Murphy was quite active this morning as I walked the 1-2-3 loop at the entrance parking lot. Amongst the bird seen were:
Cerulean Warbler (at least 5 different ones) American Redstart Black-and-White warbler Ovenbird Blackburnian Warbler Northern Parula Nashville Warbler Yellow Warbler Yellow-rumped Warbler Golden-winged Warbler Blue-winged Warbler Tennessee Warbler Non-warblers included: Yellow-throated Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Least Flycatcher, Great-crested Flycatcher, lots of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, etc.. Also of note was a nesting Common Loon that can be seen on her nest from the trail just past the intersection on 1 if one takes the left fork. The nest is some 100-150 yards out in the middle of the lake. 140th was much more active in terms of shorebirds with the following species present: Bairds Sandpiper (1) Least Sandpiper (lots) Semipalmated Sandpiper (5 or so) Pectoral Sandpiper (15ish) Greater Yellowlegs (1) Lesser Yellowlegs (7) Spotted Sandpiper (2) The Hawk nesting on one of the power-line towers is indeed a Red-Tailed Hawk (for those who were there yesterday when it was hunkered down...) It was standing near the nest today and then took off, called several times, and soared overhead. Byllesby had TONS of shorebirds, though mostly Yellowlegs, the following was present: Greater Yellowlegs (several) Lesser Yellowlegs (at least 250) Dunlin (1) Willet (2) Semipalmated Plover (7) --- No Piping Plover was located in 45 minutes of scanning through all visible shorebirds Short-billed Dowitcher (1) Long-billed Dowitcher (2) Least Sandpiper (Lots) Semipalmated Sandpiper (many) Baird's Sandpiper (several) Wilson's Phalarope (1 foraging with the yellowlegs in the mud flats..not spinng like i'm used to seeing) Non-shorebirds included 17 Forster's Terns, 21 American White Pelicans, various of the common ducks (Blue-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, 10 Gadwall), and a Blue-headed Vireo in one of the bushes near the entrance. Also a fly-by Baltimore Oriole as I was leaving. Chris Fagyal Otsego, MN
