At 8pm and 11pm I flushed a Short-eared Owl from the roadside ditches along Apple Avenue just north of Rice Lake Wildlife Area (Lake Mills, Winnebago County). Obviously the habitat wasn't ideal, but it was likely getting bogged down by the rain. There are some open areas on the south end of Rice Lake that are more ideal for Short-eared Owls.
There has been a big push of First-of-Year (FOY) species since Saturday in the north-central sixth of the state. The list is as follows: Blue-winged Teal, Canvasback, Redhead, Bufflehead, Hooded Merganser, American White Pelican, Turkey Vulture, Great Blue Heron, Sandhill Crane, Lesser Yellowlegs, Pectoral Sandpiper, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Northern Flicker, Loggerhead Shrike, Tree Swallow, Brown Creeper (from last week), and Fox Sparrow. Birds that are still here and/or moving through include Rough-legged Hawk, dark-morph (or Harlan's?) Red-tailed Hawk (2), Golden Eagle (1 juvenile, have photos), Northern Shrike (1), Lapland Longspur, Rusty Blackbird, Purple Finch, and, of course, plenty of Dark-eyed Juncos. The majority of the geese seem to have left on Sunday. Good birding! Alyssa DeRubeis Lake Mills, Winnebago Co. --- 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]. Unsubscribe at http://iowabirds.org/Reporting/Listserv.aspx.
