There was a Minn Birding Weekend (MBW) on May 5-6 in Polk County,
mostly in the Glacial Ridge area SE of Crookston. Our list included a
good variety of species (129 total), although we found nothing of
particular out of the ordinary, and many migrant passerines had not
yet arrived (e.g., we detected only 5 warbler species, including only
~30 total individuals). But we did manage 15 shorebird species (>90%
of the individuals were Lesser Yellowlegs, Marbled Godwits, and
Wilson's Phalaropes), with many of these at some wetlands with
mudflats along U.S. Highway 2 east of Crookston.
The best and largest of these was not visible from the highway, but it
is accessible via short two-track roads leading south off Hwy 2: one
of these leads to the E side of the wetland at mile marker 41, and the
other to the W side at mile marker 40. (Mile 41 is 2 mi W of the MN
Hwy 32 junction, and mile 40 is 3 mi W of Hwy 32.)
The Crookston sewage ponds also had long stretches of mudflats along
the edges of the ponds, but the number and variety of shorebirds here
were surprisingly limited (5 species). A complete summary of this MBW
will be included in a day or two at the MBWbirds.com website.
Kim R Eckert
ecker...@gmail.com
http://www.mbwbirds.com
Note: This is the 27th season of MBWs, which are offered in
association with the MOU (we were originally known as MOU Birding
Weekends). The MOU annually receives a portion of MBW receipts in
return for these postings of trip reports and updates on mou-net.
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