I led a St. Paul Audubon Birding By Ear field trip to Afton State Park this morning, having scouted it yesterday morning. I think THE Hooded Warbler has moved. Yesterday, at 9:00 and again at 11:30, it was singing constantly (the primary song) at the first main overlook north of the big terminal parking lot. Today, we did not hear it there—either on our way out or on our way in—but we did hear a HOWA singing the same song almost a mile north, in the northeastern corner of the park. We took the North River Trail (along the St. Croix), then the left turn and switchback that goes up a long hill to the northern boundary of the park. We first heard the HOWA as we approached the bend to the east, then found it singing near the trail’s bend at the park border. (We did not see it.) On the trail maps, the mileage indicator 0.6 is printed near this location.
Yesterday and today we did not hear any Prothonotary Warblers in the promising area of flooded silver maples where Trout Brook flows under the trail bridge, but yesterday I SAW two Prothonotaries (or maybe one) there. One of them had a caterpillar in its beak, and it flew toward the outer silver maples. A Henslow’s Sparrow is singing on territory close to the trail between the two “prairie loops” in the north-central part of the park. On the map, there is a trail junction with symbols for a shelter and a toilet. From this junction, go west on the trail segment that is 0.2 miles long. You will probably hear the HESP as soon as you leave that junction. It is on the right (north) side of the trail, near the first pole with a blue diamond marker. Several sedge wrens are also in the area. Other grassland birds are scarce in this area, with a few very distant Bobolinks and Eastern Meadowlarks. Julian St. Paul ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
