old Cedar Bridge. There were lots of Ruddy Ducks and three Horned Grebes. I found a large flock of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and at least seven Brown Creepers. Other birds of interest included three FOY (first of year) sparrows (White-throated, Swamp, and Chipping), several Hermit Thrushes, a Pine Siskin, and two Winter Wrens, one of which was singing by the third boardwalk. Skunk Cabbage and Marsh Marigold are ready to bloom. Quiggley Lake has a surprising amount of Star Duckweed already. Checked one of my wood duck boxes and counted eleven eggs, both Wood Duck and Hooded Merganser. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080419/2e6940f7/attachment.html
[mou] about the Metro
Yesterday (Monday) in my yard there were good numbers of thrushes with a FOY Veery (larger and not as red as the Hermits). Also several Fox Sparrows. Carlson Lake a block from home had three Red-breasted male Mergansers and two Hooded. I did not have time to seperate the females. My yard is a convention every morning with Hoodies and Woodies lining up for the boxes. It is almost impossible to approach my window without scaring ducks from the trees. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Dakota Co.
FOY shorebirds (besides Killdeer): Wilson Snipe (found by Derek Bakken) @ 180th St. Marsh Greater Yellowlegs 2 @ Lake Byllesby about 7:30pm Sora was heard at 180th St. Marsh Cowbirds everywhere in good numbers Yellow-rump Warbler at Quiggley Lake in Eagan Tree Swallows and Pelicans at Lake Byllesby Fox Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Tree Sparrows, Juncos Lots of waterfowl at 180th Street Marsh and at Lake Byllesby, but there were several thousand ducks and geese at small pond SW of CR85 and CR47. Lighting was wrong so I did not spend any time trying to check them out. At Lake Byllesby I counted 30 Canvassback, 40 Redheads, and 90 Bufflehead. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] birding around
On Friday work sent me to Hastings (with time to drive via 180th) and then out to New Ulm, which was too close not to check out Sleepy Eye. Luckily the snow was not a problem where I drove. Many of the small ponds and lakes were open and hosting waterfowl including diving ducks. The most interesting ducks were the two or three Red-breasted Mergansers one block from home on Carlson Lake. They were there still this afternoon. The greatest variety was on 180th Street marsh in Dakota County. Out west the most common ducks were Ring-neck, scaup (mostly Lesser, but many Greater), and Canvassbacks (36 on one small pond south of LaFayette in Nicolet Co.). The most interesting bird on the trip were the four Snow Buntings on 180th about 2 mile east of the marsh. Today I found a couple of Hermit Thrushes out my window. My next door neighbor reported six. I also had a Song Sparrow and Fox Sparrow. When I returned home after dark, my garage door closing roused a Phoebe from his roost in the garage. I left him in the garage for the night and will release him in the morning. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Hanging around home
Spring projects and today a cold have kept me hanging around the house this weekend. Yesterday, I rehung a wood duck house that I had rehabbed. Before I hung it, I added some cedar chips and then decided to add a few dry leaves. I openned up one of the two houses I have on poles with predator guards to keep out furry tenants and looters. I had noticed that a squirrel had added some leaves, but i hadn't seen any activity. I reached in and grabbed a handful of leaves. The second time I reached in I found something warm and furry that chirpped. After I hung the house, I pulled out the ladder to fill a couple of feeders. After filling the larder, I brought the ladder over to the occupied house and opened it up. I found a half pint squirrel sleeping so soundly that he almost tumbled out the openning. I resisted the urge to pet it and closed the door. This morning the suet that I had filled yesterday was already gone. The peanuts that I had left for the squirrels did not keep them from empting the suet feeder. Four pairs of Wood Ducks and a pair of Hooded Mergansers were swimming the twenty feet of open water along the shore. The Hooded Merganser has already spent considerable time in one box, as her consort nervously paced. The Woodies have been checking out the boxes and I have already scared them out of the trees once. Now comes time of season of cautiously approaching the windows in the house overlooking the lake. I have two boxes ready for nesting. One that is definitely occupied by squirrel and a second one that is a probable. A fifth house has not been inspected and may need to be cleaned out. On Friday in Eagan I had my FOY Eastern Phoebe and a Cackling Goose on Carlson Lake a block away from home. I do not think I have them for the yard yet. Nothing new at the feeders. Juncos singing in the yard. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding Dakota Co
Sunday Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Grackles have all arrived in numbers. In the afternoon I birded Black Dog Lake, 180th Street marsh, and Lake Bylessby, where I found 22 species of waterfowl, all but two were at Black Dog Lake. Canvassbacks were numerous at Black Dog, but I also found one swimming by itself in the small pond just west of the beach at Lake Bylessby. I found a flock of almost 60 noisy Tundra Swans at 180th Street. Most ducks were in fairly good numbers, except Wigeons, and Red-breasted Mergansers (1 only at Black Dog). At Lake Bylessby I thought I heard a Chipping Sparrow singing, but it turned out to be Juncos. I had a great view of a Sharp-shinned racing along on Pilot Knob at just under the speed limit (45mph). The most interesting find was the beaver lodge and damaged trees I observed in a draining pond along Hwy 5, just east of Prairie Center Drive in Eden Prairie. I do not see how they can thrive here as there are few trees accessable to them. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Dave Cahlander at MRVAC this Thursday
The Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter (MRVAC) will meet this Thursday evening. The meetings are free and all are invited. Thursday, March 27 at 7:30 pm Birds of Minnesota By David Cahlander David Cahlander has traveled around Minnesota taking pictures of the birds. He will share his images of both the common birds of Minnesota as well as the more rare vagrants. The presentation includes most of the sparrows and warblers seen in the state as well as the owls, hawks and eagles. Dave's wonderful photos always draw a good crowd. Join us and enjoy an armchair birding trip around the state. David Cahlander is a member of MRVAC and the chief architech of the Minnesota Ornithologists Union website (http://moumn.org/). When: Please join us at 7:00 pm at the Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship to socialize over coffee and cookies from 7:00 - 7:30 pm. A brief business meeting and the featured speaker begin at 7:30 pm. The meeting concludes at 9:00 pm. Where: The Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is located at 10715 Zenith Ave S in Bloomington, south of Old Shakopee Road between France Avenue and Penn Avenue one block west of Xerxes. Steve Weston, MRVAC Program Chair sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080324/5977b7f4/attachment-0001.html
[mou] Birding about the Metro
A few days ago I found a group of courting Hooded Mergansers at the west outfall of Black Dog Lake near 35w and the Minnesota River. That day I also saw a Red-tailed Hawk flying by the Best Buy headquarters in Richfield carrying a stick. I will have to figure out where the nest is. Today I went down to Black Dog Lake where I ran into and joined Craig Mandel's group. I expect he will report later. The seven species of waterfowl that we saw, included a couple of Bufflehead that they probably did not find. I also stopped by a Dave Cahlander's in Burnsville to enjoy a cooperative and quite colorful Tufted Titmouse. The surprising visitors were a couple of Pine Siskins. The Northern Flicker continues to stop by my feeders as it has all winter. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding about the metro
I am seeing lots of Horned Larks in the farm areas especially in Dakota County, but also in western Hennepin County. A Northern Flicker has been coming to my feeders all winter. One or two Pileated Woodpeckers are also regularly coming to the suet feeder. I usually hear them pounding on the suet, rather than seeing them flying. Today I checked the south side of the Science Museum in St. Paul for the fourth time without seeing the Solitaire. I hope I am able to follow this with a successful fifth visit. Yesterday I found an interesting buteo along Highway 55 in Eagan near I-494. At first I thought this dark hawk was a Rough-legged, but after a look from the other side and watching it fly, I ID'd it as a juvenile Red-tail. It had a very dark belly band. Its wings were almost as long as its tail, indicating that this was a western sub-species. Its plumage was a close match to an illustration in Sibley that agreed with that ID. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Satisfying Birding Experience (long, maybe too long)
I have had so many rich experiences, I will try to touch upon a few. While birding in northern Minnesota in an area that I had never been, I left the car by the side of the road to follow a trail into the woods. The trail, apparantly used by local duck hunters and perhaps fishermen, ended at a marsh. I had to crouch under a bush to view the marsh. I pish to call something out of the reeds, but I only attracted forest birds. Turning around I pished in about a dozen birds, mostly warblers, all conversing intimately with me from the bush under which I sat only four to ten feet from them. Even better are the experiences that are shared. Birding with a stranger on a fall warbler day, I pished, held out my hand and a chickadee landed. Then there is the time I brought a friend out to find a Prothonatary Warbler, which he had never seen. We went out to a pond with dead trees in the water by a railroad track. It was quiet. Figuring that the Prothonatary, a cavity nester, would be antagonistic to a Screech Owl, I whistled its call, and a bright drop of sunshine flew in to a tree twenty feet away. It gave us a long examination, before flying off. I don't think either of us brought our binocs up. Sometimes the experience is remote to the birds. I love taking kids out birding. I teach interactive birding. Bird watching is fine, but talking with the birds is far more interesting. There are few birding experiences more satisfying than having a young scout introduce me to his friends, as Bird Guy or something like that, and show me that in the last year he has been practicing pishing. Anytime I can infect someone with the birding bug is rewarding. I remember on a Christmas Bird Count three years ago taking a couple of high school students with us. their science teacher recruited them by promising extra credit for participants. I always start the day on this count by heading to a park. As we pulled up to the entrance, I spotted a pigeon sitting at the peak of the silo at the farmstead, now park headquarters. Training my binocs on the bird, I realized it was a hawk, and I suspected that it was the Gyrfalcon that had been hanging around the area. Everyone got a good look through the scope and a better look as it flew by at eye-level not fifty feet away. With almost our first bird the day was already monumental. We threw the scope back in the car