Iowa RBA birds reported from Saturday, September 29, through Friday, October 5, 2012:
-RARE Species Mentioned (documentation required) ACCIDENTAL: **ARCTIC TERN** CASUAL: *SPRAGUES PIPIT* -Additional Species Mentioned Yellow Rail American Avocet Sabines Gull Black-throated Blue Warbler SMITHS LONGSPUR (Record early) Spotted Towhee Nelsons Sparrow ***NEW!**************** For more up to date information on rarities in the state of Iowa, visit the Iowa Birds and Birding website at www.iowabirds.org. A list of rare birds is placed on the home page with the location of the rarity and most recent date of observation. This is updated several times per day. This is a handy tool for anyone making a birding trip or otherwise into the state of Iowa. ************************ Species in ALL CAPS can be classified into three categories in the state of Iowa: 1) UNRECORDED, ACCIDENTAL or Casual; 2) A RARE but regular species; or 3) record early or late date or unusual for time of year. Any species with three asterisks (***species***) would represent a first record for Iowa (UNRECORDED) and should be observed and documented very carefully. Species with two asterisks (**species**) are species that are either ACCIDENTAL, CASUAL, or a rare regular species, and should also be documented. Species with one asterisk (*species) should have some details of the observation provided. EAST: JOHNSON COUNTY: A BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER was seen on the west side of S.T. Morrison Park on the 2nd. NELSONS SPARROWS and a YELLOW RAIL were seen near the Sugar Bottom campground beach on the 5th. NORTHEAST: BLACK HAWK COUNTY: 2 NELSONS SPARROWS were seen at Prairie Lakes on the 30th. One was relocated on the 2nd. SOUTHEAST: LOUISA COUNTY: A NELSONS SPARROW was seen at Horseshoe Bend on the 3rd. SOUTH CENTRAL: APPANOOSE COUNTY: A NELSONS SPARROW was seen at Buckshot Lake at Sedan Bottoms on the 29th. CENTRAL: GREENE COUNTY: 2 NELSONS SPARROWS and 4 early SMITHS LONGSPURS were seen at Snake Creek Marsh on the 28th. POLK COUNTY: A YELLOW RAIL was seen at Errington Marsh on the 29th. Specifically, the bird was seen along the NORTH side of 110th Avenue NE, about 80 yards west of the intersection, there is a point where a "picked"soybean field meets a weedy field. At this point, we walked into the weedy field SOUTH of 110th and walked south-southwest toward some cattails. The ARCTIC TERN was seen again at Sandpiper beach, and was last seen on the 30th. A YELLOW RAIL and a SPOTTED TOWHEE were seen at Sandpiper RA at Saylorville on the 30th. The SPOTTED TOWHEE was last seen on the 5th. 2 SABINES GULLS were seen at Saylorville on the 1st. A BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER was seen in a Johnston yard on the 2nd. A SPOTTED TOWHEE was seen at Des Moines Waterworks Park on the 2nd. JASPER COUNTY: 8 AMERICAN AVOCETS were seen at Rock Creek SP on the 1st. BOONE COUNTY: 8 NELSONS SPARROWS were seen at Harrier Marsh on the 3rd. NORTHWEST: KOSSUTH COUNTY: 3 SPRAGUES PIPITS were seen in a mowed WPA at the intersection of B14 and 115th Ave in Kossuth Co, west of Union Slough NWR and north of Burt on the 3rd. They were seen again on the 4th. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The next scheduled report of the Iowa Rare Bird Alert will be for Friday, October 12, 2012 for the weekly report. Should any UNRECORDED or ACCIDENTAL species be reported, an update will be posted. John Bissell Grimes, Iowa [email protected] 515-423-6108 --- 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]
