I checked out the north end of Steele and Dodge counties on 10/5 in the afternoon and had a few good birds. Dodge County:I tried the gravel ponds that were at the intersection of County G and County Road 1 north of Claremont mentioned in Kim Eckert's "A birders guide to Minnesota". On the second gravel pond to the east of CR 1 on the north side of the road I flushed an owl from the bank and it flew east. I saw the bird in flight and it was similar in shape to a Short-eared Owl but seemed darker and did not have a distinctive wing pattern but because I saw no ear tufts I was hoping for the Short-eared Owl. I was able to relocate the bird by its extremely loud call and it was a large Great Horned Owl perched on the side of the pond. That teaches me to assume a rare bird when I should have been considering the most likely suspect. It proved a good backdrop for watching all of the sparrows. Birds observed in the area:Harris's SparrowWhite-crowned SparrowLincoln's SparrowFox SparrowIndigo Bunting- Seemed very late for this birdSavannah SparrowWhite-throated SparrowSwamp SparrowSpotted SandpiperOrange-crowned WarblerHorned Lark Steele County birds seen near Medford and at Rice Lake State Park:Lincoln's Sparrow- severalWhite Crowned Sparrow- severalField SparrowYellow-rumped WarblerPalm WarblerRuby-crowned KingletGolden-crowned Kinglet Good Birding, Jason CaddyMinneapolis ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
