There was a late Common Nighthawk hawking insects in a flock of Franklin's Gulls over downtown Paynesville Thursday night. A Eurasian Collared Dove was on the wires one block to the east of downtown. There were approximately 100 shorebirds of 7 species along I-94 at the Ashby exit at the pond SW of Pelican Lake (go north on Highway 78 towards Ashby and turn right 100 yards north of the Interchange and follow the gravel road down the hill to the large pond. There was also a brood of Mallards with 7 still flightless young (!!) yesterday on the pond as well as 2 Stilt Sandpiper and a small flock of Cackling Geese. The west shore of the large pond at the Albany sewage treatment plant held 60+ shorebirds including several semipalmated Sandpipers and a Stilt Sandpiper. Dave Bennett, manager of Glacial Ridge NWR in Pope County reported "thousands" of Wilson's Snipes on the now grazed wetlands of the refuge. Grazing was implemented on the refuge this year to mimic historic Bison grazing and in part to create a mosaic of wetland habitat suitable for shorebirds such as breeding Marbled Godwit and Wilson's Phalarope. Maybe a good place to look for Minnesota's first Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in the coming weeks. Bob Russell, West St. Paul
---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
