May 9, 2006 Led a field trip to Olmsted County today. With the early rain we started the trip a little to the West of Olmsted County, at Rice Lake State Park in Steele County. Which turned out to be a very good move. There were many migrants in the park, including many Swainson's Thrush's and a good mix of Warblers and Sparrows. From there we worked our way over to Dodge county and were surprised to find a Western Kingbird, which if accepted. I believe would be a first county record. We also encountered a mix of Warblers and Thrush's, most just in wooded lots around farm houses. From there we headed to Oxbow Park in Olmsted county. We did not pick up any Warblers there, but did enjoy White-crowned, White-throated and Harris's Sparrows by the feeding station at the nature center. We ended the day at Lake Byllesby, where we enjoyed observing large numbers of Caspian and Forster's Terns, but did not see a single shorebird there. Here were some of the species observed by the group:
@ Western Grebe - Steele County - Rice Lake State Park @ Caspian Tern @ Red-headed Woodpecker - Olmsted County - Oxbow Park, at feeder by nature center @ Great Crested Flycatcher - Olmsted County - Oxbow Park @ Western Kingbird - 10:00am - Dodge County - 1/10 of a mile East of the intersection of CR 1, (120th Avenue) & CR G (595th Street). The bird was observed hawking insects from a low fence, for several minutes and then disappeared from our vantage point. @ Eastern Kingbird - Dodge County - Claremont Sewage Ponds @ Yellow-throated, Blue-headed & Red-eyed Vireo's - Steele County - Rice Lake State Park @ Wood Thrush - Steele County - Rice Lake State Park, Dodge County - NE corner of the intersection noted for the Western Kingbird. @ 16 species of Warblers - Steele County - Rice Lake State Park - Golden-winged, Nashville, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Blackpoll & Wilson's were a few of the species we observed. @ Bobolink Craig Mandel, Minnetonka, MN [email protected]
