I want to thank everybody who gave us insight on places to bird this weekend in Cass County.
Some highlights of the weekend included: Stilt Sandpiper - Along County Road 1 in Cass County and also at the Aikley Sewage Ponds in Hubbard County, a lifer, the first time at least. Solitary Sandpiper - many Least Sandpiper - Aikley Sewage Ponds Greater Yellowlegs - 4 at the Walker Sewage Ponds (MN lifer) Bonaparte's Gull - 220 on the upper Walker Sewage Ponds Wilson's Phalarope - 5 at the Walker Sewage Ponds (MN Lifer) Common Goldeneye - About 12 or so at the Walker Sewage Ponds Common Merganser - 5 in Aikley Sewage Ponds Forster's Tern - More than 10, hunting in Leech Lake A wave of warblers also went through while we were at the Aikley Sewage Ponds. Fall warblers are a bit more difficult for us, but we managed to identify quite a few: Connecticut Warbler - 1 Nashville Warbler - 1 American Redstart - 1 male, 2 females Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1 Black-throated Green Warbler - 1 Yellow Warbler - 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2 - Not unusual or a warbler, but first of the year for me. Interestingly, there was also a flock of Waxwings present where the warblers were, and they would chase after the Waxwings any time they flew out of the trees. Sometimes two warblers would even go after one waxwing. It was interesting behavior I have not seen before. Last note, I swung by Purgatory Creek today and saw a smaller grebe species on the opposite side of the lake. It was small but with both bad light and distance I could not tell if it was a Pied-billed Grebe or something like a Eared/Horned. Ben Harste Bloomington, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
