Refound the Says Phoebe ar 3:30 PM today. Not that this was easy in the very high winds. The Detroit Lakes Birding Festival field trip did not find the bird this AM so we did not go with much hope after our field trip to Tamarac NWR.
>From 2:00 till 3:15 we walked around the whole sand pit after not finding the bird in the area of the Rock Wren. We concentrated in the area to the south and west as they were less windy. The winds according to the weather service were in the 40 MPH plus catagory. We then left the pit to check the nearby wooded wet area hoping it might be there. After no success we returned to the Rock Wren area and it was on the wall face right behind the normal Rock Wren rock piles piles. This was out in the heavy winds that probably had reduced to maybe 20-30 MPH. After a little while, while we were getting the camera out ot the back seat, the bird disappeared, probably going over the wall to the east and toward the other now dormant sand pit. Obviously the bird does not spend its entire time in the pit. During the work week this pit could be very active as it is an active mining operation. When we were there on Thursday AM there was a lot of noise and we suspect earlier in the day a lot of truck traffic. Birders must stay out of the way of any mining operations if we are going to continue to be allowed in this area. All the time we were there the Rock Wren continued to sing from various perchs on the rock piles, although not always visible. Dennis and Barbara Martin [email protected]