headed into the park. We then grabbed the scope and headed to the bluff to scan the Mississippi. The river was teaming with waterfowl with gulls and eagles as spectators along the ice. A quick scan and I found an atypical gull with no black on the wingtips. Everyone got a good, though distant, view of a pure white Iceland Gull. In their first hour of birding they had gotten two of the most desirable birds in North America. Later the teacher reported back to me on their excitement. Oh, there are so many more... the call of a loon at night, the Saw-whet Owl that answered my whistle when I took the garbage out in a snow storm, the nesting Great-horned Owl with its four young, the Hummingbird on a nest, the twelve species of hummers swirling around as I sat trying to sort them out, too many warbler and not enough eyes, finding a Piping Plover in the pond in the industrial area. It is too nice out to be typing and I hear my binoculars calling. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding around
birds at our feeders: Pileated Woodpecker regularly stops at our suet. You can feel it pounding on the suet. Sounds more like a hammer than a woodpecker. Northern Flicker probably coming everyday. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: at least the second appearance this winter. Plummage is intermediate between juvenile and male. Red markings apparrent, but bird is very brown. Last Wednesday I found a large flock of Cedar Waxwings in Eagan near Lone Oak and Lexington. Perhaps this is the flock that we found a month ago near Pilot Knob and I-494. On Saturday I found Northern Shrike on Lexington at the ball fields near Diffley (Eagan) and another along Cedar Avenue (about 185th) in Farmington. A Great Horned Owl was on a nest (possibly with its mate) at Cedar Ave. and Dodd Road (Lakeville). This is at least the third year she is using this nest. Today (tuesday) I drove to Granite Falls finding large flocks of Snow Buntings some with more than a couple of hundred birds mostly in Renville County. Most of the flocks appeared to be only Buntings, but I did find a couple of Lapland Longspurs. I also had a couple of small flocks that were probably also Longspurs. The only raptors were Red-tailed Hawks, which were more plentiful than I expected with seven observed. I found two pairs associating. I found more Crows than I expected with several small flocks. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] snow buntings in the twin cities
Hi Ben, Snow Buntings are being seen around the area. I saw seven along with two or three Lapland Longspurs on January 1st in Washington County on Neal Avenue between 70th and 80th Streets. But, these guys are highly mobile and probably would not be at that site. You will do best not to chase down old reports, but to cruise the open spaces. To find what I call road birds (Snow Buntings, Lapland Longspurs, and Horned Larks) when the fields are covered with snow, look along lightly travelled roads in open areas. The birds will be feeding in the road or on the shoulders. Also look in fields over which manure has recently been spread. The Buntings and Longspurs travel in tight flocks that can be quite large. Larger flocks can be mixed. Occasionally Larks will also be in the flocks. The Snow Buntings are the light birds that flash white. The Longspurs are brown birds without the white about the same size. Note their face pattern. The Larks are larger with solid black tails. The Larks will flush from the road perpendicular to the direction you travel. They fly alone or loosely associated with a few others. I hope that helps. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: Ben Parke To: mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 10:41 AM Subject: [mou] snow buntings in the twin cities I'm wondering if anyone has seen any snow buntings in Minneapolis or the western burbs recently. It's my bird of obsession for the winter and I have yet to run across any (or much any birds for that matter!) Ben -- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. -- This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Mailing list membership available on-line at http://moumn.org/subscribe.html. - To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with a subject of unsubscribe. -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080110/4758c016/attachment.html
[mou] Rough-legged Hawk - Black Dog Lake
Found a Rough-legged Hawk near the power plant at Black Dog Lake in Burnsville. I also found a Kestrel harrassing a Red-tailed Hawk along Hwy 7 just into McLeod County. It always surprises me how barren the countryside is during the winter. The only other birds I saw for a couple of hours of driving were Crows. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Airport Snowy Owl
The Bloomington count on 12/15 found two snowies at the airport, although only one was near the Cargo Road area. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: Chet Meyers To: mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 7:51 PM Subject: [mou] Airport Snowy Owl Miriam and I saw a snowy owl at the Mpls/St.Paul Airport at about 4:30 p.m. (1/1/08) on a UPS building just after you come through the first tunnel. However, its plumage looked different than the photo recently posted. Maybe there are two owls. Chet Meyers, Hennepin Cty. -- This mailing list is sponsored by the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union. Mailing list membership available on-line at http://moumn.org/subscribe.html. - To unsubscribe send a blank email to mou-net-request at moumn.org with a subject of unsubscribe. -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080101/de0677a5/attachment.html
[mou] Snowy Owl: Wabasha CBC
