At Cone Marsh today, Monday, 7 American Pipits and 17 Wilson's Snipes south of 220th, a couple Brewer's Blackbirds and flock of 150 somethings that I think were longspurs. Looking from the dyke they went down like they were going to land out in the middle of some pond scum--a few may have actually made contact-- but lifted back up, circled a bit and exited to the north. Going to Hwy 22 on Atwood from Cone I saw a longspur-size bird with an orange breast. I think if I had noticed white in the tail I wood call Smith's but I forgot to pay attention to the tail in the few seconds before it got blocked by the roof of the car as I was looking out the window. I can't imagine what it could have been except a Smith's--definitely not a blue bird. According to Sibley's it"s late for the orange color but...
Saw a Bald Eagle north of the first waterworks reservoir(Bonnifield Lake)--My first one in FF proper. On the Miss at Wapello--nothing there and nothing along Concord or Nahant Marsh. I hadn't seen the Loggerhead Shrike out at Iris and 170th in FF for about three weeks so when I saw a shrike there two days ago, after seeing quite a few posts for Northerns, I got a little alert. But alas, only a L. I followed him around for an hour and he got quite use to me and my scope as he nabbed grasshoppers, eating some and impaling the rest on tree branches. At one point I was about 15 yards from the small tree he was in--point blank with the scope. I think I figured out what has been confusing me on the difference between the L and N--when I googled pics of them, about half of the pics for N are really L. There is field nearby that consistently has a hundred or so Horned Larks and am hoping some Smith's get drawn into this. The pipits and snipes and shrike were 'closest' and 'best looks ever', so more ticks for the list. The pipits were lifer for the guy with me. Tim Fairfield --- 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]
