My wife and I did a little birding around western Pope County this weekend – actually very little considering lousy, rainy, stormy weather and out of town visiting family with 4 under 3 years old. Fun but hard to get away to bird!
We found pretty much the same good supply of birds as everyone else. I just wanted to post an observation. There are an unusually good number of Bobolinks around. I found Bobolinks in four locations, three within my Breeding Bird Atlas blocks and one within a quarter mile. All with very little effort and within a couple hours time. One was an apparent breeding pair in courtship-type behavior, and right across the road from my farm! I do not think I have ever seen a Bobolink there or anywhere near there. Thinking this must be a fluke or a reflection on my poor observation skills, I told a friend of mine, a retired MN DNR Fisheries guy, and he said he had not seen them in years. Went over to see my cousin and buy tomato plants and he volunteered that he had seen this bird on his postal rural route east of Glenwood. Then my cousin’s granddaughter (who, with her brother, has agreed to help me with my BBA block) said her school group saw 2 Bobolinks on a nature walk outside the school near Glenwood. She proudly told me she had spotted the birds and, when she pointed them out to the teacher, he got really excited. He said he had not seen them in awhile, either. So – although this is by no means a scientific report, at least for this year, it appears that west-central Minnesota has good Bobolink habitat. I plan to follow up for my BBA data. Other “good birds” around: Sora pair Sedge Wrens (lots) Sparrows (Clay-colored, Song, Vesper, and Chipping) (lots) Eastern Kingbirds (many) Bald Eagle pair (on nest) Least Flycatchers (several) Yellow-headed Blackbirds (several) Common Loon (on Lake Latoka) Black-billed Cuckoo calling up the shore of Lake Latoka Yellow Warblers and Common Yellowthroats (all over the place) Orchard Oriole pair Baltimore Orioles (all over) Horned Larks singing There is water everywhere you look. Should be a good year for ducks (and muskrats). Whew – there are a lot of serious muskrat mounds around! Redheads on several larger ponds A few Canvasbacks Blue-winged Teal everywhere Pied-billed Grebes on many ponds No shorebirds except Killdeer Raptors, Many Northern Harriers and Red-tails Turkey Vultures (a few around) Not many Kestrals, though There were lots of migrating warblers and vireos. All-in-all not a bad few hours considering. Sid Stivland Plymouth, MN (and Pope County) ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
