Birded parts of Sac, Ida, Pocahontas and Calhoun counties today. Impressions are that most of the sparrow species have moved north. I had one area that produced migratory species - Harris, White-crowned, White-throated and Clay-colored Sparrows. Last week they were common in Ida and Sac counties. Grebes and Loons are nonexistent as only 2 Pied-billed Grebes were seen. This the only species I have for this part of the state. Very unusual! The same can be said about terns as I saw just 2 Caspian Terns for the day. These are the only terns I have seen all year. Shorebirds were few and present in large numbers only at Black Hawk lake in Sac county.
On the positive side I found 95 species. Warblers were average in number and species for western Iowa at this time of year, with 10 total. Duck species were good with large numbers of Blue-winged Teal and Northern Shoveler. Hooded Mergansers, American Wigeon and Green-winged Teal were present at several locations. An interesting sighting was an adult Bald Eagle flying over Farmland in Pocahontas county. Good birding Pete --- 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]
