Found the OS Flycatcher on the southwest side of Pleasant Lake in Fairfield on
a nice morning walk. I was looking at 7 Scaup on the lake and 4 Red-breasted
Nuthatches in the small pines when I heard what I first thought was a charged
up Phoebe. I walked in that direction and it flew into the upper branches of a
fairly tall bare tree right over my head, singing without pauses for a couple
of minutes. Had the short, markedly forked tail with no pumping, bigger body
than the Phoebe, etc.
Back towards Bonnifield Lake I saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Brown Thrasher, and
pair of Field Sparrows, all new for me this year.
This afternoon we went for a spin between Packwood and Vedic City in Jefferson
County looking for Longspurs, esp Smith's. No luck there, but we did find three
Vesper Sparrows, numerous Horned Larks, three awesome Pheasants, two
gophers/ground squirrels/stripped-backed gophers(we weren't sure exactly what
they were, I'll have to look that up) and, and, and 3 Western Meadowlarks. I
have been looking/listening hard for the W Meadowlark for three years, since
arriving in IA, so that's a biggie. They were within a few hundreds yards of
each other so I assume it's a colony or something. They were about a half mile
east of Packwood Rd on 130th--one was at the intersection of 130th and Gingko.
Yippy yippy yay.
Tim
Fairfield
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Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use:
Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0
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