eBird regional volunteer is still evaluating the provided details, but my wife and I spotted what we believe to be a Louisiana Waterthrush this evening at Oakdale Nature Preserve on Hadley Avenue this evening.
I can say beyond a doubt it was a Waterthrush. Field marks of bright pinkish legs and a consistent clean white supercillium pointed me towards Louisiana after reviewing the Sibley guide at home. No pictures as I was just on a walk with my wife. Viewing was done from 15' for 7 minutes and afforded great looks with my new 10x50 Vortex Razor HD binoculars. The bird was hanging out near a standing pool of water just off the paved trail about 100yards or so behind and past the basketball court at the back of the park. I have birded this park for over two years at all times of the year and never seen this species or the Northern in the park. It would appear this is one of the earliest on record for this species in this area. Also of note, I did some eBird data research and find sightings for Louisiana in WI and IA in the last five days or so, but zero for Northern in any of the border states yet this year, lending at least some viability to it being a Louisiana that perhaps got a bit over zealous in travel plans. Also of note this evening... 7 Sapsucker 6 Hermit Thrush 5 Eastern Phoebe 3 Yellow-rumped warbler ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
