On Tony Hertzel's suggestion, I first went to Big Bluestem SNA south of 10 between Hawley and Glyndon. I had a great time there. The weather was perfect. I hadn't been to prairie habitats for quite some time. Wilson's snipes and upland sandpipers were very common and very active in aerial displays. A marbled godwit displayed overhead and passed on. I don't think I've ever seen such a density of bobolinks, noisy enough to obscure other species. Bobolinks are one of my favorites and I don't see them often in my home Hubbard County.
Though I wear hearing aids, I didn't hear any grasshopper or LeConte''s sparrows. Maybe I just can't get them anymore (also golden-winged warblers are tough unless they're sitting on my shoulders). Savannahs, though were no problem. Plenty of them. Fun for me was finding both willow and alder flycatchers in this area. The former were in very low willows. I also found lark sparrow, yellow-headed blackbird and heard a sora rail. I moved on late in the morning to Felton Prairie but created the cardinal sin: not bringing Kim Eckert's guide. I got very confused following information from the web and ended up frustrated, trying to find good birding locations. Many of the SNA's are not well marked. I did find western kingbirds and nesting harriers but not the longspurs, shrikes, etc. known to that area. I did finally fins a grasshopper sparrow, but only because it was on a wire carrying food for nestlings. On returning I checked Kim's guide and realized where I should have gone. The time of day was problematic, however. Eleven o'clock on is tough for singing birds. Next time I'll be better prepared. Thanks again for the many responses to my inquiry. Good luck to the next visitors. Marshall Howe ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