Yesterday's Wabasha CBC produced many good birds and with 58 species, probably a record number of species. Birding was slow away from the feeders and the river with its waterfowl and eagles. Interesting birds seen: Snowy Owl: A very white individual was seen on the river ice on the Mississippi north of the dam at the Wisconsin town of Alma. Directions: Go south on US 61 to CR24 (or CR30 map is unclear) just about a mile north of Kellogg. Cross the railroad and follow the road north to the first intersection and take CR24 east. When the road turns north take the first right at the sign to the campground (Pioneer?). Follow the road a couple of blocks to the frontage road along the river and head south perhaps a couple of blocks to the public water access parking lot. Follow the path on the dike for at least three quarters of a mile to just before the dam. Look through your scope to the north. The trip acorss the dike will probably be cold and windy and the the walk down from the parking lot is not for the unseady of foot (it looks like a toboggan run). And, of course the owl may not be visible when you get there. Looking north from the dam from the Alma side requires little to no hiking, but I have no idea if the line of sight is clear. We did try to see by hiking across a backwater from about a mile to the north. Be cautious, the ice on the river is not safe. And while the owl might have been quite a bit closer, it was not visible. Perhaps it had left. Redhead: on the river amoung thousands of ducks. Ring-neck Duck: best viewing south of dam at Alma. May be on either side of border in mid channel. Scaup: (Lesser?) female with Ring-neck Duck. Tufted Titmouse: at a feeder on Riverview Drive off of CR24. Pine Siskins: one large flock behind the high school at Wabasha. Pairs seen elsewhere. Record numbers: C. Mergansers (~800) C. Goldeneye (~700) Red-breasted Nuthatch: we found 9 and others found a few, but I do not know if the total beats the record of 13. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Hedboom Trail
I talked today with my brother-in-law who is in charge of plowing county roads around Floodwood. He checked out the Hedboom Trail for me and said that it is plowed about a mile in from the Floodwood side and hard packed ruts and passable beyond with some four inches of snow. Plowing on this road is maintained privately by the loggers in the woods. And, it does not appear that they have an incentive to plow all the way through like last year. He also reports that he has seen no owls along the roads he plows. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding around the metro
Monday: I stopped by the airport and found the Snowy Owl on the fence by the Fed-Ex overflow parking on the east side of the road after the second tunnel on Cargo Road. Saturday: During the Hastings CBC I found a Tufted Titmouse in Nininger Township on Pine Bend Trail. From Hwy 55 take the east intersection of Pine Bend Trail and go down the hill. The Titmouse is coming to a feeder at the bottom of the hill. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Floodwood/Meadowlands
Went out on Christmas morning for my annual bird drive through the woods and bogs of St. Louis County while my wife visited with her relatives. The weather was mild and the birds were at times scarce. While I saw few mammals, the number of deer (5) was the most I could remember seeing up there. I found no raptors or owls. My relatives who spend much of their time outdoors had seen many eagles (although not in the last week or so) and also no owls. All of the birds were expected. The most notable were a Northern Shrike, a Magpie (NE of Meadowlands), Pine Grosbeaks (at several locations), and Evening Grosbeaks (found along Blue Spruce Road with Pine Grosbeaks). Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Cedar Creek CBC
The 61st Cedar Creek Christmas Bird Count (in Anoka Isanti counties) was held on Sunday. twenty counters found 39 species (high 43 last year). Notable finds this year included the count's first Black-backed Woodpecker. A second one was seen a few days earlier. The pair are in Isanti County, but as they are not in a location that can be accessed by the public, the location will not be shared. Seven other species tied or were the highest recorded. Six Northern Shrikes tied last year's record. The other five species were all of the woodpecker species: Red-headed WP (29), Red-bellied WP (26), Downy WP (45), Hairy WP (30), Northern Flicker (5 tied), and Pileated Woodpecker (21). The Red-headed Woodpeckers (a specialty of this count) were very close to the precount prediction. Other northern species included Common Redpoll and Raven. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20071218/e7c8becf/attachment.html
[mou] Rough-legged Hawk: Fridley
A light morph Rough-legged Hawk was observed along I-694 at the top of the hill in Fridley this afternoon (Monday). A few minutes later a probable Northern Shrike flashed by at I-694 and Lexington. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] golden eagle- meadowlands
I just received a well described sighting of an immature Golden Eagle seen by a hunter in Meadowlands in St. Louis County on December 2nd. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Birding around
