Hello: A few observations from August here in Austin, Mower County.
A few Red Crossbills were reported at the Hormel Nature Center the last
few days from other observers. From August 12th to 17th a large flock of
Crossbill type birds were seen at the Austin Country Club while I was golfing.
This is right next to the nature center on the east side of Austin. The flock
was around 25 in number and I suspected they were Red Crossbills. I could
never see any white in the wings. They would fly from an evergreen treetop in
the distance and disappear over the other evergreens at treetop height. Only
once did they fly right over me. Golfing with other men who are not birders
make it difficult to bring binoculars along. Their call when flying did match
the flight call of Red Crossbill's closely so again I suspect they were,
especially since they are irrupting it appears. They did act similar to the
White-winged Crossbills so common here a few winters ago.
Around a week ago many Red-breasted Nuthatches appeared at the golf
course. Again this course has around 2000 evergreens of assorted species.
One interesting sighting the last couple of weeks is the large number
of American Goldfinch. They land on the fairway and eat away. Not sure it is
insects or seeds. They really let one get close to them before flying away. I
am not use to seeing them on the ground feeding on the golf course. Many males
and females or young ones. Sometimes 30 or 40 birds. Today, August 25th,
there were over 100 American Goldfinch on the fairway ahead of us. I have
never seen so many. I walked ahead and made them fly before striking the golf
ball. The females or juveniles were three to one over the yellow males. The
other times pretty equal in number, male to female. Curious if they are
migrants or locals.
Thanks, Robert Jessen, Austin
----
Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net
Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
