I was joined today by Eugene and Eloise Armstrong for my annual foray of birding on my birthday. It was a beautiful day and we took a different loop south and east covering areas in Clay, O'Brien, Buena Vista and Palo Alto counties. Last year we concentrated on Dickinson county and had 111 species. This year we ended the day with 114 species in about the same amount of area covered without considering the geopolitical distinctions of the four counties and their artificial boundaries.
The biggest miss was American Coot and Eugene was both incensed and amused by that. There was probably one looking back at us from behind some cattails in one of the many wetlands we visited. We had two good encounters with mixed flocks of warblers, one along the Little Sioux River in Clay county and the other along the Little Sioux River in Buena Vista county. I think the warblers like the river! Highlights were Gray Partridge that flushed as we surveyed the sod farm for Buff-breasted Sandpipers and compensated for not finding them, a Snowy Egret, 5 Semi-palmated Plovers in the dry mudflat at Dan Green Slough at the end of the day, 3 Stilt Sandpipers and a Red-necked Phalarope at the edge of a pond in Dewey's Pasture, more than 25 Red-headed Woodpeckers (Hooray for their good-looking success this year!!), 2 Black-throated Green, a Blackburnian, a Bay-breasted and 5 Canada Warblers, a Clay-colored Sparrow, an early Lincoln's Sparrow, a Grasshopper Sparrow, and a Blue Grosbeak that sang to make sure we saw where he had moved to. As I wind down at the end of the anniversary of my birth day, I am thankful for good friends who share my interest in birds and for the many good habitats in this part of the state that have been protected and conserved for use by our avian brethren. The canary in this coal mine is getting along okay! May the birds be with you! Lee A. Schoenewe Spencer --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