the most interesting bird of the week was a gray ghost, a male Northern Harrier. What was interesting was not that I saw one (it was the second one this week), but where I saw it. I observed it soaring above the Town Center shopping center in Eagan. I had assumed it was one of the local Red-tailed Hawks from the nearby interstate, but when it passed, I had to grab my binocs to check it out. After it crossed the parking lots, it descended to hunting levels over a nearby wetland. We have at least two Red-breasted Nuthatches visiting our feeders in Eagan. On Monday I checked out the Arbor Lakes in Maple Grove, which were notable for their lack of interesting birds. Besides the flocks of mostly Ring-billed Gulls and the Canada Geese, the only birds of interest were a flock of about thirty Hooded Mergansers on a pond north and east of Weaver Lake Road and Main Street. I got out of town twice this week for work, to Fairmount and to New Ulm. There were few birds around, excepting the non-native trash birds at the homesteads along the route. I did stop briefly at a Swan Lake WMA in Nicollet County and found a Kestrel, a small number of Tree Sparrows, and a large flock of blackbirds that appeared to be mostly, if not all, Red-winged Blackbirds. It was striking how little was around. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] bird proofing windows
David Sibley has come up with a simple, almost invisible, way to prevent birds from flying into your windows! see: http://sibleyguides.blogspot.com/2007/11/simple-method-for-bird-proofing-windows.html Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] [mnbird] CBC info
CBC infoFor info on the Christmas Bird Counts in Minnesota go to: http://moumn.org/CBC/ from there you can go to the calandar and see when the counts are. you can see the count circles location, find out who to contact, and find out what birds are seen where. NOTE: the calandar this year is incomplete and lacks information on counts whose compilers have not yet confirmed their dates. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: lfimmo To: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Saturday, November 17, 2007 6:21 PM Subject: [mnbird] CBC info Hello, Anyone out there have info on volunteering for the Christmas bird count in the Twin City area? A contact number? Thanks! Lois-Columbia Heights, MN -- ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20071117/5e124748/attachment.html
[mou] MRVAC auction thursday
Holiday Auction November 15 Where: Our annual fundraising silent and live Auction will be held at the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center 3815 American Blvd E Bloomington. When: Thursday November 15, 2007 6:00-9:00 pm. Sven Sundgaard, KARE 11's Meteorologist will start the auction bidding at 7:00 pm. Then MRVAC's very own auctioneer, Mark Lystig, will take over to offer a wonderful variety of items to the highest bidder! If you are shy, there is a silent auction. Come get some of your shopping done early and have fun doing it. This is MRVAC's annual fundraising event held to raise monies for environmental education and conservation. Funds raised will be used to purchase 35 pairs of quality waterproof binoculars, two spotting scopes and tripods, field guides (in both English and Spanish) and bird song CDs for students to use while at the Refuge. Here is a preview of some donated auction items: Eagle Optics donated a Vortex Skyline 20-60x80 Angled Spotting Scope (Waterproof) and a Vortex Pro GT Tripod Kit (suggested retail price $730). Check it out at www.eagleoptics.com National Camera Exchange continues to support MRVAC and Audubon by donating a pair of Nikon 8x40 Action binoculars, list price $108.95. Thank you National Camera! Classic Rosewood B B in Hastings donated a one- night stay for two, complete with a three-course breakfast and a simple supper. High bidder gets to stay in a suite with a double whirlpool and a wood-burning fireplace! Check out www.classicrosewood.com. Bird with Bob! Birder extraordinaire Bob Janssen, one of the best personnel guides in Minnesota, has once again generously donated a morning field trip for six next spring. Minnesota Sharp-tailed Grouse Society is donating a personalized tour for four next spring that starts off in a blind on a Sharp-tailed Grouse lek followed by a tour of the area to learn about Sharpies. Bird houses and feeders donated by the All Seasons Wild Bird Store: Barred Owl house , Stained Glass type weather vane stake for the garden- G.B. Heron and a Varicraft Birch Log look seed feeder Two tickets for a play at the Old Log Theater. Set on Lake Minnetonka the Old Log has rustic charm, spacious accommodations, and is one of the most popular theaters in the country. PLUS: Cookies, bars, breads, a bread baking lesson, handcrafts, jams, books, wine, prints, and much more. Duck Stamps will also be available for purchase. We hope to see you there, Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20071113/f74a1297/attachment-0001.html
[mou] Birding about the metro
Driving into a parking lot in Eagan this morning I scared up a first year Snow Bunting. Great habitat: asphalt. I always wonder about a single bird that is typically a flocking bird. Why is it on its own? It was quite skittish. Will it survive to make it a reunion with its kind? This morning I saw the Red-breasted Nuthatch at the feeder that has been around for about a month. On our lake we had a pair of Wigeons. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Stan Tekiela at MRVAC on thursday
You are invited to the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter meeting this Thursday (10/25). Please, note the location is different from our home of recent years. Stan Tekiela, award winning author, naturalist, columnist, wildlife photographer and radio personality will be speaking on Uncommon Facts About Common Birds. The meeting starts at 7pm with a social time and the session starts at 7:30. Our meetings are free and open to the public. Stan Tekiela has written 110 books in the last 20 years including about 7 field guides on Minnesota. He recently published an article in the ABA's Birding magazine that included excelant pictures of the agressive Common Loon. He has been a naturalist for over 20 years and travels all over the country studying and photographing nature. Besides being an accomplished photographer and author, he is a captivating speaker that is greatly in demand. We will be meeting at The Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is located at 10715 Zenith Ave S in Bloomington, south of Old Shakopee Road just west of Xerxes Ave. To get there take the I-35w 98th Street exit in Bloomington. Further details available at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/program.doc If you have any questions, call me at 612-978-3993. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN MRVAC Program Chair sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Snow Goose - Locke Park (Anoka County)
