I went to the Salt Lake Festival in Lac Que Parle County this weekend, which was awesome. With a larger number of birders than last year, we had a slightly better species count than last year with about 131 species on Saturday, adding a few more on Sunday. The weather was near perfect, although windy as usual on the plaines. Water levels were high with good shorebird habitat in the flooded fields, and poor shorebird habitat at Salt Lake.
We had about twenty-five species of waterfowl, including a Ross's Goose and four Snow Geese on Salt Lake, and not including a hybrid Cinnamon x Blue-winged Teal. One of the hybrids was located on Saturday, a second on Sunday. At least sixteen species of shorebirds were seen, including: Black-bellied Plover (1) Am. Golden Plover (28 in one flock) Gr. Yellowlegs Lesser Yellowlegs (common) Willet (14 in one flock) Baird's Sandpiper Pectoral Sandpiper Wilson's Snipe (many winnowing) American Woodcock Wilson's Phalarope (greatlooks, common) both Godwits Am. Avocet Popular sightings with newer birders included the Wilson's Phalarope, Sora Rail, and Lark Sparrows. New arrivals included Northern Rough-winged Swallows, Orange Crowned Warbler, Lincoln's Sparrow (Sunday), Tennessee Warbler (Sunday), and Warbling Vireo (Sunday). While the White-faced Ibis on Saturday was the bird of the day, the well-reported Glossy Ibis on Sunday was the bird of the weekend. Common birds that were everywhere included Phaesant and Northern Harrier. Anywhere you walked, you flushed Phaesants. On the other hand, only two species of warbler were noted on Saturday and if you found any crows, you could count them all on one hand for the day. I saw three. We had one mystery hawk, which was a totally black hawk with translucent windows in its wings. The size and long wings and tail, produced a tenative ID by me as a Rough-legged Hawk, but it was not included in the totals. Other wildlife included singing Chorus and Leopard frogs and American and Great Plaines toads. Ticks were only a problem if you got out of the car and walked off the road. I pulled 77 off at one stop. Red Admiral Butterflies had arrived and were easy to find especially on Sunday. Steve Weston on Quiggley Lake in Eagan, MN sweston2 at comcast.net
