This weekend Chad Gustafson, Dave Bartkey, Dedrick Benz, and I birded
the southwest corner of Minnesota in hopes of finding some winter
species. Perhaps most notable was a single female White-winged
Crossbill feeding on a White Spruce in Luverne, Rock County. In
searching for this species in Nobles, Rock, Pipestone, and Murray
counties, we only found this single bird, which makes me think it was
an outlier and not a part of a western movement of White-winged
Crossbills. Most of the spruces we came across appeared to have
produced less cones than spruces in other parts of the state. We also
did not see any evidence that crossbills had already been through the
area (no significant cone piles under trees).
Other notable sightings:
-Common Redpolls in nearly every county we visited, including a flock
of around 100 in Jackson County
-Pine Siskins in most of the counties
-Large flocks of Lapland Longspurs along county roads northwest of
Luverne in Rock County (but no Snow Buntings among them)
-Rough-legged Hawks in Rock and Murray counties
-Bald Eagle along Des Moines River south of Luverne in Rock County
-Pileated Woodpecker in Murray County
-Eurasian Collared-Dove in Luverne in Rock County, then another bird
in the town of Jasper along the Rock/Pipestone county line
-Mourning Dove in Pipestone County
-Single American Robin in Luverne in Rock County
-2 Rusty Blackbirds in Nobles County
-Northern Shrike in Cottonwood County; absent in counties further southwest
Bob Dunlap, Nicollet County
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