I can not see enough detail and it may be larger than it appears, but from the pictures this looks like a Ross's Goose to me. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: Jason Bolish jbolish5...@comcast.net To: Minnesota MOU mou-net at moumn.org Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2007 9:50 AM Subject: [mou] Snow Goose - Locke Park (Anoka County) Right now there is a Snow Goose with a flock of Canada Geese in the parking lot on the North side of Columbia Arena in Fridley (University Ave 69th Ave.) I noticed a bright white Goose in with the Canada's when they were landing. With the GWF Goose showing up in Eden Prairie this week with Canadas, who knows what will be next. There are some pics with comparison to Canada Goose here: http://www.bolioshot.com/photography/images/sng1rc1017.jpg http://www.bolioshot.com/photography/images/sng2rc1017.jpg http://www.bolioshot.com/photography/images/sng3rc1017.jpg
[mou] Duluth: Sabines Gull, Whimberel, scoters (long)
this birdy day. Today I did not leave home. Birds in the backyard included a Tennessee Warbler, a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Belted Kingfisher, and a one eyed House Finch. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Henslow's Sparrow: Mendota Heights
With a brief respite while running around, I found a weedy lot behind the motel NE of I-494 and Pilot Knob. Lots of sparrow type birds were flitting about and bathing in the puddles. I ended up not having enough time to get a good look at all the birds. The largest flocks were House Finches and House Sparrows. Most of the birds would flush and fly out of sight, but I did get good looks at several Palm Warblers. The one bird I was able to get a good line on was an adult plummage Henslow's. This is the first time that I have ever seen a Henslow's which was not on territory. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] car pooling to Duluth for Saturday
I am going on the pelagic trip on Saturday morning in Duluth. Anybody want to share driving from the cities? Steve Weston
[mou] birding around the metro
the bird of day (Thursday) that propelled me to the keyboard was a grebe seen at 70mph from I-94 on one of the ponds north of the freeway just west of the Albertville exit. This was a large dark grebe with a long slender neck that was white on the front and dark on the sides. It appeared to be a Western Grebe, although I could not elliminate a winter plumage Red-necked Grebe. I regret that I was not able to go back and view the bird at 0 mph. I also saw two groups of three swans on ponds in the area. One was in Dayton along Brockton Lane near 147th Avenue. The other was in Maple Grove in a pond on the south side of I-94. I assume both groups were Trumpeters. Recently I observed a common grey squirrel in downtown Minneapolis right outside the IDS building. There are no trees for blocks. Three weeks ago, by the Pillsbury building a couple of blocks away I found two window killed birds in the street: a Black and White Warbler and an Ovenbird. Neither would I expect to find downtown. My best recent yard bird was a couple of female Purple Finches (9/22 9/23). Last night (10/3) I had a small bat cruising the cul d sac. I wish I was better at ID'ing them in flight. I figured it to be one of the small browns. Its erratic flight did not seem as jerky as the littlest bats. I have also found a Nashville Warbler. More interesting was the four Nashville Warblers I found in a large weedy field in Maple Grove. While I have found them in the golden rod in this field in a previous fall migration, this is not a bird that I think of as a grassland bird. In Scott County on 9/27 I found several Franklin Gulls flying over the fields NW of New Prague. The sewerage ponds north of New Prague are hosting a large flock of Canada Geese. As in previous years, there were a few Cackling Geese, although not as many as last year. I have not been seeing many migrating thrushes or sparrows. I am observing lots of Cooper's Hawks. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Al Batt speaking at MRVAC on Thursday
You are invited to the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter meeting this Thursday (9/27). Please, note the location is different from our home of recent years. Al Batt, Minnesota's resident humorist birder will be speaking at on Stories from a life gone to the birds. The meeting starts at 7pm with a social time and the session starts at 7:30. Our meetings are free and open to the public. Al Batt of rural Hartland, Minnesota is a writer, speaker, storyteller and humorist. Al writes five weekly humor and nature columns for many newspapers, and does a show three times per week about nature on a number of radio stations. He writes a number of popular cartoon strips that are syndicated nationally and has written jokes for a former President of the United States. He is a contributing author to the book, Minnesota Bird Watching. He speaks at various festivals, conferences, and conventions all over the United States. He has been named Birder of the Year by WildBird Magazine and received the Ed Franey Conservation Media Award from the Izaak Walton League. Al leads tours to Alaska, disappears into the woods whenever he is able, usually on the pretext that he is taking the dog for a walk, We will be meeting at The Minnesota Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship is located at 10715 Zenith Ave S in Bloomington, south of Old Shakopee Road just west of Xerxes Ave. To get there take the I-35w 98th Street exit in Bloomington. If you have any questions, call me at 612-978-3993. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN MRVAC Program Chair sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] [mnbird] help
