The past few days have had your typical late fall species here in Carver
County. I haven't found many lingering Kinglets or Yellow-rumped Warbler like
I normally do this time of year. Golden-crowned Kinglets are significantly
less numerous than the past 2 falls this year. I also have spent less time
walking trails the past week or 2 than I have in past years. Instead I have
been checking the New Germany area for late lingering shorebirds and other
rural areas for blackbird flocks. I never realized the number of Brewer's
Blackbird(and other blackbirds for that matter) that passed through the county
in the fall until last year and wanted to make a concerted effort to track
blackbird. While there was little to no blackbird movement across the county
over the weekend, there was significant movement today. 2 mixed
Red-winged/Grackle/at least 1 Rusty flocks were moving north, and 1 mixed flock
was moving south over Carver Park this morning. A small Rusty Blackbird flock
was in the New Germany area, and a very large flock of mainly Brewer's
Blackbird was in Assumption. I had a difficult time estimating the flock in
Assumption as I was able to count around 400 Brewer's Blackbirds as they
cautiously watched me. The flock took off and then kept moving from field
to field going in a bit of a circle. My very rough estimate of the flock was
in the 1000-1500 range, but there were probably more. Of the birds I id'd,
~95% were Brewer's Blackbird with some Red-winged mixed in. Watching the birds
in flight, it looked like mainly Brewer's with very few Red-winged picked out.
I did find 1 Lapland Longspur in the bunch while they were on the ground.
Also odd in the group was a male Brewer's Blackbird with white wing-ends(1/4 of
each wing end white). He had the sheen of a male Brewer's, so all I can guess
is that he has a genetic abnormality that gives him the white wings. On
Saturday there were 8 Common Loons and 2 Red-necked Grebes on Lake Waconia with
another surge of Ring-billed Gulls. Sunday I only found 3 Common Loons on the
lake, and today I didn't find any(also very few gulls today). I'll give it
more time, but by this time last year, most of the Loons had moved through the
area. The Black-bellied Plover either left Chevalle wetlands sometime late
Sunday or has done a good job of hiding himself the last 2 days. Otherwise
there was a male Northern Harrier hunting over a rural meadow on Saturday and a
lone Snow Bunting at Lake Waconia today.
New Germany area birds
Sat. Oct. 29
Least Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 6
Wilson's Snipe 3
American Pipit several flying around
Sun. Oct. 30
Great Blue Heron 1
Killdeer 8
Least Sandpiper 2 (I initially thought these were Semipalmated due to dark
legs, but head/neck markings weren't right so the legs must have been
mud-covered)
Pectoral Sandpiper 2
Long-billed Dowitcher 5
Wilson's Snipe 1
American Pipit still several flying around
Tues. Nov. 1
Great Blue Heron 3
Killdeer 4
Dunlin 1
Wilson's Snipe 14
American Pipit 13 cooperative at last
Rusty Blackbird 36(also had a mixed Red-winged/other flock that may have had
some Brewer's/Rusty mixed in but lighting/distance wasn't great)
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