Hey, birders: I stopped by the Sleepy Eye airport this evening to check the sod runways for Buff-breasted Sandpipers (none yet) but I was surprised to hear what sounded like a Henslow's Sparrow singing from the grassland that borders the runway on the east. I drove over to 260th Ave., which runs along the east side of the grassland and sure enough there was a Henslow's singing regularly. This grassland is somewhat on the smaller side, about 3/10ths of a mile long and maybe 2/10ths wide. I would have thought that a Henslow's would require a larger grassland to find as suitable habitat. I also thought that it was getting late in the breeding season for a Henslow's to be singing but obviously that's not the case.
There's been little action at the Sleepy Eye sewage ponds mainly due to higher water levels. There have been practically no migrant shorebirds. This evening there were 3 Western Grebes on the SW pond which is unusual. Hopefully things will continue to pick up in the days ahead. Brian Smith ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