Hi Scott, thanks for taking the giant step of sharing your sightings with us. i know it can take a good dose of bravery to share, especially the sightings that would be out of the ordinary or of uncertain ID. but, I am sure that good birds get missed every year because more timid souls are unable to find the courage to take the risk of exposure of imperfect ID skills. Do not be afraid to share your tenuous ID's. Some things to remember: Always identify where you are seeing the birds. A good bird in one part of the state can be an ordinary bird at the same time of year in another part of the state. For example, the Lark Bunting is much more likely to be found in the western edge of the state than in the Metro. That is not to say that we haven't seen it here. I remember see one by the Minneapolis Airport in the fall several years ago that was seen by many. A report of a Lark Bunting is incomplete information. If you look in the field guide, you will see that the Lark Bunting can be seen in two completely unsimilar plumages. A description of the bird will help not only your ID and observation skill development, it will also help us to suggest alternative ID's that you may or may not have considered. And, while finding a Lark Bunting in the metro area now may be highly unlikely, finding a male breeding plumage Lark Bunting may be beyond the relm of possibilities as the Lark bunting may molt out of breeking plumage before they leave their nesting area. (I do not know the timing of their molt.) A word of encouragement. A probable Green-breasted Mango Hummingbird is being seen in Wisconsin at this time. There are very few records of this bird in the United States and the ID is still uncertain. This bird has been around for several weeks and only when an experienced birder arrived to view the unknown hummingbird was the ID proposed. We would have all been deprived of the opportunity to view this bird in the US, if the homeowner had been afraid to share this find. Every birder should realize that we have an incomprable resourse unavailable in any other state. Check out the maps at the MOU website. They tell where in the state any bird that has been found has been seen. http://moumn.org/cgi-bin/occurrence.pl?group=ducksseason=all again, thanks for sharing. I will send you more comments on the birds you found when I get back home tonight. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net - Original Message - From: scott henkemeyer To: mnbird at lists.mnbird.net Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 5:06 PM Subject: [mnbird] help The following birds were seen near st.cloud.they were I.D by sight only.problem is if the birds were ID correctly they were all out of their range. great kiskadee dark eyed junco franklins gull lark bunting any comments would be a great help -- Building a website is a piece of cake. Yahoo! Small Business gives you all the tools to get online. -- ___ mnbird mailing list mnbird at lists.mnbird.net http://lists.mnbird.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mnbird -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20070920/f35bbd49/attachment.html
[mou] birding south of the cities
On this post yesterday, I gave barely a hint of where Sand Point is. Sand point is penisula in the Mississippi River that is part of Frontenac State Park, but seperate from the main part of the park. It is accessed off of US 61 and CR2 (the Villa Maria turnoff) south of Frontenac Station. Steve Weston
[mou] MRVAC Trumpeter for Sept/Oct
The September/October issue of the Minnesota River Valley Audubon Chapter Trumpeter Newsletter has been posted on our website and can be read at: http://home.comcast.net/~mrvac/Sept2007.doc . Our speaker on Thursday, September 27th will be Al Batt, noted birder, master story-teller, and professional humorist. The program will be: Stories from a life gone to the birds. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Hawk ID
I thought the same. It has a great Coopers profile, long and lean, except that the wings are too long and the tail isn't long enough. Steve Weston - Original Message - From: birderguy at comcast.net To: John Mikes ; MOUnet Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 3:59 PM Subject: Re: [mou] Hawk ID Not sure on the size but it looks like an hatch year Cooper's to me.. The yellow eye puts it as a hatch year bird, the head is looking more Coop's to me.. -- Andrew Longtin Corcoran (Hennepin Co.) Minnesota Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory Supporter http://www.hawkridge.org/ Minnesota Ornithologists Union Member http://moumn.org/ My MOU Lists http://www.moumn.org/cgi-bin/countychecklist.pl?user=AndrewLongtin Cornell Lab Member (PFW) http://birds.cornell.edu/pfw/ BirderGuy at comcast.net See My WEB pages at: www.birderguy.com NO SPAM NEEDED HERE PLEASE! Support a Soldier: http://www.operationminnesotanice.com/contact.html -- Original message -- From: John Mikes bluers at comcast.net Yes, me and my bird ignorance are back. I saw a hawk at Carlos Avery that I (very tentatively) IDed as an immature broadwing. I would appreciate it if someone might look at this pic and critique my efforts. Thanks in advance for any help. John Mikes Weekend Shooter -- -- next part -- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20070905/e1726f0f/attachment.html
[mou] State Fair
