My family and I just returned--earlier than planned--from a trip here and there in western Minnesota. We tallied just over 150 species...which seems pretty decent considering that shorebirds and waterfowl were few and far between and I dragged my wife and son to only a couple of sewage ponds.
Highlights: Greater Prairie-Chicken - 3, 5/20, Norman County, 1st field west of where 113 becomes 39 Marbled Godwit - 1, hanging out near above chickens Greater Prairie-Chicken - 1, 5/20, Felton Prairie, Longspur Prairie Chestnut Collared-Longspur- 4, same place Marbled Godwit - lots, same place Upland Sandpiper - 1, Longspur Prairie road, except north of the gravel pit Western Grebe - 20+, 5/21, Thielke Lake, no Clark's among them Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 5/21, Big Stone NWR, at MN River bridge on Auto Tour, impression from refuge staff was that this is unusual for Big Stone Lark Sparrow - 1, 5/23, Upper Sioux Agency SP Magnolia, Palm, Wilson's, Canada, Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped, and more expected warblers - Pipestone National Monument in a nice wave in woods by the creek near the visitor's center, good looks in the short trees, 5/21 Bay-breasted Warbler - 1, 5/22, Rock County, 171st street, 5.5 miles west of 75, in honeysuckle shrubs of shelterbelt, totally, totally unexpected Blue Grosbeak - 1 female, 5/22, where all of the trails intersect west of the dam at Blue Mounds SP (same place the MBW group had the species) Willow Flycatcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher (still present this morning), Philadelphia Vireo - 5/22, all between the beach parking lot and the above-mentioned intersection by the dam Dickcissel - 2, 5/22, just past the Blue Grosbeak but on the Lower Cliff trail (also along Nobles County 19 south of 32) Upland Sandpiper - 1, 5/22, SE Rock County, intersection of 200th Ave & 31st St Western Grebe - dozens, 5/23, Lake Osakis, no Clark's found Tennessee Warblers were EVERYWHERE in EVERY tree grove. We found them almost immediately after entering each of the following counties, sometimes 5 or 6 individuals at once: Clay, Big Stone, Lac Qui Parle, Yellow Medicine, Lincoln, Pipestone, Rock, Lyon, Renville, Chippewa, and Pope. I am not at all experienced with western Minnesota in late May, but that struck me as pretty unusual. If you need a Big Stone County Great Horned Owl, we heard one overnight in the (VERY birdy) Big Stone Lake State Park campground and if you need a Clearwater Barred Owl, we heard a distant one calling from our site at the lakeside campground in Itasca State Park. Other western specialties included Swainson's Hawks in Lincoln and Rock counties, Orchard Oriole in Lac Qui Parle, Lincoln, Pipestone, and Rock counties, Yellow-billed Cuckoo in Lac Qui Parle, and Eurasian Collared-Doves all over...probably no big deal to western MNers, but eventful to a NEer. -- Shawn Conrad www.itascacnfbirding.com ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
