On the way home from visiting near Belle Plaine, I saw a flock of about 60 Common Nighthawks and about 20 Franklin's Gulls over the farm fields at the intersection of Co. 66 and Goshen Blvd, 4:00-4:30 PM. There were thousands of ladybugs swarming the area, and dragonflies too--plenty of aerial prey for these birds. There were a few more nighthawks scattered all the way up Hwy 169 to the Bloomington Ferry Bridge.
Thanks to all who offered opinions on the Wood Lake warbler. Albinistic/dilute Mourning Warbler is the general consensus so far, though very few have offered thoughts on the black (not olive) patches on the wings. Nor has anyone written of other examples of anything else remotely similar to this plumage; I'm very curious as to how common this abnormality/hybridization/etc may be. A noted Oporornis researcher has expressed much interest, and also much disappointment that this bird wasn't collected immediately. Unfortunately/fortunately, I haven't seen it since the 2nd and haven't heard any other reports of it either. I'll post again once I've heard back from a few more folks I'm waiting on. If anyone registered on ID Frontiers or Bird Chat or any other lists would like to post about this bird, please do. The more opinions the better! Again, the photo link is: http://198.174.119.50/tmp/20031002/index.html Chris ===== Chris Mansfield Richfield, Hennepin Co. MN [email protected] __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com
