On June 18, I went to the Boy river region of Cass County to a site recommended by Ben Wieland for Connecticut warbler. [Here are his directions: "The most reliable spot in the Boy River area is county road 135. From the bridge over the Boy River on county road 8 go 3.4 miles north and turn east on county road 63. Follow that road for an additional 3.4 miles to 135. After 3 miles or so on 135 you will come to a tamarack bog that extends for about a mile further down the road. Anywhere along the next mile you may find Connecticut Warbler. The earlier in the day you get there the better."] Along that mile or so between 6:15 and 7:45 a.m. I heard an estimated 8 separate singing Connecticut warblers, mainly on the north side of the road. At one point I heard 3 different individuals calling. The morning was dead calm, perfect both for hearing and for mosquitos. Aggravatingly, the repellent I thought I had was somewhere else, and this inhibited me from searching for them (none were calling close enough to the road for observation -- there is a zone of shrubby willows on each side between the road and the tamaracks). Also the ditches on both sides of the road were on the deep side. For anyone else visiting this site and wanting to see the Connecticuts, I recommend both repellent and a firm plank for bridging the moat. Some other birds in the bog itself included:
Abundant: Nashville warbler, hermit thrush, alder flycatcher Less common: Winter wren, veery, chestnut-sided warbler, yellowthroat Miscellaneous: Black and white warbler, pair of adult gray jays with one black juvenile Within a 5-mile radius I also found mourning and golden-winged warblers, olive-sided flycatcher, and bobolinks. Marshall Howe -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080620/5d5dc286/attachment.html
