Following Jim Forde's directions for the Smith's Longspurs, I made several passes by the spot described by Jim. On the second pass a Kestrel came in and started hovering along the fence line. Approx. 15-20 Longspurs flushed and circled overhead before heading further out. They were Smith's Longspurs and I am assuming they are part of the bunch seen by Jim. To add to Jim's directions they flushed close to the east-west fence line and 20 yards out from the road on the w. side of Wapello Ave. A Western Meadowlark was singing close by along 660 St.
On Monday and today there were 5-10 Tree Swallows over the slough at Horseshoe Bend. On Tuesday there were 3 Red-breasted Mergansers (2 males, 1 female) at Spring Lake Quarry S. of Burlington along with several pairs of Hooded Mergansers and 1 paired up Common Merganser duo. Chuck Fuller Burlington --- 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/PayDues.aspx. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
