Some Highlights for me: Black-Crowned Night Heron; Green-Wing Teal; Common Snipe; many different ducks smack dab in the middle of the metro;
Before this year, I had never really seen a Fox Sparrow; now, they're everywhere! I should probably edit this list, but in the Spirit of Dan T., I'll list everything, including the cardinals (I'm originally from Utah, and we don't have cardinals there). I hope the "counts" aren't too vague. Veteran's Park (Richfield) Common Snipe (2) Eastern Phoebe (2) Fox Sparrow (many) Tree Sparrow (many) Song Sparrow (many) Goldfinch (a few) Chickadee (many) Cardinal (many) Unidentified large-ish accipiter: probably a Cooper's hawk or N. Goshawk Never managed to see Conny's Winter Wren Diamond Lake (So. Minneapolis) Bufflehead (2) Hooded Merganser (3+) Ring-Neck Duck (1) L. Scaup (several) Wood Duck (several) Pie-Billed Grebe (several) A. Coot (many) Ring-billed Gull (many) Possible Herring Gull Wood Lake (Richfield) Downy Woodpecker (many) Hairy Woodpecker (a couple) House Sparrow (a couple) Fox Sparrow (many) Song Sparrow (many) Tree Sparrow (a few) House Finch (several) Goldfinch (several) Junco (many) Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (1) Golden-Crowned Kinglet (a few) Phoebe (a few) White-breasted Nuthatch (1, heard more) Wood Duck (many) N. Shoveler (a couple) Blue-Wing Teal (a couple) Green-Wing Teal (a couple) Ring-Neck Duck (several) Pie-Bill Grebe (several) A. Coot (several) Mallard (many) Chickadee (many) Cardinal Canada Goose Red-Wing Blackbird Crow Grackle Starling Robin Ring-bill Gull Another unidentified largish accipiter, probably a Cooper's Hawk (slightly smaller than a crow, not as small as a typical Sharp-shinned Hawk -- didn't know at the time to look at the tail shape (rounded off or squared off)). Red-tailed Hawk White-tail Deer (2) Beaver (2) Robert's Bird Sanctuary (Lake Harriet, SE Minneapolis) Black-Crowned Night Heron: still at the same place after a few days Woodcock (2+): we finally had one land where we could sit and watch it in full view Fox Sparrow (many) Song Sparrow (several) Junco (several) Goldfinch (a few) Phoebe (a couple) Brown Creeper (a few) Ruby-Crowned Kinglet (a few) Downy Woodpecker (many) Hairy Woodpecker (1) Chickadee (many) White-breasted Nuthatch (a few) Cardinal Red-wing Blackbird Crow Starling Grackle Rock Dove Robin Mallard Killdeer (heard, didn't see) Finally saw my first Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons while driving around the farm country near Loretto in the far-west metro. Jonathan Ferguson Uptown, Minneapolis
