While everyone was birding along the North Shore today, a few of us (Jeff Stephenson, John and Chris Hockema, Ben Fritchman, Carol Schumacher, Howard Towle, and myself) went to pick up a few species in the southwest part of the state. Around noon we found a large flock of longspurs at the Nature Conservancy's Red Rock Prairie in Cottonwood County. This turned out to be a mixed flock of around 200 birds, with about a 7 to 3 ratio of Lapland to Smith's. The flock was hanging around the very southeastern end of the prairie, which appeared to be a plowed field with short grasses and low vegetation. This can be easily accessed by parking along CR 9 on the east side of the prairie and then hopping a fence. After waiting quite a while for the Black-headed Gull to fly into MN at Spirit Lake, Jackson County, around 3:50 this afternoon the bird finally crossed the road and flew into Minnesota airspace. And there was much rejoicing. Also, we briefly saw three or four female/1st year Great-tailed Grackles sitting on a fence post on the west side of Hwy. 86 just north of CR 4 in Jackson County.
Good birding! -Bob Dunlap, Nicolett County
