I drove a 160-mile looping route through Stearns County today, looking for new arrivals. Mainly, I was hoping for shorebirds. Lengthy look at Paynesville treatment ponds turned up nothing but two greater yellowlegs and a few killdeer. Other birds there included geese, ducks and ring-billed gulls. Albany ponds had only killdeer and a very few ducks. And of course, all those water pigeons. No shorebirds were seen in the few sheetwater wetlands I found throughout the county. As it turned out, the best shorebird spot was not far from my house, in Benton County, on Donovan Lake, with 3 greater and 2 lesser yellowlegs, and 3 pectoral sandpipers. And it's not really shorebird habitat - just a tiny grassy/muddy spit in the lake. I had two FOY birds today - a single male ruddy duck at the Albany ponds and a single palm warbler, with many yellow-rumped in Wilson Park along the Miss. River in St. Cloud. And it WAS a gorgeous day! Betsy Beneke
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