Spent several hours scouring the refuge this morning for birds - grasslands are QUIET and woodlands are BUSY! Lots of action in the woodland / neotrops world today - especially along the WOODLAND TRAIL that's at the back part of the wildlife drive - AND outside my office window. Here's a quick report: Bald Eagle (refuge fledged 14 eaglets from 10 nests this year) Cooper's hawk Belted kingfisher Ruby-throated hummingbird Downy, hairy and pileated woodpeckers & northern flicker Eastern wood-pewee Eastern phoebe Alder flycatcher (and a couple little empids I couldn't I.D. - little ones with very creamy-yellow bellies & 2 wingbars) Yellow-throated and red-eyed vireos Cedar waxwing - lots Warbers: golden-winged, Tennessee, Nashville, yellow, chestnut-sided, magnolia, YELLOW-RUMPED (first one I've seen this fall), black-throated green, palm, bay-breasted, black and white, Canada, American redstart. Lots of action where there are some elderberries growing in the woodland area along the wildlife drive. Scarlet tanager - goofy-looking fall bird Others seen on the refuge: Ducks, C. geese, trumpeter swans, cranes, cormorants, pelicans, five great egrets (we only see a very few in spring and a few more in late summer - not here during mid summer), great blue and green herons, ring-billed and Franklin's gulls (just a few). Red-tailed hawk & Am. kestrel Mourning dove (lots) Tree swallows - just a few - big flocks seem to have moved on through Eastern bluebird - small flocks all over the place Vesper sparrow - not many Song sparrow - not many (I can't believe how few sparrows are left - where 2 weeks ago there were little brown birds everywhere, today fields and brushy edges were silent and devoid of any movement - grasshopper and field sparrows are abundant here in summer, and today we didn't see or hear a single one) American goldfinch Red-winged blackbird Birds here a week ago, but completely GONE today: Cuckoos Red-headed woodpecker Catbird & brown thrasher E. Kingbird Great-crested flycatcher Eastern towhee Eastern meadowlark Common grackle Sedge & marsh wrens B-G gnatcatcher Veery Orioles Grosbeaks Sparrows mentioned above No gallinules seen this morning, but roving interpreters saw 8 birds near the water control structure on the wildlife drive on either Monday or Tuesday evening of this week. Betsy Beneke Sherburne NWR
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