Hey birders,
This is coming a little bit late, but better late than never I guess.
On Saturday, Andrew Krenz and I attempted to break last year's record-setting
big day of 157 species in Blue Earth County. Those of you who were out, know
that the deck was certainly stacked against us. We ended up with 136 species
and quit around 9:15pm.
Cobb River WPA's shorebird area was excellent with about 100 or so individuals.
Species: Hudsonian Godwit (5), Willet (2), American Golden-Plover (1),
Wilson's Snipe, Least, Pectoral, Semipalmated, Baird's, and Spotted Sandpipers,
Lesser Yellowlegs, Sanderling, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Short-billed
Dowitcher, and Wilson's Phalarope.
Warblers were hard to come by and the nocturnal portion of the program was very
slow. We arrived at our dawn location with a whopping 3 species (two owls that
we saw and a timid Marsh Wren that we startled). We also almost froze our
hands off scoping shorebirds in the early morning.
We did find all 5 expected species of vireos and all 10 expected species of
blackbird. But we still missed Belted Kingfisher, Brown Thrasher, and Virginia
Rail which would have been locks on a less turbulent day. Also missed Veery,
Wood Thrush, Gadwall, American Woodcock, and a score of warblers and sparrows
(no White-crowned, Harris', Grasshopper, Le Conte's, or Nelson's Sharp-tailed)
It was certainly a challenging day, but I'm sure glad I was out.
Happy birding!
Chad Heins
Mankato, MN
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