A beautiful but windy day in SE Iowa today (Des Moines, Van Buren and Lee Cos.) produced 86 species of birds, the highlights of which were:
Des Moines County: Peregrine falcon (1) atop the Great River Bridge in Burlington at dawn Horned grebes (4-5) at the Sunset Pond west of West Burlington Great horned owl (1) sitting on a nest at Starr's Cave north of Burlington (unfortunately, not in a Breeding Bird block) Pileated woodpecker (1) calling from bottomland woods along Sullivan Slough Road south of Burlington Horned grebes (5) in alternate plumage at the Cessford Quarry south of Burlington Lee County: Rusty blackbirds (2) in a wetland marsh just north of Wever, IA along US Hwy. 61 Eurasian tree sparrows (5-6) near a feeder along 353rd Street in the Green Bay Bottoms near Wever, IA Vesper sparrow (1) along Belfast Road southwest of Argyle Horned grebe (1) in the Mississippi River near the Amtrak Station in Fort Madison Pine warbler (1) at Shimek State Forest/Donnellson Unit (in the white pines as reported earlier by Chuck Fuller) Northern goshawk (1), flying over the Donnellson Unit of Shimek State Forest (it temporarily drew us away from our search for the PIWA) Red-headed woodpeckers (2) near the bridge in the Donnellson Unit of Shimek State Forest Van Buren County: Bonaparte's gulls (2) at Lake Sugema near Lacey-Keosauqua State Park Field sparrow (1) near White Road in eastern Van Buren County Louisiana waterthrush (1) near the Ely Ford of the Des Moines River in Lacey-Keosauqua State Park Yellow-rumped warblers (4-5) at Ely Ford in Lacey-Keosauqua State Park Twenty species of waterfowl were still around with four of the five geese (no Greater white-fronteds), including one Cackling goose, one Ross's goose, one Hooded merganser and one female Red-breasted merganser. John Rutenbeck, Burlington Chuck Fuller, Burlington Jim Fuller, Iowa City --- 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]
