Hello everyone! I just wanted to share an update on the shorebirds and sightings I've been observing recently here in North Dakota. I was in 'the field' until about two weeks ago, when I returned for data entry at the USGS office here in Jamestown. Each morning and afternoon (before and after work), I enjoy the atmosphere around here by taking a 1 mile walk to a lagoon just down the road. There are so many birds on that pond!
Yesterday morning, I observed the most shorebirds I've ever seen at one time... I did my best, and counted 237 shorebirds within the relatively small and square lagoon! This afternoon, I found my first RED-NECKED PHALAROPE! There was 91 phalaropes total that I counted, and one stood out initially as being black-capped, smaller, petite-billed, and darker backed... Eventually once I walked around the bend to get a non-silouetted view, I got an even better-lit (but still distant) look at this Red-necked Phalarope. I was soooo excited :) Initially when I got to the lagoon this afternoon, I was welcomed by Black Terns, 2 Pectoral Sandpipers and a flyover Marbled Godwit! Here's a list of some of the specialty birds that I have taken pictures of, but haven't been able to upload yet: Baird's Sparrow Tricolored Heron (rough pics in flight)... lifer! Grasshopper Sparrow Yellow-headed Blackbird Least Tern... lifer! American White Pelican Willow Flycatcher Wilson's Phalarope American Avocet Cattle Egret Black-crowned Night Heron Western Grebe (photographed 3 chicks on a parent's back at one time)! Red-necked Phalarope... lifer! Ruddy Duck Black Tern Sharp-tailed Grouse Ferrugenous Hawk... lifer! Swainson's Hawk... I found a nest too! Krider's Red-tailed Hawk... lifer (for Red-tailed Hawks). I found a pair of adult circling over a field. I've been treated to 3 of these amazingly pale Red-tails this summer. Here's my ebird report from this afternoon up at the lagoon: Location: Jamestown Sewage Lagoons Observation date: 7/24/09 Number of species: 29 Canada Goose 10 Gadwall 20 Mallard 25 Blue-winged Teal 2 Northern Shoveler 1 Redhead 10 Ruddy Duck 20 Eared Grebe 3 Sora 1 Killdeer 12 American Avocet 1 Spotted Sandpiper 2 Lesser Yellowlegs 68 Marbled Godwit 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper 22 Least Sandpiper 1 Pectoral Sandpiper 2 Wilson's Phalarope 90 Red-necked Phalarope 1 Ring-billed Gull 4 Mourning Dove 1 Western Kingbird 1 Eastern Kingbird 1 Cliff Swallow 4 American Robin 3 Common Yellowthroat 1 Savannah Sparrow 1 Red-winged Blackbird 3 American Goldfinch 1 Here's the photos I uploaded to my website back in April, in case you didn't catch them earlier. All were taken in central South Dakota. http://www.pbase.com/birdfedr/dakotas Good birdwatching, Erik Bruhnke Stutsman Co, ND [email protected] www.pbase.com/birdfedr ---- Join or Leave mou-net:http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives:http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
