Peter Schmidt and I birded Black Dog Road in the Minnesota River Valley, off of 35 W yesterday and found a flock of more than 2,000 gulls. They were about 80% Ring-billed Gulls, with Herring making up the remainder. The only exceptions we noted (far out from the west outflow of the reservoir) were two Franklin's Gulls( a single 1st winter and 1 adult), and we spent a great deal of time on a gull that had a head marking like Franklin's when viewed from the right side, but proved to be a Ring-Billed with either a tar or oil stain or some patchy melanism. Two Chimney Swifts were seen overhead and three species of Swallows were coursing over the eastern end of the lake -Tree, Barn, and Rough-winged. Large flocks of Warblers were found, with about 60% Yellow-Rumped, 35% Palm, and a smattering of Black and White, Tennessee, Nashville, and a Blue-headed Vireo. A Merlin flew over.
Mark Alt Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Project Resources Group Best Buy Co., Inc.