today I volunteered for the MOU booth at the state fair. It was a lot of fun and we had several people who were really interested in birding. I saw almost no birds, a couple of rock pigeons, a couple of common yellow-throats at the moose pond, and a chimney swift heard overhead. The most interesting bird was seen as I was leaving. As I walked out the main gate on Snelling Avenue, a Coopers Hawk flew into the tree on Snelling right by gate above the throngs of people waiting to cross the street. I wouldn't be surprised it I was the only one of several hundred within a couple of hundred feet who saw the hawk. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] historical data
While working the state fair booth of the Minnesota Ornithologists Union, I was approached by man who twenty years ago or more kept a birding diary for years. He was wondering if someone might be interested in this data. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] birding south of the cities
The hummingbirds have really been sucking the feeders dry this week, despite the abundance of jewelweed around the house. After two years of trying to get cardinal flowers planted in the back yard, one has volunteered in the front yard. I am not sure how it got there. Yesterday morning I watched a chickadee fold his head under his wing and go to sleep, oblivious to me reading just 15 feet away. I was surprised that it did this sitting completely exposed on the edge of my birdbath. Today (Sunday) I stopped by the sod farms in Empire township. there were no shorebirds on the Jirik farm fields, but the Braun fields west of there by the red house had a couple of pools with hundreds of shorebirds. Most flew further back out of view, but I was still able to count nine species including Black-bellied Plover, Stilt, Pectoral, Bairds, Least, and Semi-palmated Sandpiper, and a Dowitcher. A walk out to Sand Point turned up ten species of warbler, including a Cerulean. Yesterday I found a beautiful hawk moth in the yard with a wingspan of about three inches: a White-lined Sphinx moth (Hyles lineata) (formerly called a Striped Mourning Sphinx moth (Celerio lineata). Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] birds around the metro
On Friday I came home and noticed a bird in a tree next to the drive way. Walking close I watched a Red-breasted Nuthatch on the elm tree. It seemed totally unconcerned that I was standing about five feet away. On Saturday I got out for a couple of hours checking out some small wood lots adjacent to farm fields in Rosemount. It was quiet and I found few birds. The trees were thick with fruit. I have never seen the black cherries as plentiful. I found plum trees so thick with fruit that even the bugs had failed to get to them all. I collected a handful of perfect little plums, sweet and untouched by pests. I brought them home to eat later. I also got out to the sod farms in Empire (Jirik and Braun on CR66). I didn't find as much as Jim Mattsson, who did a good job of describing what was out there. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
[mou] Miesville Ravine
Black-throated Blue Warbler Connecticut Warbler Cerulean Warbler Philadelphia Vireo Yellow-bellied Flycatcher On a beautiful sunny Sunday MRVAC sponsored a field trip to Miesville Ravine Park in south east Dakota County. This Dakota County park actually spills across the road into Goodhue county. While the conditions were delightful for a walk in the woods, the wind made birding difficult. I don't think I have ever been on a field trip where so many birds were missed by the bulk of the people. We ended finding 58 species including 14 species of warblers. While several uncommon birds were found, some common birds were not found and some were found in surprisingly low numbers. The fourteen species of Warblers included a Black-throated Blue Warbler seen on the road probably picking grit, a Cerulean Warbler up near the meadow close to where we had found a couple of them in June, and a killer Blackburnian male in full sunrise splender in the top of a tree. A few of us had the best look at a Connecticut Warbler that I have ever found, when it came out to check us out at about 15 feet close to the raging Canon River. The most common warbler was the Black and White. Whenever we found warblers we found one or two of them. Next most common were probably Redstarts and then Canada Warblers. We found only one Nashville Warbler and no Tennesees. We had all of the likely Vireos including a Philadelphia that was seen by all. Red-eyes were one of the most common birds of the day and most got great looks at Yellowthroated. We also found most of the flycatchers including a Yellow-bellied. A couple of Trails flycatchers were silent and not divisible into specie. We had a Red-breasted Nuthatch not in its preferred habitat of conifers, but in the deciduous woods. Lastly we had flushed a Ruffed Grouse. What didn't we find? We found almost no sparrows, only a single pair of Song Sparrows. I expected them to be all over the place. Hummingbirds were found all through the park with no concentration in the Jewelweeds at the meadow. The flowers were plentiful, but the hummers were sparce. Most trips I find cuckoos here, but not on this trip. Non-birds: Painted Lady, Monarch, and some blue butterflies. There weren't many butterflies. There were many interesting insects including a walking stick and a shield bug feeding on a cut worm. We had several people interested in plants and found fruiting Jack-in-the-Pulpit and Trillium, as well as Fancy Orchis orchids. Mushrooms were plentiful and included a couple of large Puffballs smashed on the trail, an incrdible coral mushroom, and a blue-staining bollette. The bollette had bright yellow flesh that turned within seconds to bright blue when exposed to air. Neat! Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
